In the News
MADISON (WKOW)-- Several hundred postal workers rallied outside the main post office in Madison. Several workers held signs and waved at passing cars as they spoke out against the recent decision to eliminate service on Saturdays.
The rally is just a small part of the Nationwide Day of Action organized by postal workers. Many argue that eliminating 6-day delivery won't only layoff thousands of workers, but will greatly impact the American public.
As the U.S. House has debated budget priorities in recent days, two Wisconsinites have been in the limelight.
One is Capitol Hill careerist Paul Ryan, the Janesville Republican who came to Washington almost a quarter century ago and whose experience in the private sector would be generously described as “slim.”
The other is Mark Pocan, a small-business owner who has created jobs and balanced budgets in the private and public sectors.
As the son of two small-business owners, it’s no surprise that for more than half of my life, I too have owned my own small business. When I was 23 years old, I opened a specialty printing shop in Madison, Wis., that I run to this day, and I firmly believe small businesses are the backbone of our local economies. But I’ve felt the burdens put on small-business owners through the credit crunch and confusing regulations. I want to do all I can in Congress to promote an environment that allows small businesses to expand and create jobs.
Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan, a Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said on March 12 that colleague Paul Ryan's budget proposal does not reflect the values of their state.
The budget committee, which Ryan chairs, is expected to consider the proposal on March 13.
Just a day before the U.S. House of Representatives unveils its federal budget proposal, a local congressman lobbied against Republican initiatives to cut social programs at a retirement home in downtown Madison Monday.
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, emphasized the need to replace the “arbitrary” spending cuts made by the sequester with a balanced budget that would not slash funding to social programs such as Medicare and Social Security. He spoke to a group of approximately 25 at the City of Madison Senior Center on Mifflin Street.
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan today said Congress needs to focus on economic growth and job creation instead of spending cuts, criticizing the impending sequester for its austerity in his debut speech on the floor of the House.
Pocan, D-Madison, said supporting education, infrastructure, research and new industries such as green energy will promote job growth and help fix the nation’s fiscal problems. He called the sequester “irresponsible,” and said it could cost Wisconsin 36,000 jobs.
“It’s like taking a meat cleaver to the budget instead of a scalpel,” Pocan said.
Accurately describing the March 1 "sequestration" as a "budget tornado" that will undermine jobs, education and health care in Wisconsin, Congressman Mark Pocan is proposing smart alternatives to dumb cuts.
"We've already seen some of the impacts, because you have to plan," says Pocan, who has been working with Wisconsin Citizen Action to highlight the impact that sequester cuts would have on the Badger state. "You just can't keep punting and not deal with it."
Pocan's proposal is a simple one: Congress should do its job.