Press Releases

WASHINGTON –U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI–02) today announced his “Snapshots of the Second” photo contest, inviting all of his constituents in Wisconsin’s Second District to submit their photographs of the district. The winning image, selected with the most “likes” on Facebook, will be featured as the cover photo on Pocan’s official Facebook page.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02) today applauded the bipartisan 15-7 vote of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) today. ENDA has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a priority for Pocan and the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

WASHINGTON—In another transparent attempt to weaken the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and deny 80 million private sector workers, both union and non-union, the protection they are guaranteed under law, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is refusing to allow votes on President Obama’s nominees to the Board. Without a fully-functioning NLRB, hardworking Americans will have no recourse when their rights are violated, creating uncertainty for both workers and businesses. In response, U.S. Rep.

WASHINGTON—One week after student loan rates doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for nearly 160,000 Wisconsin students, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02) once again urged GOP leadership to stop balancing the budget on the backs of students and bring up a vote to freeze student loan rates. Last month, Pocan joined his colleagues in signing a discharge petition to bring up for a vote the Student Loan Relief Act of 2013, which would freeze the interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for the next two years.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02) today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed legislation to enact comprehensive immigration reform in a bipartisan 68-32 vote.

WASHINGTON– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), a co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus and the only current married gay member of Congress, today issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and to dismiss the Prop 8 case on a lack of standing. As a result of today’s rulings, married same-sex couples in the states that recognize same-sex marriage will now also be recognized by the federal government and have access to federal rights, obligations and protections.

WASHINGTON—U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), authors of the Right to Vote Amendment that would provide an affirmative constitutional right to vote for all Americans, today issued the following statement after the Supreme Court rejected Section 4 of the landmark Voting Right Act, which contains a formula to determine specified jurisdictions that need federal government approval before making voting changes that could be racially discriminatory. In its ruling on Shelby County v. Holder, the Court determined that the current formula was outdated.

WASHINGTON– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02) concluded the “SNAP Challenge” today, ending a week during which he lived off the food stamp budget of $4.50 of food per day to bring attention to the country’s hunger crisis and highlight Republican efforts to cut $20.5 billion from this critical food assistance program. On his final day of the challenge, Pocan voted on an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have restored the Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which benefits more than 800,000 Wisconsinites.