Media

When people first enter politics, it can take a while before they settle down and reach across the aisle. That was certainly the case with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

Elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1998 to replace then-state Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Pocan quickly gained a reputation for being an outspoken progressive. It was a label he worked to earn.

Republicans plan to balance the budget “on the backs of the middle class,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, during a rally held at Blackhawk Technical College’s central campus.

The rally was sponsored by The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) and Every Child Matters. Both are Washington, D.C.-based lobbying groups.

Washington’s Congressional Budget Office said three quarters of the federal deficit over the next year is caused by economic weakness, Pocan said.

University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members expressed concern Wednesday to U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., that the sequester, a series of automatic federal spending cuts that recently took effect, could have a devastating impact on research programs.

UW-Madison President Kevin Reilly announced last month that the sequester could eliminate $35 million in funding from university research projects, but Pocan said he wanted to learn about the specific effects the spending cuts might have so he could share them with other members of Congress.

Rep. Mark Pocan’s office is just two blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices this week heard two separate cases involving same-sex marriage. But for the first-term Wisconsin lawmaker, the issue of marriage equality hits even closer than that.

Pocan is the only gay member of Congress who is married. (He wed Phillip Frank in Toronto in 2006, just weeks after Wisconsinites voted to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution.) And he is one of just seven openly gay lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including his predecessor, now-Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

A freshman Congressman from Wisconsin reflects on his first few months in Washington. Prior to Mark Pocan being elected to Congress in November and his appointment to the House Budget committee, he served on the state Legislature’s budget panel including a stint as co-chairman.

Speaking to the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, he recalls his time in the Wisconsin Capitol: “We spent eight hours a day, three days a week for four months putting a budget together because every single line meant something; it’s a statement of your values. We just don’t do that in Washington.”

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan expressed hope today the U.S. Supreme court’s decisions in two pending cases will reflect the country’s move toward embracing marriage equality.
The Madison Dems, both of whom are openly gay, issued statements today as the court heard arguments on California’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage. The Supreme Court will hear arguments tomorrow on the Defense of Marriage Act, and Baldwin said she will have the chance to attend the proceedings.