Welcome to our weekly DC Wrap, where we write about Wisconsin’s congressional delegation. Sign up here to receive the newsletter directly.

Note: This is the last DC Wrap newsletter until after the new Congress is sworn in. Happy holidays and thanks for reading!

 

Quotes of the week

It is a contradiction of our American values to wreak havoc in the lives of millions who help weave our diverse cultural and economic framework.
– U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, in a letter to the Dept. of Homeland Security decrying a potential rule change that would make it more difficult for individuals who get certain government assistance to obtain a green card, per national media reports. Moore in the letter said she thinks the intent of this proposed rule is to “instill fear” in the immigrant community.

We’re very glad to see that one go away … We ran in 2018 on increasing access to health care, and increasing people’s wages. … Anything that took us off this conversation does not serve us well.
– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont and co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in an interview with The Washington Post after House Dems said they won’t advance a proposed rule that would require three-fifths majorities to sign off on tax increases. The Post notes some lawmakers feared the rules would make it hard for certain legislation, such as free universal college, to clear the chamber.

I can’t get a stand-alone bill out of the Senate. A lot of senators, Democrats and Republicans who say they support it don’t want to work for it.
– U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wausau, at a town hall meeting in Rhinelander about his bill to delist the gray wolves, which cleared the House earlier this fall. Duffy says the bill’s unlikely to clear the Senate, so he’s trying to get the language into a spending bill, according to a report from WPR.

This week’s news

— Wisconsin House members split over their support of the $867 billion farm bill, which is now heading to the president’s desk after clearing the chamber.  

The bill, which passed 369-47, authorizes agriculture assistance and nutrition programs for the next five years. But it doesn’t include stricter work requirements for food stamps pushed by House Republicans and President Trump.

The state’s Democratic and Republican representatives were largely divided over the legislation. In all, two GOP congressmen — Sean Duffy and Glenn Grothman — joined U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, to support it.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher and Jim Sensenbrenner, as well as Democrat Ron Kind, opposed it.

Kind, D-La Crosse, slammed the bill in a statement following the vote, saying it “maintains the failed status quo” by continuing to support ballooning crop insurance programs and unnecessary subsidies while doing “nothing to address the damage caused by the President’s trade war.”

The office of Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, didn’t return a request for comment, but a statement from Gallagher, R-Green Bay, said the bill should have prioritized workforce stability and creating a more favorable trade environment to fix “the real issues” farmers are facing.

Neither U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, nor Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, voted. Ryan rarely does due to his leadership role.

Still, Ryan praised the legislation in a statement, saying it “provides relief and certainty to guard against the volatility of the agricultural economy” and includes language to bolster rural families’ access to broadband and alleviate poverty.  

Wisconsin lawmakers were also split in the Senate. There, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, voted to back the legislation while U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, opposed it. It ultimately passed 87-13.

Johnson complained nearly 80 percent of the spending in the bill was directed to the food stamp program, while Baldwin lauded the provisions she’s pushed for that were included in the bill, namely money for local health resources and suicide prevention programs for those who work in agriculture.

 

— Baldwin’s bill aiming to ensure women in rural areas have better access to maternity care is on its way to President Trump after clearing the Senate.

The bipartisan “Improving Access to Maternity Care Act” would help reduce maternity care shortages by identifying areas lacking maternal health professionals and incentivizing providers to practice in these communities. The bill has already passed the House and now heads to the president’s desk.

Baldwin in a statement said too many Wisconsin communities face a shortage in qualified maternity care professionals and services.

“This bipartisan legislation will identify shortages to better target resources so providers can deliver the care that expecting mothers in Wisconsin so desperately need – no matter where they live,” she said.

 

— U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore’s bill to name a Milwaukee post office after one of the city’s pioneering civil rights activists has been signed into law.

The legislation designates a Milwaukee post office the “Vel R. Phillips Post Office Building” in honor of the former Wisconsin secretary of state who passed away earlier this year.

Moore in a statement announcing the passage of the legislation called Phillips a “soldier for civil rights,” adding that she “paved the road of change and lifted up” Milwaukee’s push for equality and prosperity.

“Today, I stand on her shoulders and take solace knowing that her legacy of love, service and commitment now will be memorialized in Milwaukee,” Moore said. “I believe Vel would be honored to know that her representatives in Washington worked together, across aisles and chambers, to celebrate her legacy in our great city.”

 

— A bill from U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher that would impose sanctions on Hamas and Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields is on its way to the president’s desk.

The bill won approval from U.S. representatives this week, after the Senate passed legislation to combine measures that previously cleared the House sanctioning Hamas and Hezbollah separately, according to a statement from Gallagher.

“This bipartisan legislation sends a clear signal that the United States will not tolerate this behavior,” the Green Bay Republican said.

 

Posts of the week

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrNXfYrAiMl/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQRY8knCrD/

ICYMI

Wisconsin senators on 2018 Farm Bill passage through senate

Rep. Duffy’s Wolf De-Listing Bill Likely Going Into Spending Bill

Duffy Says Border Security Funding Causing Rift In Congress

U.S. lawmakers propose bill to ban sales to Chinese sanctions violators

GOP Rep on Trump Jr.-Ocasio-Cortez Twitter Feud: ‘Social Media Is Making Us All Stupid’

Jim Sensenbrenner urges VA Secretary to take ‘immediate’ action on underpayment of GI Bill benefits

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