Pocan: Questions for Donald Trump On His Visit To Wisconsin
Madison, WI—Ahead of President Trump’s planned visit to Oshkosh, Wisconsin today, Congressman Mark Pocan (WI-02) wanted to share the following questions with reporters on behalf of the people of Wisconsin:
- Mr. President, on Friday, the USPS sent letters to 46 states alerting them that mail-in ballots from those states may arrive too late to be counted for the November election—Wisconsin was one of those states and changes from Postmaster General DeJoy have resulted in sorting capacity reduced in Wisconsin by at least 200,000 pieces of mail per hour – what do you say to the Wisconsin voters who fear their vote won’t be counted because you reduced USPS capacity?
- Mr. President, voters in Wisconsin have reported USPS delays including—life-saving medications, paychecks, utility bills, masks, notices for immigration appointments, and absentee ballots – do you have an explanation for why you implemented policies at the USPS that created these mail delays?
- Mr. President, 0n August 3, you terminated federal funding for the Wisconsin National Guard – while continuing to 100% fund the Guard in states like Florida, Texas & Arizona – the National Guard in Wisconsin is currently operating 25 field testing teams, utilizing over 1,400 service members working throughout the state to provide both community and targeted field testing – Why did you cut Wisconsin’s help and how do you expect Wisconsin to continue administering the necessary testing without federal support for the National Guard?
- Mr. President, people who are unemployed at no fault of their own desperately need help. Yet chaos reigns. No state has indicated they can act on your executive order to extend partial Pandemic Unemployment Assistance – including Wisconsin – How do you expect to get additional Unemployment Insurance to the people in Wisconsin or any state?
- Mr. President, your own WH Coronavirus Taskforce named Wisconsin a hotspot at the end of July & both the Governor and Congressional delegation have repeatedly outlined the need for tens of thousands of test kits, reagents and other supplies. Advocate Aurora had to recently stop community testing because of a lack of testing supplies. Wisconsin’s hospitals have received ZERO support from the White House for their requests for more reagents, and the supplies they have sent can’t be used for COVID 19 tests. Now, the White House is diverting critical tests away from Wisconsin which according to this internal memo is because the “federal government redirects testing supplies to COVID-19 hot spots.” – Why have you diverted testing supplies away from Wisconsin? Why haven’t you used your authority through the Defense Production Act to increase testing supplies so state’s like Wisconsin don’t have to halt community testing as cases rise?
- Mr. President, since you took office, Wisconsin has lost over 1900 dairy farms. Last year, Wisconsin led the nation in farm bankruptcies. Your trade war with China continues to hurt America’s Dairyland, and you promised Wisconsin farmers that the USMCA would save them—What would you say to the Wisconsin farmers that have suffered bankruptcies and losses during your presidency and continue to suffer despite your signing of the USMCA?
