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Quotes of the week

There is a standard for impeachment — it is for wrongdoing in office, not for disagreeing with the Legislature. The fact that Justice Protasiewicz has not heard a single case makes this even more ridiculous.
– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, in a floor speech blasting Wisconsin Republicans for talk of possibly impeaching liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz.

@POTUS is destroying this country. Radical leftism, climate change alarmism, and our miserably failed response to the pandemic are all designed to create a state of fear so that the globalists can control our lives. We have to say “STOP.”
– U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, in a tweet criticizing President Joe Biden. 

This week’s news

— Some Wisconsin House Republicans say they support an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, while Dems argue it’s another stunt to appease the MAGA base. 

Both U.S. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany have said they back the inquiry, which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced this week. 

Tiffany, R-Minocqua, said Biden had lied to Americans about participating in at least 20 phone calls with his son Hunter’s foreign business partners and that the Biden family had received millions in payments through shell companies.

“This inquiry will allow us to get to the bottom of these overseas business dealings and deliver answers to the American people,” he said. 

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, in an interview with WisPolitics said it’s a power play and an example of “McCarthy not willing to stand up to the most extreme elements of his caucus.”

He argued dangling impeachment investigations in front of Republicans who are already looking into the Biden family’s wrongdoings could motivate those same Republicans who have also been holding up continuing resolutions to avert a government shutdown. 

“He’s already kind of threatened that they wouldn’t be able to do investigations if we had a shutdown because there’d be no funding,” he said. “And everyone who wants to investigate Hunter Biden wouldn’t be able to now he’s given them a brand new shiny object, something some of them have really wanted.”

McCarthy last month said an impeachment inquiry for committees investigating Biden’s family “provides Congress the apex of legal power to get all the information they need.”

Fitzgerald said he puts his full support behind McCarthy because of the move, arguing Republican investigations already “point to a pattern of corruption and abuse of power from President Biden.”

“An impeachment inquiry is not only a natural next step to gather more information, but a constitutional duty bestowed upon us as members of Congress,” the Juneau Republican added. 

See Fitzgerald’s release.

— U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is asking the Department of Justice and FBI to provide its full, unredacted records on Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks.

The Oshkosh Republican Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations ranking member in a joint letter with Chair U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked the security agencies for more clarity the day before the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The Biden administration in 2021 declassified a 16-page FBI report tying hijackers to Saudi nationals living in the United States, but much of the information was redacted. 

The senators made the same request on July 18 and had a meeting with DOJ and FBI officials last month on the issue.

“Your failure to respond to our letter only adds to our concerns about the U.S. government’s longstanding refusal to provide full transparency to the American public, and particularly for the families of 9/11 victims, about Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks,” they wrote. 

The letter concludes with a warning to the agencies.

“Should DOJ and the FBI fail to provide the briefing and continue to fail to provide the requested unredacted documents by this deadline, the Subcommittee will be forced to consider the use of the other tools at its disposal to ensure compliance,” the letter reads. 

See the letter and press release.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin criticized U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., this week for blocking military appointments over the Pentagon’s abortion policy.

Tuberville has prevented Senate leaders from moving forward with hundreds of military nominations for six months, despite mounting criticism on both sides of the aisle and national security concerns. 

He has said he will continue to block the nominees until the Senate votes on the policy, which allows the Pentagon to grant leave and cover travel expenses for servicemembers seeking abortions if the procedure is illegal in the state where they are stationed.

Baldwin has introduced legislation seeking to codify the policy into law.

“If my colleague from Alabama believes that stopping women service members from controlling their own bodies is worth risking our national security & hurting our military families, then he is sorely mistaken,” the Madison Dem said in a tweet. “His political games are helping adversaries & harming our brave troops.”

See Baldwin’s tweet.

— The House approved 406-4 a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany aiming to ensure federal agencies accurately report on the actions they are taking to reduce wildfire risks. 

All Wisconsin House members voted to pass the measure.

The Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions (ACRES) Act would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior to submit reports on efforts to get rid of vegetation that could increase wildfire risks. 

The agencies would have to report the number of acres that have seen so-called “hazardous fuels reduction activity” and standardize how the data is tracked. The measure comes as the U.S. Forest Service came under fire for overstating the work done to reduce those risks.

Tiffany in a floor speech said the bill would “bring transparency to the misleading and inaccurate way hazardous fuels treatments are reported.”

“Decades of mismanagement of our federal lands have left our forests overstocked, creating tinderbox conditions,” he said.

Tiffany said the bill will help hold federal agencies accountable so the public knows what is being done to prevent wildfires.

See the release.

Watch the floor speech.

— U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, celebrated the 33rd annual Milwaukee Night in DC yesterday alongside other hometown leaders. 

The event is intended to highlight the Milwaukee region’s contributions to national strength and vitality while providing legislators, staffers and administrators a chance to connect, according to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerice, the host organization. 

See event details.

Posts of the week

ICYMI

WXOW: Van Orden wants PFAS and politics out of water

CNBC: House committee targets crackdown on U.S. investment in Chinese tech, military development

WPR: US Rep. Mark Pocan discusses possible government shutdown, funding for Farm Bill

WEAU: Baldwin calls for crack down on non-dairy products

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