Hi folks! Welcome back to Tammy Tuesdays, our weekly update email on Tammy’s work and the big fights she’s taking on for Wisconsin families.
Tammy knows that there’s more that unites us than divides. She understands that Wisconsin’s middle-class families all want good paying jobs, affordable health care, and the same freedoms their parents and grandparents had.
Read below for highlights of what Tammy worked on this week:
Keeping Our Communities Safe
Gun violence in America is a tragic reality that has taken the lives of far, far too many. Time and again we’ve seen mass shootings at our schools, places of worship, shopping malls, parades and festivals – all places in our communities that we expect to be safe. Thoughts and prayers are not enough – more must be done to keep our children safe from the threat of gun violence.
Tammy knows that a majority of Wisconsinites want common sense gun safety laws, like universal background checks. And she knows that common sense laws don’t violate the Second Amendment — they save lives. Two years ago, she was proud to work across the aisle and pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which is the most robust set of gun safety reforms since the 1990s.
Read Tammy’s new op-ed on the next steps needed to curb gun violence HERE.
Making Health Care Affordable for All
When Tammy was nine, she came down with a serious illness and was labeled as a child with a “pre-existing condition.” Her grandparents couldn’t find her any insurance at any price. Tammy took these lessons to heart and championed the reforms in the Affordable Care Act that allow kids to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 years old and make sure that no one is denied care because of a pre-existing condition. And just two years ago, Tammy took on the drug industry again and beat Big Pharma, passing a law to lower drug prices and cap insulin costs at $35 a month for our seniors.
On Wednesday, Tammy introduced the Health Care Affordability Act which would make the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits permanent for millions of Americans. These tax credits are currently set to expire at the end of 2025, which would result in over 20 million Americans, including more than 230,000 Wisconsinites, seeing an increase in their health insurance costs. Additionally, nearly nine million people will have to be more than $400 per person for coverage. Wisconsin families deserve access to affordable, quality health care, and Tammy won’t stop fighting until no one has to decide between buying their medication and buying their groceries.
Combating the Opioid, Fentanyl, and Heroin Epidemic
The opioid, fentanyl, and heroin epidemic has devastated communities across Wisconsin, and it does not discriminate. It’s in our rural communities, our cities, and our suburbs, and it affects people of all demographics. Tammy is ready to work with anyone willing to come to the table to beat this epidemic because we can’t let it claim any more lives and destroy our communities.
Last Friday, Tammy was proud to secure $750,000 for Core Treatment Services in Manitowoc to help address the fentanyl and opioid epidemic. This funding will allow the treatment center to expand its drug treatment and recovery programs, targeting rural areas that have higher overdose rates with fewer treatment options. Tammy has been at the forefront of the fight against the opioid, fentanyl, and heroin epidemic and is going to keep working to combat this crisis until we rid our communities from this tragic epidemic once and for all.
Standing Up for Rural Businesses
Tammy knows that Wisconsinites rely on our United States Postal Service (USPS) to get life-saving medication, send letters, deliver packages, and even run their businesses. However, in the past two years, USPS has raised the price of First-Class stamps from 60 cents to 73 cents. And recently, Wisconsin’s rural newspapers have been experiencing delivery delays that are impacting their ability to serve their communities.
As USPS has raised the price of postage, these unsustainable price increases and service delays are putting Wisconsin businesses at risk, and has resulted in lost revenue, customer complaints, and canceled subscriptions for Wisconsin’s rural newspapers. That’s why, Tammy recently stood up for Wisconsin’s rural newspapers and wrote a letter calling on the Postmaster General to immediately address costly delays and decreased quality of service. Our Wisconsin businesses keep our proud Made in Wisconsin economy going strong, that’s why Tammy is going to keep standing up for businesses across our state and making sure they have all the resources and support needed to thrive and keep our economy moving forward.
