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

Quotes of the week

Are Americans better off than they were four years ago? No. I answered it for you, @VP.
– U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in a post on X directed at Vice President Kamala Harris after her Tuesday debate against President Donald Trump.

Seriously, Trump is the craziest, angriest “get off my lawn” guy to get near the nuclear codes. No one should support this level of insanity. Completely unhinged.
– U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, weighing in on Trump’s debate performance in a post on X.

This week’s news

— U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, this week joined fellow GOP senators in urging the Dem-controlled chamber to pass a bill seeking to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

The SAVE Act would require states to check voters’ citizenship status before registering them to vote. Dems argue the bill is unnecessary, since noncitizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections. 

Johnson at the Washington, D.C., press conference said while Dems and the “mainstream media” claim elections are perfect and totally secure, that’s “simply not true.” 

“There’s one side of the political spectrum that does want to make it easy to vote, but wants total election integrity. There’s another side that wants to make it easy to cheat, and I think you know who that is,” Johnson said. 

Donald Trump this week urged Republicans against passing a bill to extend federal funding at current levels for six months without the SAVE Act attached despite a looming government shutdown on Sept. 30. Said Trump in a post on Truth Social: “DON’T LET IT HAPPEN – CLOSE IT DOWN!!!” 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had planned a vote Wednesday on the bill, which House Republicans tacked on to legislation to extend government funding through March 28 in order to avert a government shutdown. But he decided to delay the vote until next week as support for the measure broke down in the GOP-led chamber. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, charged the speaker with “wasting time caving to the hard right” and called the GOP funding proposal “unserious.” 

Dem U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, of Milwaukee, and Mark Pocan, of the town of Vermont, knocked the proposal and dysfunction among House Republicans.

Moore said “MAGA Republicans” have caused “chaos and dysfunction” and failed to govern or meet Americans’ needs.

“Now they can’t even reach a consensus within their caucus,” Moore said in a statement to WisPolitics. “Instead of trying to hold the country hostage with their extreme Project 2025 demands, House Republicans need to work with Democrats to advance a proposal to fund the government.”

“The chaos in the MAGA Republican conference wastes valuable time, over and over again. Instead of doing the work for the American people, they’re pushing their extreme Project 2025 agenda by holding government funding hostage unless we make it harder for people to vote,” Pocan said in a statement to WisPolitics. “It’s time for House Republicans to work with House Democrats and pass a government funding bill that works for all Americans, not just the most extreme.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in a statement to WisPolitics said it’s up to Dems whether a government shutdown occurs. 

“The question is simple: Do Democrats want to prevent illegal aliens from voting, or do they want to shut down the government by allowing them to vote in our elections? By opposing a continuing resolution to fund the government through March, they are choosing the latter,” Tiffany said. 

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman said he was prepared to vote for government funding with the SAVE Act attached. 

“Now more than ever, Congress has a responsibility to the American people to ensure that the election in November will be free and fair,” the Glenbeulah Republican said in a statement to WisPolitics. “I cannot imagine why 198 of my Democratic colleagues previously objected to this commonsense legislation that ensures only American citizens are able to vote.” 

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, also knocked Dems.

“It is deeply concerning that my Democrat colleagues opposed this funding bill simply because they do not want to stop illegal aliens, like the one who brutally assaulted a mother and daughter just a mile from my home, from voting in our federal elections,” Van Orden said in a statement. 

— The new Marquette University Law School Poll found a narrow advantage for Kamala Harris in Wisconsin’s presidential race amid a rise in Dem enthusiasm to vote.

Meanwhile, the spread in the U.S. Senate race in head-to-head questions closely matched the presidential race for the first time this year after Dem incumbent Tammy Baldwin has consistently run ahead of the top of the ticket in previous Marquette polls.

See full poll coverage in Wednesday’s PM Update.

— U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, this week argued the Biden-Harris administration is allowing violent gang members to “wander around the nation at their leisure” after a non-citizen was arrested in his city last week.

Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate of Venezuela, 26, was arrested in Prairie du Chien last week on charges of domestic disorderly conduct, two counts of domestic battery, strangulation/suffocation, physical abuse to a child, disorderly conduct and two counts of second degree sexual assault.

According to the Prairie du Chien Police Department, Zarate is suspected to be affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization based in Venezuela. The gang is involved in various criminal activities, including human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL, spoke to reporters on a virtual press call this week with Crawford County Sheriff Dale McCullick and Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Teynor. Zarate has “prominently displayed” tattoos indicating his gang affiliation, according to police, which Van Orden claimed were visible when he entered the country.

“If you have this tattoo and you’re not a member of that gang, the other members of the gang will physically cut it off your body while you’re living. It’s a death sentence if you’re not a member of that gang,” Van Orden said. “So the big question is, why is the Biden administration allowing known members of violent criminal gangs from foreign nations into the country and essentially paroling them to allow them to wander around the nation at their leisure?”

The Biden-Harris administration has designated Tren de Aragua a significant transnational criminal organization. A spokesperson for the Harris campaign declined to comment. 

Teynor said from a small town police agency to urban areas, “these struggles are real.” 

“And we need to make some progress in bringing some calm to our community and reassure our residents that we have their best interests in mind and …. won’t stop the efforts in making a peaceful and calm community that we can live in.” 

Van Orden and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, have sent a letter to Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett seeking more information about warrants against Zarate for similar charges, including strangulation/suffocation, false imprisonment, battery and disorderly conduct.

— Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson says Trump must campaign in Dem-dominated Dane and Milwaukee counties ahead of Election Day in order to win Wisconsin.

“They’ve got to reduce the Democratic votes in Dane County,” Thompson said on WISN’s “UpFront,” produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “Number two, they’ve got to go to Serb Hall and have a rally. And just like before your time, Ronald Reagan came and opened up Serb Hall. South Milwaukee is a conservative Democrat area, and you can pick up a lot of votes there. And then go into Platteville and talk to the people down there about the Keystone pipeline and opening up the border.”

Thompson said he personally delivered the message to Trump when he campaigned in La Crosse.

“He listened,” Thompson said. “He listened intently, and let’s see what he does.”

— During a bus tour throughout parts of Wisconsin, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says public schools, including in Wisconsin, are under attack.

“While underfunded in many places, we’re seeing money being taken away to pay for private tuitions and vouchers,” Cardona told “UpFront.” “So we’re defending public education. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for public schools that I attended and for the great majority of students across this country.”

See more from the show here. 

— Trump vowed during a weekend rally in Mosinee to eliminate the federal Department of Education as part of an effort to send oversight back to the states.

Trump on Saturday also said he’d sign pardons on “day one” of his presidency for those convicted of charges related to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, drawing a rebuke from Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Trump told backers he planned to work with businessman Elon Musk on a government efficiency commission to audit the federal government and “cut the fat.” He said that process would result in eliminating the Department of Education. He added that would put states in charge of education policies and suggested there’d be a role for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, in the proposed system.

“We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education and send education back to Wisconsin and back to the states,” Trump said. “Senator Ron Johnson can run it.”

See full coverage of the rally here. 

— In this week’s Capitol Chats episode, 8th CD Dem candidate Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN, says she believes her message in support of abortion resonates in the district, arguing abortion “is not something rare and unusual.” 

Lyerly is running against Republican Tony Wied for the open 8th CD seat previously held by former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Allouez.

Listen to the podcast here. 

— Dem vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will stop in Wausau tomorrow for a campaign visit. 

Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, was in La Crosse Tuesday night for a presidential debate watch party. 

Posts of the week

 

 

 

 

ICYMI

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Both party leaders in Wisconsin rooting for a Kamala Harris-Donald Trump rematch debate

WPR: As election cycle heats up, WisconsinEye calls on Baldwin campaign to pull ad footage

BizTimes: Earned media a highlight of 2024 RNC’s impact on Milwaukee

PBS Wisconsin: Ahead of 2024 election, some voters say they’re tired of incivility in politics

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