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
I would implore Gov. Evers to put aside his politics, because that’s all this is about, and turn over these rolls so that we can do the appropriate amount from the executive branch enforcement of this because fraud is taking place in Wisconsin and Gov. Evers knows it.
– U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, on the state’s refusal to turn over SNAP enrollment data to the federal government.
In their Big Ugly Bill, Republicans traded away SNAP benefits for hungry families for tax breaks for their billionaire friends. Now, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites are going hungry.
– U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, on federal food stamp cuts.
This week’s news
— A Senate subcommittee chaired by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has obtained a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s cell phone.
Johnson wrote on X late yesterday evening that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had obtained a copy of the former top public official’s phone from the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Johnson wrote.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.
The release of Fauci’s phone data to the Senate panel comes days after that same panel obtained and then released Fauci’s private diaries from the period up to and through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republicans on that committee attacked Fauci for his handling of the pandemic and cast him as a liar and an egomaniac in an hourslong hearing. Fauci, who was given a blanket pardon by President Joe Biden, invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times.
Johnson, who has promoted unsubstantiated theories about COVID-19 vaccine injuries, pressed Fauci about his knowledge of an alleged conspiracy to suppress medical data documenting such injuries.
Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul has scheduled a vote on whether to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer the panel’s questions. A Johnson spokesperson told WisPolitics yesterday the senator will vote to hold Fauci in contempt.
— U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil is asking the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for more information about a felon who voted in the 2024 general election.
Steil, who chairs the House Committee on Administration, asked Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy in a Tuesday letter to detail the frequency and process by which it transmits its list of felons to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
His letter comes after a local news report identified a man convicted of felony theft who voted on Nov. 5, 2024, one day before the end of his jail sentence.
The man was participating in a jail diversion program and so was not incarcerated during his sentence.
“Based on this reporting, the Committee is concerned about the integrity and accuracy of Wisconsin’s voter eligibility verification procedures,” Steil wrote.
The letter asks for a response from the Department of Corrections by Aug. 18. WisPolitics has reached out to the department for comment.
“Americans should have confidence that U.S. elections are being run with integrity,” Steil said in a statement to WisPolitics. “It is unacceptable for any law-abiding U.S. citizen to have their ballot nullified by an illegal vote. I’m focused on making commonsense reforms to improve voter confidence, bolster election integrity, and make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.”
— Steil is also the lead author of a letter seeking documents from New Jersey state officials relating to the registration of thousands of noncitizens.
The Monday letter, addressed to New Jersey Lt. Gov. and Secretary of State Dale Caldwell, requests a trove of state documents, including records “of any alleged software errors that resulted in noncitizens registering to vote or the purposeful registration of noncitizens.”
Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed last month that the state’s Motor Vehicles Commission had mistakenly added roughly 6,600 noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024, of which around 400 had cast ballots.
Sherrill has attributed the incident to a software error.
The letter also asks for documents showing New Jersey’s protocols for verifying information from third-party vendors, like the software that allegedly led to the error; compliance with federal voting laws; as well as documents “relating to New Jersey’s lack of cooperation” with a Department of Homeland Security database used to verify the citizenship and immigration status of people applying for government benefits.
Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, is among the co-signers of the letter.
A representative from Steil’s office said his office has not received a response to either letter.
— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin toured the Milwaukee Elections Operations center following Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s invitation to Vice President JD Vance and amid an ongoing probe by federal officials of the 2020 presidential election.
Ahead of Vance’s visit to Milwaukee last month, Johnson sent a letter inviting Vance to speak with local elections officials.
Vance said he “didn’t have time to meet” with Johnson but invited him to meet with him in Washington. Johnson has said he would take Vance up on that offer when he is in Washington next month.
Johnson wrote in his letter to Vance that any “evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent.” Following the tour last Friday, Baldwin held a roundtable discussion with Johnson Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez.
“Today in Milwaukee, I was able to see what we all know: Wisconsin elections are as secure as it gets thanks to our local election officials,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Despite this, the Trump Administration is reheating old, debunked lies and is weaponizing the federal government to undermine and meddle in our elections.”
— Baldwin continues to push for the release of a U.S. Army investigation into an Iranian drone strike that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait.
In a letter sent yesterday to U.S. Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper, Baldwin requested that the investigation into the March 1 attack be made public and provide Congress with any other classified reviews by Aug. 18.
“Congress and the American people deserve clear answers on what happened on March 1 and why the U.S. military was unable to protect or care for our soldiers,” Baldwin wrote in the letter.
The letter follows Baldwin’s questioning of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on July 21 over a July 12 Washington Post article that quoted U.S. soldiers in Iran saying requests for additional medical and defense systems were denied prior to the attack.
“Furthermore, I request you provide an explanation on why U.S. military medical care was not immediately available to soldiers on March 1, why any requests for additional medical supplies were denied prior to March 1, and whether access to medical care was considered when soldiers were repositioned to the facility at Port Shuaiba,” Baldwin wrote in the letter.
Posts of the week
ICYMI
Price County Review: Democrats protest Tiffany at Phelps County campaign stop
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In Wisconsin’s 3rd district, some Dems question national party’s role
Milwaukee Courier: Tom Tiffany pushes extreme Wisconsin DNR break up plan opposed by Republican officials
Politico: Ron Johnson’s handling of budget hearing rankles Dems
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tom Tiffany heads into general election with nearly $5M in cash
Green Bay Press-Gazette: Democrats say why they’re the best shot to unseat U.S. Rep. Tony Wied
WPR: At event with FBI director Kash Patel, Van Orden calls for fighting fraud
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet the candidates in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District
