MADISON, Wis. — Today, Senator Tammy Baldwin joined State Senator Jeff Smith and a Wisconsin farmer impacted by skyrocketing costs to set the record straight on the impacts of Donald Trump’s cost-raising MAGA agenda on farmers and rural Wisconsinites ahead of his visit to the Chippewa Valley.
Congressman Tom Tiffany and Congressman Derrick Van Orden have rubberstamped Trump’s MAGA agenda by supporting the war-of-choice in Iran that has raised gas prices, tariff-taxes that are squeezing farmers with higher operating costs, as well as gutting Medicaid in the “Big Ugly Bill” and cuts to SNAP.
Watch the press conference here and see what speakers had to say, in part, below:
Senator Tammy Baldwin: “Just yesterday, Congressman Tiffany and Van Orden voted to green light Donald Trump’s war in Iran that is jacking up the cost of just about everything in our rural communities. Wisconsin is a rural state, and the small communities across it define us, and right now they are staring down tough times with increased costs and a full blown health crisis. Again, instead of standing up for Wisconsinites and their health care, Congressmen Tiffany and Van Orden gutted a major lifeline — Medicaid, or Badger Care, as we call it in Wisconsin. The legislation they supported included massive cuts to health care programs that rural families rely on and could leave hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites at risk of losing coverage.”
Senator Jeff Smith: “Much of my district is rural, and I’ve been representing rural districts for all of my political career, and I hear from farmers about the struggles they face because of the Trump administration and MAGA politicians like Congressmen Tiffany and … Van Orden and putting billionaires ahead of working Wisconsinites. Trump’s coming here to tout his MAGA agenda, while farmers and working families are struggling. It’s just totally out of touch and a slap in the face to the people of western Wisconsin. Rural folks in my district are just, they’re having a hard time under this MAGA economy.”
Chippewa Valley Bean Farmer Cindy Brown: “Now, for our company, the direct hit is very difficult, because Chippewa Valley Bean cannot ship beans to our customers in Dubai, because vessels cannot transit the Strait of Hormuz. Now, on top of that, other freight costs into the Gulf have increased by $4,000 a load, and we can’t afford those prices, nor can our customers. Farmers are telling me that they’re getting desperate under this pressure, and we see their anxiety, we feel it too. You know, we can deal with a lot of things, but these farmers are worried about making their loan payments and about losing their farms, and these are farms that have been in their families for generations. You know, there’s no clear end in sight right now, and the longer this goes on, the more money farmers lose, and the darker the outlook becomes. Farmers are used to dealing with things we can’t control. You know there’s weather, there’s unpredictable markets — but our elected representatives cannot continue to work against our interests by choice. The continued Republican support for tariffs and the war in Iran has been deeply disappointing, and given the damage to agriculture profoundly unhelpful.”
