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

This deserves your immediate attention and action to ensure no further damage is inflicted upon the people of Wisconsin by the continued uncertainty and chaos being unnecessarily created by the Trump Administration.
– Dem Gov. Tony Evers in a Sunday letter to Wisconsin Congress members as the Trump administration sought to claw back food stamp funding amid the government shutdown. 

Once again, you’re blaming the wrong people. The only person who voted 15 times to block SNAP payments for families in need is @SenatorBaldwin. It’s a shame she couldn’t show the same courage as her eight Senate colleagues who are working with Republicans to end this mess.
– U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, in response to Evers’ letter. Baldwin opposed Republicans’ proposal to reopen the government as she pushed for the renewal of Affordable Care Act subsidies.

This week’s news

— Wisconsin Democrats blasted a bipartisan deal to end a record-long government shutdown this week. Meanwhile, Republicans accused their Dem counterparts of playing politics with the American people for opposing the measure.

The funding deal passed 222-209 in the House, with six Democrats joining Republicans in favor. U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, and Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, voted against the bill, which President Donald Trump signed last night.

Pocan in a floor speech said the bill will reopen the government, but it won’t “protect the 22 million people paying more for the Affordable Care Act, or the 15 million people losing their health care outright due to Republican actions in the Big Ugly Law,” and won’t stop health care increases or restore cuts to food stamps. 

“But I sure hope you’re tanned and rested after your 8-week paid vacation, because you’re going to need it. Democrats are going to continue fighting every single day for people’s health care and food benefits, and we’re going to be on you day after day until we get it done,” Pocan said. 

Moore in a statement said she appreciates and respects the eight Dem senators who helped broker the deal, but “I have little confidence in the promise of a future vote on a still unknown proposal to extend ACA premium subsidies.” 

Moore said her constituents are being forced to pay thousands more without the subsidies, and some will forgo health insurance altogether.

“This isn’t a theoretical threat for more than 300,000 Wisconsinites, including small business owners, who are covered by the ACA. Many of my constituents have shared with my office how important this coverage is to them,” Moore said. 

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in a statement blamed the shutdown on Democrats. 

“More than seven weeks ago, I voted for a clean budget bill to keep the government open, pay our federal workers and military, and ensure taxpayers received their benefits,” Tiffany said “It’s shameful that so many Democrats like Senator Baldwin put politics ahead of the American people for the sake of last week’s elections, but tonight, we ended their hostage racket and delivered funding to strengthen care for veterans, support farmers, and provide stability for hardworking families.”

The agreement extends government funding until Jan. 30 and ensures back pay for federal workers. It also includes three yearlong spending bills to ensure funding for several agencies, SNAP food stamp benefits and a supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children. 

As part of the deal, Senate GOP leadership has said the chamber will hold a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. There is no guarantee of a vote in the House.

U.S. Rep Tony Wied, R-De Pere, posted on X that his vote for the deal “ensures we finally pay service members, federal workers, and resume critical services for our farmers and struggling American families. 207 Democrats voted against that. Let that sink in.”

— In the Senate, all 53 Republicans voted to block U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s amendment to the funding package that sought to include a one-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Baldwin, D-Madison, previously introduced a bill to expand the credits permanently. 

In a floor speech this week, she said millions of Americans will see their premiums double on average without the extension. Open enrollment began Nov. 1. 

“Addressing this demands that we act now, not in a week, not next month, but now,” Baldwin said. “That’s why a handshake deal with my Republican colleagues to reopen the government and no guarantee to actually lower costs is simply not good enough. The people I work for need more than that. They need health care that they can afford, not a symbolic vote.” 

Baldwin’s amendment was seen as a test vote on the proposed extension after a group of eight Dems agreed to a deal that would reopen the federal government. It included a pledge for the Senate to vote on the extension.

Republicans voted 53-47 to table the amendment. The overall package was later approved 60-40 with Baldwin opposed and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, backing it. 

Johnson has argued the Affordable Care Act made health care more expensive and harder to get, charging Democrats with using subsidies to “hide its failures.” 

— The Senate deal also included a provision that would allow senators to sue the United States for up to $500,000 if their data is obtained without their consent. 

The provision came after the FBI obtained call logs for eight senators, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, without their consent during the Biden administration amid a probe into efforts to subvert the 2020 election results. 

Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has argued the senators were targeted for being Republicans. Records related to the Jan. 6, 2021, violent protest at the Capitol show Johnson’s office was involved in an effort to pass a false slate of electors to then-Vice President Mike Pence that claimed Trump won Wisconsin when Joe Biden had secured its 10 electoral votes.

Johnson in a statement to WisPolitics said he supports the provision “as a deterrent to prevent future misuse of federal agencies.” 

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, knocked the measure. 

“Hidden in this Senate so-called ‘deal’ is a massive taxpayer-funded payday for GOP Senators that were investigated for participating in the Jan 6 fake elector scheme. Republicans are writing laws to cover their own rear ends while lining their pockets,” Moore said. 

— President Donald Trump has pardoned Wisconsin’s false electors and three attorneys who were involved in the scheme — even though none of them face federal charges.

Presidential pardons typically don’t apply to state charges. Attorneys Jim Troupis, Michael Roman and Kenneth Chesebro each face 11 felony counts in a case before Dane County court. They’re accused of forging paperwork signed by 10 Republicans falsely claiming Trump had won Wisconsin in 2020 and lying to the Wisconsin GOP electors about how the certificates they signed would be used.

None of Wisconsin’s 10 false electors has been charged in state or federal court.

Ed Martin, the president’s pardon attorney, posted on social media a pardon signed by Trump listing dozens of people involved in his effort to overturn the 2020 election. 

Those on the list include Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, even though neither has been charged with a federal crime. 

Wisconsin’s 10 false electors were also on the list: Carol Brunner, Mary Buestrin, Darryl Carlson, Bill Feehan, Edward Scott Grabins, Andrew Hitt, Kathy Kiernan, Kelly Ruh, Robert F. Spindell Jr. and Pam Travis.

The pardon claims that it “ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the people upon the American people following the 2020 election and continues the process of national reconciliation.”

Posts of the week

ICYMI

WTMJ: Rep. Steil says ‘no pay for Congress during shutdown’ on Wisconsin’s Midday News

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sen. Ron Johnson has ‘no plans’ to use spending bill provision to sue over the search of his phone records

Wisconsin Public Radio: 20-year-old found guilty of arson for setting fire to Wisconsin congressman’s office

The Hill: GOP rep riding from Wisconsin to DC on Harley-Davidson amid flight delays

Politico: ‘Schumer is no longer effective’: Dems outraged over shutdown deal

Fox21: Representatives Stauber and Tiffany remember the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald

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