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

President Trump is being forced to do something to …reduce those lines at the airports. Again, it’s just unconscionable what Democrats are doing, but because the media is on their side, they’re not wholly accountable.
– U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, on President Donald Trump sending ICE to airports as TSA agents go without pay amid an ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. 

Donald Trump started a war in Iran without Congressional approval, and Republicans stayed silent. Donald Trump is now instructing them to not fund TSA. More expensive flights and longer wait times, but he doesn’t care since he can just use the jet Qatar gave him.
– U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, after Trump this week called for Republicans not to make a deal with Democrats on DHS funding without an agreement on a voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act. 

This week’s news

— U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan argued Congress should fund federal agencies like the TSA before taking on immigration enforcement reform. 

Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, said Tuesday on the WisPolitics “Capitol Chats” podcast that lawmakers should strike a deal to fund most of the federal agencies that comprise Homeland Security and negotiate separately on reforming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He called it a “no-brainer.”

“We don’t disagree about TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard, et cetera – just fund it, right? The disagreement is over ICE,” Pocan said. 

Senate lawmakers have been negotiating to end the partial government shutdown, which in recent days has led to long wait times at airports across the country as unpaid Transportation Security Administration workers have quit or not shown up to work. 

Pocan noted GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and John Kennedy of Louisiana had made statements indicating potential support for such a measure, and cited a bill from Rhode Island Dem Rep. Rosa DeLauro that would fund all DHS agencies except for ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the Secretary as a potential vehicle. 

Senate Democrats sent their latest offer to Republicans on Tuesday to fund all of DHS while placing guardrails on ICE; Senate Majority Leader John Thune dismissed that offer as “not even close to being real.”

Pocan said the $75 billion supplement ICE received under Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the agency’s funding a “moot point,” since the agency has been able to continue operating without its annual appropriation. 

“At some point we’ve just got to do what we all agree we need to do, which is fund those agencies like TSA that need to be funded, and then we can have those other conversations about Homeland,” Pocan said. 

Pocan also talked about the status of a $200 billion funding request from the Pentagon to prosecute the war in Iran and the deployment of ICE agents to major airports amid the security delays. 

Listen to the full “Capitol Chats” episode here.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says Markwayne Mullin won’t “stop the lawlessness and violence ICE is bringing to American cities” after voting against his confirmation as Department of Homeland Security secretary. 

Mullin, an Oklahoma GOP senator, was confirmed 54-45 on Monday and sworn in on Tuesday. 

Baldwin, D-Madison, had expressed skepticism about Mullin’s nomination, citing his defense of ICE’s tactics during the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown and defense of federal agents who fatally shot two Minneapolis residents earlier this year.

“He himself has threatened or praised physical violence – and that is simply not what Wisconsinites want or expect after seeing ICE kill two American citizens,” Baldwin said in a statement to WisPolitics. 

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, voted with Senate Republicans and two Democrats to confirm Mullin, while Baldwin joined Democrats and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, to vote against Mullin.

Johnson had said he would back his fellow senator to lead DHS even before Mullin’s fraught confirmation hearing last week, where Paul questioned Mullin’s temperament and use of violent rhetoric. That included Mullin’s past comments saying he understood why someone had targeted Paul in a 2017 attack that left him with broken ribs and a damaged lung. 

Johnson, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, used his time to praise Mullin’s character and ask the Oklahoman to relate stories of Mullin’s relationships with Dem lawmakers and Trump. His office did not return a request for comment. 

GOP U.S. Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Tony Wied in statements this week praised Mullin and pushed Dems to get on board with a deal to fund DHS. The agency has been partially shut down since Feb. 13 amid Dems’ push for more guardrails on immigration enforcement. 

“With my friend Markwayne Mullin now confirmed, we’re continuing the work already underway to strengthen DHS and advance President Trump’s America First policies,” Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, said. “Now is the time to fully fund DHS and give Secretary Mullin the tools to carry out the American people’s mandate.” 

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Town of Vermont, also criticized Mullin’s confirmation on “Capitol Chats.”

Mullin has indicated he is open to some reforms of ICE, like requiring immigration officers to use judicial warrants to enter homes and businesses unless agents are already pursuing someone. 

“I don’t think Markwayne Mullin is a change,” Pocan said. “It’s a different face, but, bluntly, the IQ level hasn’t changed, and I think the approach doesn’t look like it’s changed yet.”

— President Donald Trump’s net approval rating hit this month an all-time low among Wisconsin voters in the latest Marquette University Law School poll.

Forty-two percent of registered voters approved of the job Trump is doing, while 56% disapproved for a net rating of minus 14. His previous low was a minus 12 in September 2018 during his first term, and his split was 48-51 in February 2025, shortly after he took office for his second term.

Poll Director Charles Franklin noted Trump during his first term had job approval numbers below 42%, but that was largely early in his term while voters were still making up their minds about him. In the first two Marquette polls of 2017, Trump’s splits were 41-47 and 41-51.

Franklin called it “steady slippage” for Trump over his second term rather than a cratering.

“Cratering to me is an adjective to me that you use when approval drops seven points in a month, and we haven’t seen anything like that in our polling,” Franklin said.

The latest slip comes as 84% of Republicans say they approve of the job Trump is doing, down from 91% last month. Meanwhile, 66% of independents disapprove of the job Trump is doing, with 26% approving.

On other issues:

  • 59% said they believe Trump’s policies will increase inflation, while 28% said they will decrease it. Two-thirds of independents believe Trump’s policies will increase inflation.
  • 39% approved of the attacks on Iran, while 61% disapproved. That includes 73% of independents who disapproved.
  • 30% said tariffs help the U.S. economy, while 53% said they hurt it.

The poll also showed a 43-47 favorable-unfavorable split for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, compared to 45-45 in February, and a 36-44 split for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, compared to 38-44 last month.

The poll of 850 registered voters was conducted March 11-18 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. The sample included 597 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

The sample of GOP primary voters was 396, and the questions posted to them had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.3 percentage points. It also included 393 Dem primary voters, and the margin of error for the questions asked of them was plus or minus 6.7 percentage points.

The survey included 619 respondents selected from the state’s voter registration list and 231 from the SSRS Opinion Panel, which is drawn from postal addresses across Wisconsin.

The partisan makeup of the sample was 36% Republican, 32% Dem and 32% independent, in line with recent averages for the survey.

Nate Silver rates Marquette the nation’s second-best pollster with an A/B rating.

— U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, has introduced bipartisan legislation meant to help older foster youth form relationships with adults.

The CONNECT Act would expand adult mentorship and peer support services for foster youth aging out of the system and instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on these changes to state agencies.

Ohio Sen. Mike Carey, a Republican, co-sponsored the bill. 

The bill builds upon the existing federal Chafee program, which provides funding support for state agencies to assist foster youth seeking employment education, housing, counseling, health care, transportation and other essentials. 

In a statement, Moore cited the support relied upon attending Marquette University as a single mom and welfare recipient in the early 1970s.

“Foster youth face many challenges and healthy relationships with trusted adults are imperative to a successful transition to adulthood, which is a difficult process for anyone, but especially so for foster youth,” Moore said. “Our bipartisan legislation recognizes that it often takes a village and supportive relationships should play a central role in helping foster youth reach their full potential.”

Posts of the week

ICYMI

Wall Street Journal Opinion: Ron Johnson: Move to End the Filibuster Now–Before Democrats Do

NewsNation: Iran is a ‘menace’ holding the world hostage, Sen. Johnson says

Seehafer News: Sen. Baldwin Introduces Bill to Provide Permanent Tax Relief for Middle Class Americans

WEAU: Van Orden announces $600k in funding for Chippewa County morgue

Politico: These House GOP election proposals could end up in a reconciliation bill

WLUK: Connect to Congress: Grothman calls for passage of SAVE America Act, addresses war in Iran

Spectrum News 1: Wisconsin Republicans renew push on their government shutdown bills

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In contested Wisconsin GOP race, Sean Duffy’s presence looms large