MONROE - In the third town hall during his two-week recess from Congress, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan spoke to residents of Green County Monday about concerns like health care, political gridlock and gun violence in schools.
When a self-described grandmother submitted a written question asking how schools can be made safer, Pocan said the lack of action was frustrating.
"We go in front of the chamber and have a moment of silence and then we go back to doing absolutely nothing about gun violence," Pocan said. "I would really like some moments of action rather than moments of silence."
But he noted that the most recent push for laws more strictly regulating gun access was different as spoken through young adults, and that the lobbyists do not reflect his constituents.
"To me, the (National Rifle Association) is not the average person in Wisconsin who just wants to make sure no one wants to take away their shotgun because it's a family tradition that they go out and hunt," Pocan said. "And to me, the NRA is not someone who lives in a tough neighborhood, lives alone and has a handgun for personal protection. To me, the NRA as I see it in Washington is a bunch of gun manufacturers and big-money lobbyists who work for those gun manufacturers who want to sell more guns so they can take more vacations and have bigger garages than their neighbors."
Pocan added that he felt background checks should be more comprehensive and that an honest debate would help to clarify the issue between those who call for more regulation and people who express fear of their hunting rifles being taken away by the government.
As he stood in front of 39 area residents at the Green County Courthouse, he also spoke of his personal experience of undergoing a triple-bypass surgery in November and the costs he identified for the procedure of roughly $200,000.
While Pocan noted positive impacts of the Affordable Care Act - like removing the possibility of insurance denial based on pre-existing conditions, increased funding for prevention services, equitable costs for men and women and allowing children to use their parents' coverage until the age of 26 - he pointed to the Republican-led tax bill as "death by a million cuts" to health care laws.
Pocan didn't vote on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed in Congress in late December, which he said was due to being in recovery after his heart attack.
Because the bill repealed the ACA insurance mandate, premiums will likely increase by 10 percent each year for the insured over the next decade because fewer people will have coverage, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Pocan noted that "people are tired of the complexity of the system."
"They want us to look at something like a single-payer system because it would take away a lot of the inefficiencies and make sure more people are covered," Pocan said.
Bill Holland of Monroe said he felt the legislative system is "completely broken" and noted legislators seemed unable to pass any bills, echoing what Pocan said he has heard at other town halls in Rock and Lafayette counties previously. Before the beginning of the town hall in Monroe, Pocan said constituents have expressed concerns over the current administration.
"There's just a lot of angst about what's going on, I think a lot of uncertainty," he said. "What's happening in Congress, what's Donald Trump up to? Everyone gets information the same time I do when we check our Twitter account."
Pocan noted the importance of infrastructure investment, from schools to energy grids to rural broadband, which "he could talk about all day."
As a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, he and fellow legislators budgeted a proposed $2 trillion, roughly half the total identified by the American Society of Civil Engineers as necessary for the country to meet its needs. Green County leaders have suggested the cost to replace aging bridges may need to be paid for via a wheel tax currently being considered by the finance committee.
Pocan noted President Trump's proposed plan to bolster infrastructure work by placing financial burdens on local governments may not be put into action.
"There's a big need," Pocan said. "That plan is probably not going to go very far."
He also criticized Governor Scott Walker's propensity toward forcing district referenda to pay for public schools and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos utilizing federal funds to invest in private schools rather than public education.
Members of the town hall crowd asked about Social Security, which Pocan said he believes should be expanded, not cut down as he noted House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed. Pocan said a positive step would be to remove the tax cap to extend the life of the program for roughly 75 years. Currently, the maximum amount anyone can be taxed annually for Social Security is about $8,000, because the 6.2 percent tax rate applies only to an earner's first $128,000 of income. He added that the calculations to provide Social Security payments do not consider medication costs, which account for a quarter of senior spending.
Pocan said he was confident a "pretty big blue wave" will likely sweep across the United States this year.
"We're expecting a very good November," Pocan said. "There's this great uncertainty and unhappiness with the current climate. Parents are tired of explaining what porn stars and s-holes are to their children, and they're uncertain about their health care and whether or not their paychecks are increasing. I think all of this has just gotten to a point that people are looking for a change we're not offering."
Audience members expressed frustration with some government representatives not listening to their concerns.
"When people lead, eventually the leaders will follow; I really believe that on so many issues," Pocan said. "Just really make us do it ... If you don't like what people are doing, if they won't change their ways in Congress or in the Legislature, you change the faces of the people."
When a self-described grandmother submitted a written question asking how schools can be made safer, Pocan said the lack of action was frustrating.
"We go in front of the chamber and have a moment of silence and then we go back to doing absolutely nothing about gun violence," Pocan said. "I would really like some moments of action rather than moments of silence."
But he noted that the most recent push for laws more strictly regulating gun access was different as spoken through young adults, and that the lobbyists do not reflect his constituents.
"To me, the (National Rifle Association) is not the average person in Wisconsin who just wants to make sure no one wants to take away their shotgun because it's a family tradition that they go out and hunt," Pocan said. "And to me, the NRA is not someone who lives in a tough neighborhood, lives alone and has a handgun for personal protection. To me, the NRA as I see it in Washington is a bunch of gun manufacturers and big-money lobbyists who work for those gun manufacturers who want to sell more guns so they can take more vacations and have bigger garages than their neighbors."
Pocan added that he felt background checks should be more comprehensive and that an honest debate would help to clarify the issue between those who call for more regulation and people who express fear of their hunting rifles being taken away by the government.
As he stood in front of 39 area residents at the Green County Courthouse, he also spoke of his personal experience of undergoing a triple-bypass surgery in November and the costs he identified for the procedure of roughly $200,000.
While Pocan noted positive impacts of the Affordable Care Act - like removing the possibility of insurance denial based on pre-existing conditions, increased funding for prevention services, equitable costs for men and women and allowing children to use their parents' coverage until the age of 26 - he pointed to the Republican-led tax bill as "death by a million cuts" to health care laws.
Pocan didn't vote on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed in Congress in late December, which he said was due to being in recovery after his heart attack.
Because the bill repealed the ACA insurance mandate, premiums will likely increase by 10 percent each year for the insured over the next decade because fewer people will have coverage, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Pocan noted that "people are tired of the complexity of the system."
"They want us to look at something like a single-payer system because it would take away a lot of the inefficiencies and make sure more people are covered," Pocan said.
Bill Holland of Monroe said he felt the legislative system is "completely broken" and noted legislators seemed unable to pass any bills, echoing what Pocan said he has heard at other town halls in Rock and Lafayette counties previously. Before the beginning of the town hall in Monroe, Pocan said constituents have expressed concerns over the current administration.
"There's just a lot of angst about what's going on, I think a lot of uncertainty," he said. "What's happening in Congress, what's Donald Trump up to? Everyone gets information the same time I do when we check our Twitter account."
Pocan noted the importance of infrastructure investment, from schools to energy grids to rural broadband, which "he could talk about all day."
As a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, he and fellow legislators budgeted a proposed $2 trillion, roughly half the total identified by the American Society of Civil Engineers as necessary for the country to meet its needs. Green County leaders have suggested the cost to replace aging bridges may need to be paid for via a wheel tax currently being considered by the finance committee.
Pocan noted President Trump's proposed plan to bolster infrastructure work by placing financial burdens on local governments may not be put into action.
"There's a big need," Pocan said. "That plan is probably not going to go very far."
He also criticized Governor Scott Walker's propensity toward forcing district referenda to pay for public schools and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos utilizing federal funds to invest in private schools rather than public education.
Members of the town hall crowd asked about Social Security, which Pocan said he believes should be expanded, not cut down as he noted House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed. Pocan said a positive step would be to remove the tax cap to extend the life of the program for roughly 75 years. Currently, the maximum amount anyone can be taxed annually for Social Security is about $8,000, because the 6.2 percent tax rate applies only to an earner's first $128,000 of income. He added that the calculations to provide Social Security payments do not consider medication costs, which account for a quarter of senior spending.
Pocan said he was confident a "pretty big blue wave" will likely sweep across the United States this year.
"We're expecting a very good November," Pocan said. "There's this great uncertainty and unhappiness with the current climate. Parents are tired of explaining what porn stars and s-holes are to their children, and they're uncertain about their health care and whether or not their paychecks are increasing. I think all of this has just gotten to a point that people are looking for a change we're not offering."
Audience members expressed frustration with some government representatives not listening to their concerns.
"When people lead, eventually the leaders will follow; I really believe that on so many issues," Pocan said. "Just really make us do it ... If you don't like what people are doing, if they won't change their ways in Congress or in the Legislature, you change the faces of the people."