Mark Pocan
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Articles by Mark Pocan
Workers Deserve a Level Playing Field
Reps. Debbie Dingell, Steven Horsford, Donald Norcross, and Mark Pocan are co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus. For millions of Americans, Labor Day weekend is filled with enjoying the weather and time with family. But as a nation, we must remember that the weekend itself was paid for by the sweat, sacrifice, and solidarity of the labor movement. This holiday is a time to thank America’s unions and celebrate hard-fought, historic victories.
Rep. Mark Pocan on the Labor Caucus, the PRO Act and Clean Energy Jobs
U.S. Representative Mark Pocan of Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades for more than 30 years and a co-chair of the Congressional Labor Caucus, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the state of worker power in Washington and in Wisconsin. He also offered a reminder about the importance of organized labor as part of the Labor 132 series presented by the National Labor Office of Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Opinion | Wisconsin voters deserve fair maps in November
You may remember that before the 2024 November election, there was a move to fix the gerrymandered state legislative maps through a fairer redistricting process. The effort was successful, and the new maps offered fairer district boundaries so voters selected their elected officials instead of the other way around. Unfortunately, that measure only applied to state legislative maps, not federal.
Recognizing the Progress of the Black Community’s Fight Against HIV Original
Today marks the 26th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (#NBHAAD). The Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus and Congressional leaders recognize this day to help increase HIV awareness and enhance prevention, testing, and treatment among Black Americans. This day comes at a critical time for our country as we work to reduce new cases and end the HIV epidemic by 2030, a goal established under the first Trump Administration.
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Opinion | A bipartisan call for candidates to defend democracy
When we served together in Congress, it’s fair to say we had our share of political differences. But today, we come together to address an issue that transcends partisan ideologies: the attack on American democracy. Our simple but powerful state motto, “Forward,” has served as a North Star for both of us — one a former Republican House member, one a current Democratic member — throughout our careers serving the people of Wisconsin.
LGBTQ history: Ignorance, fear and rubber gloves - a perspective
Tammy Baldwin Mark Pocan Washington county White state Wisconsin county Clinton city Oklahoma City lgbtq President social Celebrity Gay Tammy Baldwin Mark Pocan Washington county White state Wisconsin county Clinton city Oklahoma City Tammy Baldwin Mark Pocan Washington county White state Wisconsin county Clinton city Oklahoma City lgbtq President social Celebrity Gay washingtonblade.com: BY MARK POCAN | While serving alongside now-Sen.
LGBTQ history: Ignorance, fear and rubber gloves - a perspective
BY MARK POCAN | While serving alongside now-Sen. Tammy Baldwin on the Dane County, Wis., Board of Supervisors in 1995, we were invited to the Clinton White House for a celebration of openly gay elected officials. We headed to Washington and after some sightseeing, finally got to take a tour of the White House. As we came through the metal detectors, we noticed the security personnel wearing rubber gloves.
Don’t Fall for No Labels’ Trap
When I first came to Congress, I was enamored with the alleged ideal behind No Labels and their mission to take partisanship out of politics. A world where people can work together on ideas that help the American people despite ideological differences. Their nonpartisan agenda is and always has been dishonest.
Mark Pocan
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Opinion | MAGA extremists threaten America’s clean energy jobs boom
Since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, companies have announced tens of billions of dollars in renewable energy, battery and electric vehicle projects. That’s no coincidence. The new law incentivizes companies to expand domestic manufacturing in clean energy. So far, clean energy companies have created more than 142,000 clean energy jobs across the country for new projects.
New Topics, Same Tricks: Anti-LGBTQ+ Politicians Fall to Their Old Ways
For decades, opponents of marriage equality said legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to the complete end of the institution. However, after meeting same-sex couples and seeing legalized marriage equality spread from state to state and then nationwide, the public finally saw those decades of attacks for what they truly were: lies and fearmongering.
It’s Time to End the Medicare Advantage Scam
On December 7, the 2022 open enrollment period for Medicare—the time of year when millions of seniors can choose the best Medicare plan to meet their health care needs—closed. But the truth is that for too many seniors, the choice can be both overwhelming and confusing. One of the main contributors to this confusion is a scheme by private insurance companies to prey on seniors and profit off of the Medicare brand, all in the name of padding their corporate profits and shareholder returns.
Mark Pocan wins reelection to Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District
MADISON, Wis. — Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan has won another term representing Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District. Pocan defeated his two challengers with 72.2% of the vote. Republican challenger Erik Olsen received 25.8% of the vote while Independent Douglas Alexander received 2%.
Ro Khanna And Mark Pocan On A Crusade To Save Medicare Original
Last week, I got a letter from the Medicare administration folks and you can see part of it above. I’m a huge Medicare supporter and I feel like it saved my life. When I was diagnosed with a rare former of cancer— mantle cell lymphoma— treatment was well over a million dollars. Who can afford that! Medicare paid everything without any of the tricks private insurance companies use to not pay.
21st Century President Act (H.R. 3285)
Add a note about this bill. Your note is for you and will not be shared with anyone. Because you are a member of panel, your positions on legislation and notes below will be shared with the panel administrators. (More Info) About the bill The first woman president, or the first president with a same-sex spouse, may be the *next *president.
Congress Now Has a Labor Caucus
Interview by Meagan Day On November 13, Representatives Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ) announced the creation of a Labor Caucus, “intended to advance the needs of the labor movement, combat the issues facing working families, and connect legislators directly with unions and union leaders.” Both organized labor and workers generally face neglect and hostility in the halls of Congress where industry lobbyists, wealthy donors, and large employers exert powerful influence on both...
Don't blame the left for underperformance down-ballot
Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan As Donald Trump leaves office, Democrats must continue building a bold, inclusive and forward-looking vision that delivers for the American people and strengthens our electoral success. The answer isn’t to think smaller or run away from our most popular policies, as some moderates suggest. The Biden-Harris victory wouldn’t have been possible without the energy and vision of the left.
Everyone Needs to Do More to Fight COVID-19
The COVID-19 numbers in Wisconsin are horrifying. This past week, we were hitting 5,000 cases and 50 deaths a day in Wisconsin alone. We’ve reached over 225,000 cases across Wisconsin and more than 2000 deaths. Our state often had the second-most cases in the country on any given day — even though we are only 1.6% of the population.
Meagan Day
Meagan Day is a staff writer at Jacobin. She is the coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism. The demand to cancel student debt is vital, but it would be politically dangerous to let it get detached from a broader left vision for higher education. We should unite it with another key working class demand: tuition-free public college and trade school.
Rep. Mark Pocan: Pompeo visit highlights the Trump administration's disastrous record for Wisconsinites
Rep. Mark Pocan: Pompeo visit highlights the Trump administration's disastrous record for Wisconsinites Pompeo Jacquelyn Martin It is appalling that the Secretary of the State, Mike Pompeo, would politicize his office to the point of using our state Capitol building — in the middle of a pandemic his boss Donald Trump failed to respond to — to give a foreign policy speech that will tell everything but the truth.
Rep. Mark Pocan: Wisconsin’s path to recovery: testing, tracing, masking and isolation
Rep. Mark Pocan: Wisconsin’s path to recovery: testing, tracing, masking and isolation × Sign Up Today and Support Local Journalism Enjoy more articles from Madison's Most Trusted Information Source. Subscribers can log in for unlimited digital access Public Health Madison and Dane County employees and members of the Wisconsin National Guard operate a drive-through testing facility for COVID-19 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on May 13.
Rep. Mark Pocan: Wisconsin’s path to recovery: testing, tracing and isolation
Rep. Mark Pocan: Wisconsin’s path to recovery: testing, tracing and isolation Public Health Madison and Dane County employees and members of the Wisconsin National Guard operate a drive-through testing facility for COVID-19 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison on May 13. WILL CIOCI, WISCONSIN WATCH The numbers are staggering. As of right now, Wisconsin has over 49,000 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases and almost 900 confirmed deaths.
Opinion | Reps. Mark Pocan and Pramila Jayapal: We can afford a coronavirus stimulus if we trim the military budget
Serving in Congress is supposed to be about making choices to benefit all Americans. Where is the money most needed? How can we maximize our dollars, and help as many people as possible? But we seemingly never ask those questions when it comes to military spending.
Work Share: How to help workers, businesses and states all at once
Millions of Americans have lost, or are losing, their jobs, and small businesses across the country are closing daily. The coronavirus emergency aid legislation passed by Congress last week was a good first step in helping workers and businesses, but more must be done. One simple and quick fix would be updating what 27 states and Washington, DC already allow – work share programs.
Big problems require big solutions. Democrats need a bold, progressive vision to win 2020.
There is a false choice being presented to voters in 2020 — a narrative that claims Democrats should aim lower and promise less if we want to beat President Donald Trump. We disagree completely. As progressive leaders in Congress, we know for a fact that bold and populist ideas are the only way we can win back the White House, and bring the Senate and House along with it. The truth is our country is not nearly as divided as some would like you to believe.
The PRO Act: Good for workers and good for business
For decades, working families could depend on labor unions to represent their collective interests -- ensuring a living wage, better benefits and a voice in their workplace. Now, after 50 years of rollbacks on union and labor rights, workers have been silenced at their jobs. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is an opportunity for Congress to give working families their voice back. The PRO Act is about guaranteeing democracy and civility in the workplace.
A $15 Minimum Wage Is Exactly What Our Economy Needs
This week, Democrats in the House have the chance to end poverty wages and increase paychecks for 27 million American workers. There’s no excuse not to get this done. Democratic candidates around the country ran on a $15 minimum wage. In 2018, Arkansas and Missouri -- not exactly bastions of liberal politics -- voted overwhelmingly to raise their minimum wages.
Betsy DeVos is unfit to lead the Education Department. It's time for her to resign.
Last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the House Appropriations Committee to attempt to justify the Trump administration’s 2020 budget request. During the committee hearing, members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans — had the opportunity to ask her about a number of programs and funding decisions that we found problematic to our students, educators and schools.
'No Labels' Needs A Warning Label
When I was elected to Congress in 2012, I attended the Bipartisan Program for Newly Elected Members of Congress at Harvard University. I was so excited to be a member of a branch of government for the most awesome country on the planet. At the program, one of the presentations was from a group named No Labels. The organization put forward a proposal for governing that meant working across the aisle to solve problems and stopping the gridlock in Washington.
Democracy hangs by a thread in Brazil
With just days before Brazilians vote in a presidential run-off election, the country teeters on the edge. Only a few years ago, Brazil was widely considered to be a major success story after years of progressive governance produced enormous gains for working people and Brazil’s most impoverished residents. But following years of economic recession and rising levels of violence, Brazil seems poised to elect a candidate who will continue to divide the country and exacerbate rising inequality.
GOP’s two tax-cut wrongs won’t make their policy right
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Intersection: ‘Blue Wave’ Buoys Democrats’ Hopes
US Rep. Mark Pocan (D- Wis) is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Pocan was in Florida this week stumping for congressman Darren Soto, who’s in a primary battle with former congressman Alan Grayson in Florida’s 9th congressional district. Pocan tells Intersection he believes the Democrats are within striking distance of taking control of the House.
Abolish ICE, transfer critical functions: Rep. Mark Pocan
Under Trump, implementing humane immigration has never been more necessary: Opposing view Over the past year, President Donald Trump has turned Immigrations and Customs Enforcement into a mass deportation force to support his political agenda, so misusing the agency that it’s no longer effective. In response, I’m proposing legislation to abolish ICE and transfer its legitimate functions to other government agencies. We know President Trump will tweet lies about Democrats and immigration.
Rep. Pocan: We must abolish ICE | CNN
Editor’s Note: Mark Pocan, a member of the Democratic Party, represents Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. He is Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. CNN — In June, I traveled to Texas to tour the southern border of the United States and I saw firsthand the gut-wrenching effects of President Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy.
Senate tax bill is life or death for Obamacare and millions who need it: Rep. Pocan
I had a triple bypass this month and my Obamacare policy covered it. As a congressman I'll have insurance whatever happens, but other Americans won't be so lucky. In October, while doing a routine exercise class, I felt something strange in my chest. Chalking it up to eating something that wasn’t right or running a little too fast on the treadmill, I shrugged it off, thinking that I was too young and too healthy for it to be anything else.
Opinion | Stop the Unconstitutional War in Yemen (Published 2017)
WASHINGTON — Imagine that the entire population of Washington State — 7.3 million people — were on the brink of starvation, with the port city of Seattle under a naval and aerial blockade, leaving it unable to receive and distribute countless tons of food and aid that sit waiting offshore.
Raise the federal minimum wage
As Labor Day approaches, it’s a good time to reflect on the many lessons from the 2016 election. One stands out: Hard-working Americans of every ideology are tired of an economic system that is unfairly rigged against them. The economy dominated much of the election for a good reason — it is what drives conversation around the dinner table and what keeps Americans up at night.
Trump may be helping to create a famine in Yemen. Congress could stop him.
Mark Pocan, a Democrat, has represented Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District in the House since 2013. He sits on the House Appropriations Committee and is first vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Donald Trump ran for president as the world’s greatest dealmaker. His first international destination as president, Saudi Arabia, is where he reportedly registered eight companies during his campaign.
Representing rural areas in Congress - The Waunakee Tribune: Columns
In this 115th Congress, I was selected by my colleagues to serve on the House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for determining discretionary federal spending of more than a trillion dollars. All members on this committee also sit on subcommittees, and I requested two I felt were meaningful for our congressional district. One of the subcommittee’s I serve on is Agriculture and Rural Development.
Pocan: Americans want a president who puts their needs first
My colleague Rep. Sean Duffy asserted in a recent column that the president’s Joint Address to Congress gives Americans a reason to be optimistic. The truth is that many people are experiencing a reality far different from the empty rhetoric of the president’s speech. Yes, his first month in office has given optimism to people who might reside in Trump Tower or relax at Mar-a-Lago. However, my 19-year-old guest for the speech, college student Lupe Salmeron, heard a different message.
Mark Pocan: Dear President Trump - Metro Weekly
The LGBT community has made great strides under President Obama, but your incoming Administration’s radically conservative advisers and the Republican Party’s anti-LGBT platform gives me grave concerns that this progress will be undermined. During your presidential campaign, you stated you were a supporter of LGBT rights. As an openly gay Member of Congress, I urge you to live up to your claim to be a president for all people, including LGBT Americans.
An Unstoppable Progressive Movement
There is no reason to sugar coat it. The election of Donald Trump is a wakeup call for those of us who care about working-class families. People all across the country are struggling to make ends meet and they feel like the economy is rigged against them in favor of the wealthy. Some of those voters felt disillusioned and frustrated that their voices weren’t being heard in Washington.
Social Security just needs some TLC
To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of Social Security are greatly exaggerated. Social Security is not dead. It is not dying. It is, in fact, alive and well. However, we must work to ensure it stays that way. Too many beneficiaries are hurting today, constantly on the edge of a crisis. And, as America ages, more and more people are going to depend on Social Security payments. That’s why we joined Rep.
Groups urge accounting board to require more tax disclosures
Groups are pressing the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to require companies to publicly disclose certain tax and financial information on a country-by-country basis. Such disclosure would result in companies providing "a complete picture of their offshore operations," groups including the AFL-CIO, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition and Public Citizen said in a letter to FASB Friday.
Why you should be worried about the rapid rise of private voucher schools
Well before I first arrived on Capitol Hill, my home state of Wisconsin had emerged as laboratory for right-wing experiments with far-reaching, national ambitions. These efforts had certain aims in common: they attempted to undermine public workers, attack state budgets, threaten equal access to quality education, and leave behind some of our most vulnerable populations all under the guise of improving education.
Mark Pocan: Who benefits from unions? Everyone
On Labor Day, we should all remember the words of the late, great U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.” This clearly is the mission of the labor movement.The story of unions is the story of America’s middle class.
Who Benefits from Strong Unions? Everyone.
As we approach Labor Day, we should all remember the words of the late, great US Senator Paul Wellstone, "We all do better when we all do better." This clearly is the mission of the labor movement. The story of unions is the story of America's middle-class.Unions have been essential in gaining safer working conditions, better wages and benefits, and empowering workers to have a seat at the table.
Bringing Wisconsin values to DC - Cambridge News / Deerfield Independent: Columns
Amid the year end business, a bill I authored with Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) to save the Perkins Loan program, at the request of UW students and staff, passed so a lifeline to low and middle-income students trying to finance their education will again be available. In the rural town of Vermont where I reside, I frequently hear that broadband speeds are slow and kids cannot do their homework.
Restoring honor to gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans: Column
Too many veterans have received less-than-honorable discharges due to their sexual orientation. Congress’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a watershed moment that ended institutionalized discrimination unjustly targeting gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. Yet thousands of service members who were discharged because of their sexual orientation still bear the scars of that discrimination.
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