Latest news with #VanOrden
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pocan holds town hall in Van Orden's district, calls GOP budget the worst he's ever seen
Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan at a town hall meeting in Eau Claire, with a chair for Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden who represents the 3rd Congressional District that includes Eau Claire. The chart behind Pocan shows most of the tax cuts passed by House Republicans go to those in the highest income brackets. | Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner 'Is Derrick here?' asked U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, the Democratic congressman representing Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, which includes Dane County. Pocan was in Eau Claire, the 3rd Congressional District represented by Derrick Van Orden, a Republican, on Saturday, May 31, at a town hall organized by Opportunity Wisconsin, a coalition of grassroots groups, at the Pablo Center at the Confluence, Eau Claire's performing arts center. Van Orden was invited to attend the event but declined. Pocan is one of several congressional Democrats who have begun holding town hall meetings in Republican districts where Republican representatives have been reluctant to meet their constituents who are upset about budget cuts that threaten access to Social Security, Medicaid and federal food assistance. Pocan focused on what President Dondald Trump (R) has called 'the Big Beautiful Bill' that was recently passed by the House of Representatives, and which Pocan called 'the worst bill I've ever seen introduced by anyone, by any political party.' He chided Republican supporters for cutting Medicaid benefits for nearly 14 million Americans, raising the premiums for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and cutting food assistance to 11 million mostly low-income children through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Republican budget reconciliation package also extends tax cuts passed in 2017 for America's top earners, resulting in a nearly $5 trillion national deficit over 10 years. A May 20 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the GOP budget bill projects it would increase the national deficit by $3.8 trillion and decrease Medicaid spending by $698 billion and SNAP spending by $267 billion. A May 22 CBO projection notes the bill would reduce SNAP participation by 'roughly 3.2 million people in an average month over the 2025–2034 period.' There are different projections on how many people would experience a Medicaid cut, with estimates ranging from 7.5 to 10 million. Van Orden sent out a release after Pocan's appearance in Eau Claire: 'What Mr. Pocan is doing is absolutely despicable – continuing to fearmonger our vulnerable populations, including seniors, veterans, hungry children, individuals with disabilities and pregnant women. This bill protects Medicaid and SNAP for those most in need and prevents a 25% tax hike on Wisconsin families. Anyone telling you anything different, including Mr. Pocan, is lying to you.' Van Orden also disputes the CBO's analysis, stating that the CBO has been wrong in the past and tends to be overly critical of Republican-sponsored legislation. 'There are not cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, veteran benefits, SNAP and WIC (Women, Infants and Children program) are not being cut,' Van Orden told a local TV station after the House passed the bill. But Pocan said Van Orden has been corrected even by other Republicans who admit the bill would reduce spending on Medicaid. '83% of the benefit goes to the top 1% of the people,' Pocan said of the tax cuts, 'so they are taking from the pockets of pretty much everyone in this room and putting it into the pockets of Elon Musk and Donald Trumps and others.' Pocan added that only 5% of the tax cuts in the bill will go to working people, including those who won't have to pay taxes on tips, seniors and to offset interest payments on car loans. And, he noted, those cuts will sunset, while the much larger tax cuts for top-earners, which account for 83% of the cost of the bill, are permanent. 'The single largest cut to health care in American history is in this bill, 13.7 million people are estimated would lose access to health care because of the cuts to Medicaid,' Pocan said. 'But what doesn't get as much coverage is they also cut some of the premium assistance for the Affordable Care Act. So it's a $700 billion cut to Medicaid, but also a $300 billion cut to the Affordable Care Act. We don't even have the estimates of the numbers yet, but millions more will pay increased premiums.' Pocan said Republicans have said the Medicaid cuts are really about setting work requirements in exchange for benefits and not a straight cut. 'Two-thirds of the people who get Medicaid are working poor,' Pocan said. While they shouldn't be affected by the new work requirements, the red tape involved in proving their work history will help push people off Medicaid. 'It's not about trying to have any accountability,' he said. 'It's to just make it harder for people to get health care.' Pocan pointed to a state work requirement for Medicaid recipients in Arkansas, where people who lost coverage were actually eligible for care. The work requirements did not boost employment, researchers found and many of those who lost coverage had trouble accessing the online reporting system. Pocan also noted that the projected increase in the deficit under the House proposal would trigger a sequestration requirement, resulting in automatic cuts to Medicare of nearly $500 billion. SNAP cuts would mean a loss of $314 million for Wisconsin. Pocan also criticized Trump's 'on again, off again' practice of announcing tariffs, which had created a climate of uncertainty for businesses. 'Not only did Donald Trump not reduce costs like he promised in November, but the tariffs are actually a tax on all of us,' he said. Pocan criticized Van Orden for not coming to town hall meetings to defend his vote for the Republican budget bill. Van Orden has said he prefers telephone town halls where the meeting isn't dominated by people he describes as leftwing critics, and he also has said that his family has received death threats and is vulnerable in an in-person setting. Pocan acknowledged death threats should be taken seriously, but also stated he and many others in Congress have received death threats, and he criticized Van Orden's telephone town halls for only allowing his supporters to talk. Pocan also criticized Van Orden for going back on his promise never to cut Medicaid or reduce SNAP. Van Orden has claimed the bill doesn't reduce Medicaid and that Medicaid and SNAP payments will continue as usual for recipients if they meet the new work requirements. A registered nurse who attended the town hall in Eau Claire said many of her clients are on Medicaid and Medicare, with several living in nursing homes, and she asked what would happen to them if the House budget bill became law. State Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) who came to the town hall with Pocan, said approximately 55% of people in long-term care in Wisconsin are on Medicaid and if Medicaid funding is cut it will also impact the other 45-50% who have private insurance because facilities will close due to lack of funding. Pocan also responded to questions about cuts to Social Security Administration staff, saying, 'When you cut thousands of people who work for Social Security, you make it harder for people to get access to their money.' Speaking more generally of federal cuts under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, he added, 'They fired the people who worked on avian flu, bird flu, which was affecting us greatly recently, and they had to rehire them at the Department of Health and Human Services.' Pocan said he believed Trump won in November because the cost of living was high and noted that in other countries incumbents also lost because of a backlash caused by global inflation. 'So that was the No. 1 thing going for Donald Trump in November, but today it's the No. 1 thing that's taking him down the polls, because he said he would address it. He's done nothing,' said Pocan. Asked how Democrats could encourage younger people to vote, Pocan said, 'The good news is younger people absolutely agree with more progressive public policy and not conservative policy.' But people 'want to fight back, you want something to happen,' he added. He encouraged Democratic leaders to hold more town hall meetings in Republican districts. 'We should be going into many more Republican districts,' he said. Pocan also encouraged attendees to meet Van Orden whenever he is in Eau Claire and ask to talk to him directly, and invite the press to be there for the interaction. He encouraged the crowd of 100-plus to become active. 'You happen to be in this very unique position of having a member that is in a purple district,' Pocan said of Van Orden, who won in 2024 by one of the smallest majorities for a Republican in Congress. He 'could lose his seat if he doesn't listen to you.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Van Orden in favor of getting rid of Spring Elections
MADISON, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – In an interview with Wis-Eye, Congressman Derrick Van Orden says that he is in favor of getting rid of Wisconsin's Spring Election. Van Orden says Spring Elections are inefficient, waste money on campaigns, and they cause voter fatigue. Van Orden noted that Republicans do not vote in Spring Elections. He believes Spring Elections could be rolled into Midterms or Presidential Elections. 'Republicans don't vote. We just don't vote. Period. In Spring Elections. I don't think we should have a Spring election. I think we need to… these guys in the State House, I think they should get rid of that and fold it into a midterm or a four-year cycle.' This comes after Republican (GOP) backed candidates like Eric Hovde and Brad Schimel lost high-profile races in recent elections. Wisconsin's Spring Elections are currently required by the state's constitution and are written into state law. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Van Orden's flip-flop on SNAP hurts Wisconsin
U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden tours Gilbertson's Dairy in Dunn County. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) When he was campaigning for Congress in western Wisconsin, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden talked about growing up 'in abject rural poverty,' raised by a single mom who relied on food stamps. As a result, he has said, he would never go along with cuts to food assistance. 'He sat down in my office when he first got elected and promised me he wouldn't ever vote against SNAP because he grew up on it, supposedly,' Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said in a phone interview as he was on his way home to Wisconsin from Washington this week. But as Henry Redman reported, Van Orden voted for the Republican budget blueprint, which proposes more than $200 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to make room for tax cuts for the very wealthy. Still, after that vote, Van Orden issued a public statement warning against reckless cuts to SNAP that place 'disproportionate burdens on rural states, where food insecurity is often more widespread,' and saying it is unfair to build a budget 'on the backs of some of our most vulnerable populations, including hungry children. Period.' Van Orden sits on the House Agriculture Committee, which was tasked with drawing up a specific plan to cut $230 billion from food assistance to pay for tax cuts. Van Orden reportedly balked at a cost-sharing plan that shifted 25% of the cost of the program to states, saying it was unfair to Wisconsin. But then, on Wednesday night, Van Orden voted yes as the committee passed an unprecedented cut in federal funding for SNAP on a 29-25 vote. Van Orden took credit for the plan, which ties cuts to state error rates in determining eligibility and benefit amounts for food assistance. According to WisPolitics, he declared at a House Ag Committee markup that 'states are going to have to accept the fact that if they are not administering this program efficiently, that they're going to have to pay a portion of the program that is equitable, and it makes sense and it is scaled.' But states, including Wisconsin, don't have money to make up the gap as the federal government, for the first time ever, withdraws hundreds of millions of dollars for nutrition assistance. Instead, they will reduce coverage, kick people off the program and hunger will increase. The ripple effects include a loss of about $30 billion for farmers who supply food for the program, Democrats on the Ag Committee report, and damage to the broader economy, since every $1 in SNAP benefits generates about $1.50 in economic activity. Grocery stores, food manufacturers rural communities will be hit particularly hard. Wisconsin will start out with a bill for 5% of the costs of the program in Fiscal Year 2028, according to a bill explanation from the Agriculture Committee. But as error rates vary, that number shifts sharply upward — to 15% when the error rate goes from the current 5% to 6%, to 20% if we exceed an 8% error rate, and so on. And there are other cuts in the bill, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) points out, including stricter eligibility limits, work requirements that cannot be waived in times of economic hardship and high unemployment, and reductions in benefits that come from eliminating deductions for utility costs. More than 900,000 children, adults, and seniors count on Wisconsin's SNAP program, known as FoodShare, according to an analysis of state health department data by Kids Forward. The same analysis found that covering the costs of just 10% of SNAP benefits would cost Wisconsin $136 million. Alaska and Texas have higher error rates than Wisconsin, and so they — and their hungry kids — are stuck with the biggest cuts. Even if you accept that that is somehow just, the people who are going to pay for this bill in all the states, including ours, are, as Van Orden himself put it, 'the most vulnerable populations, including hungry children. Period.' 'He says one thing and does another,' Pocan says of Van Orden's flip-flopping on SNAP. 'He's gone totally Washington.' That's too bad for the people left behind in rural Wisconsin, who will take the brunt of these unnecessary cuts. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Van Orden says he's working on proposal to help immigrants get work permits
U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden receives the endorsement of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden says he's working on a proposal that would alter two current work authorization programs to make it easier for businesses including farms and hotels to hire immigrant workers. Van Orden, who sits on the House agriculture committee, told the news outlet NOTUS that he's working with Trump administration officials on a proposal to alter the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. Both programs currently provide temporary work visas for people working seasonally. The H-2A program, which is targeted at seasonal farm labor, has frustrated Wisconsin dairy farmers because year-round workers, including in dairy, are not eligible for the program. Immigrant workers comprise an estimated 70% of the labor force on Wisconsin dairy farms. 'Rocks are heavy. Trees are made of wood. Gravity is real. There's 20 million illegal aliens here that have been floating agriculture, hospitality and construction for decades, and we need their labor,' Van Orden told NOTUS. Van Orden said the proposal is in line with the Trump administration's increased immigration enforcement efforts because it doesn't offer a pathway to citizenship or encourage an increase in unauthorized crossings of the border while making it easier for people to come to the U.S. to work. 'That's why people come here illegally, because it's so hard to come here legally,' Van Orden said. 'We're all working towards the goal of making sure that our economy can maintain its relevancy.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Moderates fight back as GOP crafts major food assistance changes
Proposed reductions in federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are the latest flash point for Republicans as they work through sticking points on the 'big beautiful bill' of President Trump's legislative priorities. SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are currently funded entirely by the federal government, while costs of administering it are split between the federal government and states that operate it. But House Republicans are considering proposals to shift a portion of the cost of SNAP benefits to states as they aim to meet cost savings targets for the House Agriculture Committee's portion of the massive bill. Lawmakers are considering proposals to shift from around 10 percent up to as much as a quarter of the benefit costs, one GOP source told The Hill, starting in fiscal year 2028. While Trump and top Republicans have said they do not want to see cuts to SNAP benefits, cost sharing would be a major overhaul of the program that opponents argue could strain state budgets and lead them to reduce benefits or eligibility. The prospect is fueling Democratic messaging against the bill — and making moderate Republicans and those in competitive districts squirm. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) wrote a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) tearing into a proposal that would place as much as a quarter of the costs of SNAP on states. 'I write today in strong opposition to the reckless proposals under consideration that would impose up to 25% of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) costs on state governments,' Van Orden said in the letter, WSAW-TV reported. Instead, Van Orden proposed tying cost sharing to each state's SNAP 'error rate' — the rate at which it overpays SNAP benefits. Republicans on the panel are considering incorporating the error rate into how it calculates cost sharing percentages. Those error rates vary greatly, from percentages under 5 percent to up the 20- or 30-percent range. Van Orden's Wisconsin has an error rate of 4.7 percent. Some red states have high error rates, too: South Carolina's is 20.94 percent, while Florida's is 11.25 percent. Van Orden also joined with Reps. Zach Nunn (Iowa) and Don Bacon (Neb.) to introduce a procedural resolution to show their opposition to reducing benefits to SNAP or Medicaid. The 'point of order' resolution would prohibit the House from considering any reconciliation bill that reduces benefits from Medicaid or SNAP for children, seniors, pregnant women, or individuals with disabilities. The House Agriculture Committee is tasked with finding $230 billion in deficit reductions over the course of a decade as it crafts its portion of the Trump priorities bill, which is moving through the special reconciliation process that allows Republicans to bypass the need to secure support from Democrats in the Senate for passage. Republicans on the committee, according to one source, believe they can reach about $150 billion fairly comfortably with less-controversial proposals like improving 'program integrity' such as by tightening work requirements and other measures the committee is considering. But asked if the panel can hit that number without cost-sharing, Thompson, the panel's chairman said: 'I don't think we can. It's a huge number.' The White House, Thompson added, is 'very supportive' of cost sharing for SNAP. Proponents of cost-sharing for SNAP argue that other federal assistance programs, like Medicaid, share costs with states, and argue that it would incentivize states to better administer SNAP benefits and reduce overpayments. 'If they have to do a cost share with the states, I think that's totally reasonable,' said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) 'We cost share Medicaid with the states … I think we should come down to the average cost share — and again, ratchet it down over several years, so every state has the ability to, you know, compensate for it in their budget.' Harris argued that cost sharing 'doesn't cut any benefit. The only way a benefit would be cut if a state said, 'Well, we don't want to pay our fair share.' Okay, yeah, that's a state decision. That's not a federal decision.' Democrats, meanwhile, are arguing that Republicans are just blaming states for cuts to SNAP that they know they would have to make. 'Just a 10 percent cost share, if they choose to move in that direction, is a $400 million-a-year hit to the state of Pennsylvania. It is $4.27 billion over the next 10 years,' House Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said in a press conference on Tuesday. 'My colleagues, they truly have a choice here. They've said that they don't want to cut SNAP benefits and truly I believe that Chairman Thompson does not want to. But I also believe that Chairman Thompson is going to be rolled by Republican leadership, is going to be rolled by the White House,' Craig said. She added about proposals to strengthen work requirements: 'Do not allow my Republican colleagues to try to characterize this as anything but taking food out of the mouths of hungry children in our country.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
