☀️ Good morning!

🇺🇸 First and foremost: Let us begin this week’s visit with a moment of reflection and gratitude to the men and women who gave their lives serving to protect our nation—both its people AND its ideals. We’ve learned in this day and age that we cannot take those ideals for granted anymore. So please remember those heroes as we go about our daily lives and work to ensure liberty and justice for all.

Events this week remind me of the long congressional debate over the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Back then, we heard criticism about having to “pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” The same thing is happening with Trump’s budget plan, after House Republicans rushed through a massive package of cuts in vital services to fund tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy. The bill has so many items that make life harder or more expensive for folks who aren’t One Percenters—items we’re still learning about.

What was particularly telling for me was how the statements during and after the debate from Wisconsin Republicans (like US Rep. Derrick Van Orden, Tony Wied, Bryan Steil, and Scott Fitzgerald) go out of their way to honor President Trump, but say nothing about the impact of the bill on their own constituents back home—like the 153,000 people in Van Orden’s 3rd Congressional District who rely on Medicaid or the estimated 16,000 people could lose some or all of their SNAP benefits in his district.

I remain hopeful we will again see a day when more politicians represent their districts rather than their parties, to the point of standing up to their own party leaders when necessary.

It’s necessary more than ever these days, don’t you agree?

⏮️ Last Week: How many parties would be a healthy number for US politics?

55% said adding a moderate third party would be the best option.

16% said the current two party system is adequate, but needs help through things like ranked choice voting, getting big money out of politics, and other fixes.

14% wanted four parties in order to have parties that are left, right, center-left, and center-right.

14% wanted five or more parties that would require more coalitions and cooperation.

And yes, there was one guy who said “Trump’s party is all we need. He’s doing a great job.”

⏭️ This Week: Republicans in the US House approved a budget plan that could add up to $4 trillion to the national debt (even after making $1 trillion in spending cuts) in order to fund tax breaks skewed toward corporations and the very wealthy. What does this mean for the Grand Old Party going forward? Which statement is closest to your thinking?

🟦 A)  The GOP “Deficit Hawk” Illusion Is Over – “The Republicans’ stance was never truly about deficits. The GOP is simply more open these days about being the party of helping the rich at the expense of the poor, even if it drives up debt.”

🟨 B)  The Old GOP Will Come Back – “Rank and file Republicans recognize their party has been taken over by Trump and other politicians who are running up terrible deficits despite their previous promises. This Trump package is bad and the party will someday return to true fiscal conservatism.”  

🟥 C)  The ‘New GOP’ Gets It – “Thanks to MAGA, Republicans are still the party of fiscal responsibility, redirecting spending toward those they think contribute to the economy and away from those they think are a drain on it. (Makers and Takers.) This Trump package is good, and moving this way will grow the economy and reduce our debts in the long run.”

To answer this week’s question or to suggest a different answer, hit reply or email me directly at pat@couriernewsroom.com, and we may share it in a future newsletter or on UpNorthNews Radio.

(FILE-Associated Press photo)

📉 We’ve already talked about how the Republicans’ budget bill is a massive tax cut for corporations and the super wealthy. But just how bad is it for working-class Wisconsinites? Well, the bill could strip health insurance from 82,000 people in Wisconsin, while another 235,000 would see their premiums rise, leading some of them to become uninsured. An estimated 144,000 Wisconsinites would be at risk of losing food benefits through the  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which  covers 12% of the state’s population. We talked to people throughout the week about their reaction, and here’s some of what they said.

Lincoln Co. dairy farmer Hans Breitenmoser: “Rural areas are struggling. Some of those beneficiaries on SNAP live in rural areas. And some of the people losing their jobs over these USDA (US Department of Agriculture) cuts, they’re going to be the newly poor who are relying on these benefits.”

SNAP/Medicaid benefits specialist Zab Martinez:  “Mom and Dad are working full time and still can’t afford their groceries. If they have insurance (available) from their job, the cost of that insurance to have for their kids is too high for them where they can’t afford it. So Medicaid kind of fills in that gap for their children. [With these cuts,] the children aren’t going to be able to get check-ups. They’re not going to be able to get food. They’re not going to be able to go to the doctor when they have a serious illness and have to go to the ER and the parents are going to be stuck with that medical bill. So the impacts locally are scary to even think about.”

🔔 Remember

📻 Our radio show has grown — from two hours a day to three and heard on more stations across the Civic Media radio network. New name, too! “Mornings with Pat Kreitlow” can be heard from 6-9 a.m. and seen on our Facebook and YouTube pages. 

📱 And stay up to date all day with all of our team’s work through our social media feeds, including Instagram and TikTok.

1️⃣ – Chris Taylor – Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, a former state legislator, announced her candidacy for next year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Conservative incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley is expected to run for reelection next April when her current 10-year term expires. Bradley sided with Trump in his failed attempt to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters in his 2020 election loss. Taylor served as a Democratic Assembly representative from 2011 to 2020. Before that, she worked as an attorney and as public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

2️⃣ – Van Orden: Cancel Spring Elections – Give Congressman Derrick Van Orden some credit for not hiding MAGA’s ongoing push to have less democracy in the United States. Asked at last weekend’s Republican Party state convention about why conservative candidates have lost the last couple of state Supreme Court races, Van Orden didn’t hesitate with his response: “I don’t think we should have a spring election. These guys in the statehouse, I think they should get rid of that and fold them into a midterm or a four-year cycle.” 

Such a move would complicate the division between partisan races (held in the fall) and nonpartisan spring races for positions like judgeships, school boards, state superintendent of public instruction, and more.

3️⃣ – DPW Chair Interviews – The Democratic Party of Wisconsin announced its state convention keynote speaker next month will be Georgia Sen. Raphael Wornock. Delegates will also be voting on a new state chair to replace the departing Ben Wikler. We interviewed all three candidates on our radio show this past week. Head to our YouTube page to watch our interviews with Devin Remiker, Joe Zepecki, and William Garcia.

🏁 Thanks for reading today’s update.

Have a great week.