In remarks on the House floor Tuesday, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) spoke about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to discuss the special election that we had in Wisconsin last
00:09Tuesday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It was an overwhelming rebuke of the Trump-Musk agenda
00:15of cutting Medicaid, healthcare and long-term care, cutting education funding and food assistance
00:21to pay for a four and a half trillion dollar transfer of wealth from the middle class and
00:26those aspiring to be to the wealthiest in this country. And it wasn't just a 10 point win
00:32that mattered. In fact, more than the win was the turnout. We rivaled a midterm congressional
00:38election turnout in a spring nonpartisan election. People are pissed and they're scared and they're
00:45feeling unheard. So they came out to vote to be heard. I know GOP leadership is telling
00:53its members to ignore their constituents and not have town halls, but I think that's backfiring.
00:58In fact, that's what we heard with that Wisconsin election. I've had multiple town halls, both in
01:03my district and in neighboring congressional districts in Wisconsin, and we've had record
01:08turnout. In Belmont, Wisconsin, population 1,000, we had over 200 people show up and we had to turn
01:14people away. People were watching the town hall through the windows. In Viroqua, a town of 4,500
01:21people, 3 to 400 people showed up to voice their displeasure with the Republican agenda. And when we
01:27get home for this coming Easter break, I'll do more town halls, both in my district and in Republican
01:34districts, to make sure that people are being heard. This is not winning for the American people.
01:40Trump's tariffs are taxes on working people. He's crashing the stock market and making costs go up,
01:46the opposite of what he's promised. People don't want their services cut to fund a tax cut for the
01:53most wealthy. They don't want people who work for the Veterans Hospitals or Social Security to have
01:58their jobs cut just to pay for Elon Musk and Donald Trump's tax cuts. They want the federal government's
02:04hands off the programs they value. And they are rightfully afraid that the Republicans are going
02:10after their Social Security. After Musk called it a Ponzi scheme, after Trump lied about the program
02:16over and over in the State of the Union, after the Secretary of Commerce said people could go a month
02:21without their Social Security check unless they were fraudsters. It's their money. So leave it alone.
02:28That's the message. Look, Republican members of Congress can ignore their constituents, but listen to the
02:34lesson from Wisconsin at your own peril. Figure out how to listen to your constituents or get a discount
02:41card at Costco so you can buy Depends by the carton. Those are pretty much your choices. People don't
02:48support what's going on. Represent them, not Donald Trump and Elon Musk. I yield back.
02:55President Trump and Elon Musk. The gentleman yields