Madison Reporter

Recently issued the following announcement.

Another week in the books! Here’s what you need to know from this week:

20th Anniversary of September 11th

The terrorist attacks on September 11th are one of the few universally defining events in the collective minds of Americans. We all vividly remember this day. What it was like, how we felt, and where we were.

I remember I was in a conference room in the Wisconsin Capitol with Governor Scott McCallum and others at the time the second plane hit. I remember watching the events unfold on the television in absolute shock, all of us were left speechless in the room.

This day is never easy. Every year we are delivered a painful reminder of the nearly 3,000 lives lost to a heinous plot to tear down our democracy. We continue to pay tribute to the men and women who responded on that day, and who ran into the crumbling towers to save every life they could, until they could no longer.

Twenty years ago, 9/11 brought our whole country together to confront an attack against our democracy. Twenty years later, this anniversary is perhaps one of the most solemn reminders of that day. We were reminded in the most painful manner a couple of weeks ago why exactly our troops were on the ground in Afghanistan.

We lost thirteen U.S. service members who were fighting against the clock to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghan partners trapped behind Taliban lines. All of them heroes. All of them taken too young.

This year, I ask everyone to join me in remembering the victims of this fateful day, their families, the first responders, and our service members who responded to this threat for twenty years to follow.

This continues to stand as the most devastating attack against Americans on our soil. Twenty years is a long time, but this day is still painful. Through the strength and will of our first responders and our military, we’ve come a long way in the Global War on Terrorism, and for the sake of those who perished on that fateful day, the work will not stop.

Hosted Mobile Office Hours in Washington and Waukesha Counties

This week, I hosted Mobile Office Hours in Washington and Waukesha Counties to meet with constituents who are experiencing problems with a federal agency.

I want to thank everyone who showed up to the Office Hours or stopped by to say hello, my staff and I were happy to be of help to those experiencing issues with federal agencies.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on future Mobile Office Hours announcements.

Marked Up the Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Budget Reconciliation 

A couple of weeks ago, the Democrats passed a reckless budget proposal drafted by socialist Senator Bernie Sanders that would incur $17 trillion in new debt over 10 years, including $3.5 trillion that would be spent immediately on partisan priorities.

This week, the House began finalizing the text of the budgetary framework. I was involved in this process on both the House Small Business Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.

During the House Small Business Committee markup, I introduced two amendments. The first amendment would have blocked convicted violent felons, drug traffickers, and individuals charged in association to terrorism or the Taliban from receiving government funds from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The second amendment I introduced would have directed the SBA to study the impact of tax increases on small businesses.

Both of these commonsense measures were voted down. It’s ridiculous that Democrats see no problem with giving taxpayer funds to individuals who blatantly defy the law. In no world should we fund convicted violent felons and drug traffickers, let alone those charged in relation to terrorism. Also, if Democrats are so confident that their agenda doesn’t burden small businesses, why would they would vote down my measure to study this impact? It seems to me the left is more concerned with scoring political points than passing meaningful legislation.

During the House Education and Labor Committee markup, an identical story unfolded. I introduced three amendments: an amendment that would prevent individuals convicted of sexual assault, human trafficking, or related crimes from receiving free community college tuition; another amendment that would require school districts that have unused buildings to allow charter schools or other public schools to lease or purchase the buildings; and an amendment to prohibit institutions with ties to adversarial nations from receiving the increased federal education funds in this bill.

All commonsense proposals. All voted down by the Democrats.

Introduced a Bill to Increase School Curriculum Transparency  

Education plays a foundational role in a student’s early years. The success of this education depends on the collective role and relationship between teachers and parents, both of whom want nothing but the best outcome for the child. This relationship has sharply diverged however since the coronavirus pandemic swept our nation last year and teachers unions began prioritizing their power grip over decision making.

Decisions about what to teach students in school are being made by bureaucrats and teachers unions, often without the input from parents. Lack of awareness and accountability for what is being taught in our schools have allowed controversial and factually inaccurate ideas, like critical race theory, to be taught to students while keeping parents in the dark.

That’s why I introduced the Curriculum Review of Teachings (CRT) Transparency Act, a bill that would require local school districts to post the curriculum for each grade of their elementary and secondary schools on a publicly accessible website as a condition of Title I funding to states and local school districts.

Parents should not have to fight for access to the curriculum their students are learning, especially when the curriculum promotes divisive and backwards theories. The CRT Transparency Act has already garnered support from twenty-two of my colleagues here in Congress, including Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC). I hope to continue building this strong coalition of support to pass my bill and help parents get a straight answer about what their children are being taught in school.

Read the full bill text.

Academy Day

I encourage all high school students interested in a Service Academy Nomination to join staff from my office and the Wisconsin Congressional delegation for Academy Day next weekend, September 18th! Come meet with representatives from the academies and speak with staff members about everything you need to know about the nomination process.