By Tammy Baldwin
Sen. Tammy Baldwin
When I travel across our state and across Milwaukee, I hear from working families that they need a fighter on their side. The big corporate special interests and the super-wealthy have it easy making their voices heard, but our workers, our neighbors, and our families need someone speaking up for them. Every Wisconsinite should have the right to a good paying job, health care they can afford, and the same freedoms their parents and grandparents had, including the freedom to make their own health care decisions. That’s why I’m running for reelection.
As your Senator, I’ve gone to bat for you and won, delivering good paying Made in Wisconsin jobs, lowering healthcare and prescription drug costs, and expanding services for millions of our veterans. With so much at stake right now, we need a fighter who can keep taking on the biggest fights and winning for all of our communities.
Delivering Good Paying Made in Wisconsin Jobs
Workers in our state make everything: steel, engines, paper, ships, beer, brats, and of course, cheese. It’s a long and proud tradition. Milwaukee is one of the top manufacturing regions in the country. Folks in every corner of the US know where their motorcycles, engines, and the tools to work on them both come from: Milwaukee. In the Senate, I went to bat for our manufacturing workers and won big. When we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I made sure my Made in America provisions were included in there. Now, when we’re building new bridges and roads all across the country, we’re using American steel and American concrete to do it. Working Wisconsinites are the backbone of our state, and I will always fight for Made in America and Made in Wisconsin initiatives that back up our industries and keep our workers going strong.
Lowering the Price of Healthcare and Prescription Drugs
I also know how important accessible, affordable health care is for our families. It’s an issue that has hit me close to home. When I was 9, I got really sick and spent months in the hospital getting better. I recovered – but no insurance company would cover me because I had been branded with those terrifying words: “pre-existing condition.” After decades of work, I helped pass the Affordable Care Act so no one has to go through that same stress around having a pre-existing condition. But we didn’t stop there. Just last year, we took on the drug industry again and we won. This time, we beat Big Pharma, passing a law to lower drug prices and cap insulin costs at $35 a month for our seniors. Right now, I’m taking on Ascension Health and pushing them to invest in Milwaukee hospitals, not funnel profits to its corporate leaders. I won’t stop fighting until no one has to decide between buying their medication and buying their groceries.
Serving Our Veterans
Wisconsin is the proud home of servicemembers, veterans, and military families who have made incredible sacrifices for our country. But too often, our veterans and their families aren’t well supported here at home. I’ve worked across party lines to do right by our veterans and make sure they have the care, good paying jobs, and community support that they have earned and deserve. Just last year, I helped pass legislation to expand VA health care and benefits to the more than 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their service in the 1990s and post-9/11 wars. I’ve also seen the incredible work the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans initiative does and I’m pushing to deliver them the funds to expand their services to more veterans in need. Our veterans put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free, and they deserve everything we can provide.
Standing up to Right Wing Extremism
And lastly, I’m determined to stand up to the right wing extremism coming for our freedom to vote and to make our own health care decisions. Voting rights are the foundation of America’s democracy, but time and again we’ve seen attempts to suppress the vote, gerrymander district lines, and prevent communities from having a say – especially when those communities are voters of color. I’m fighting to stop right wing voter suppression efforts and remove barriers to the constitutionally protected right to vote. I am also a proud advocate for women’s freedoms and will continue to fight against the 1849 abortion ban until every Wisconsinite can make their own health care decisions without the government getting involved.
A good paying job, health care you can afford, the freedom to make your voice heard in your democracy – these are basics that every Wisconsinite should enjoy. I promise I will keep fighting for our state, no matter who we have to take on to do it.