Talking politics

When Rep. Tom Tiffany held a listening session at Woodland Inn in Medford on Tuesday, he was met with mixed reactions from community members with a number of questions about recent executive actions made by President Donald Trump.

Those attending the meeting were invited to write their question topics for Rep. Tiffany to respond to as many as time would allow. There was a wide range of topics raised during the hourlong session.

Mary Hovde raised concerns about the negative impacts of the return to office orders for federal employees. She noted that the remote work ability had allowed many federal employees to come back to rural Wisconsin. She noted that these are people who are doing their jobs and who might be forced to move to Iowa or Minnesota to be able to return to their offices. She said that if people are able to do their jobs effectively remotely they should be allowed to continue.

See COUNTY on page 16 “There are a number of positions filled by people not doing any work,” Tiffany said, adding that the intent of the return to office order is to ensure that people come in and prove they are doing the job in their position. He gave an example of people being found to have three different jobs in the government.

Rib Lake District administrator Travis Grubbs asked about the status of the Secure Rural Schools Act which would help provide additional federal funding for districts that have a large amount of national forest. He noted this would bring about $40,000 to the Rib Lake District which would cover about half the cost of wages and benefits for a teacher. The bill was passed in the senate but did not get action in the House of Representatives.

Tiffany noted the importance of it, especially with 1.5 million acres of National Forest in the state with almost all of it in the 7th Congressional District. He said they are hoping to make an impact with the Trump administration now in office.

He said a major goal is to increase logging levels in the national forest by bringing in a new chief forester. He said this current harvest was below the ASQ (allowable sale quantity) set for the forest.

“It is very rare they are meeting ASQ,” Tiffany said, he noted that making the forest more productive would increase overall revenues while decreasing things like wildfire risks.

Joyce Mueller called on Tiffany to lead an effort for congress and the medical community to create a legally defined term defining the termination of a pregnancy when it is unviable or that when medical intervention is needed for the mother. “It must be separated from abortion,” Mueller said.

She said she had personal experience with this and lost a baby through miscarriage. She said when she looked at her medical records it is reported there was a “mother requested abortion.” She said there needed to be a distinction between medical intervention for those going through miscarriage and abortion as birth control. She said since Roe v. Wade was overturned there has been hesitancy by medical care providers to provide needed procedures leading to women suffering health risks.

Paul Johnson noted that Trump was recently in Nevada promising an end to the taxing of tips and asked if they were going to also make it so that Social Security was not taxed.

Tiffany said that would depend on the various reconciliation bills for the budget, however he was adamant that there would be no changes to Social Security to change benefits people have already earned.

Without any changes in Social Security, the system will reach insolvency in 2033 which will trigger an automatic 21% decrease in benefits. Tiffany noted that he recently voted against a measure to extend Social Security benefits to a group that previously did not qualify for it due to their workplace. He said he opposed it because the $200 billion price would, in his mind, just speed up the insolvency of Social Security.

Rebecca Beebe questioned the recent executive order cutting DEI programs that fight discrimination and provide support for members of the LGBTQ community.

“It is the law that you can’t discriminate,” Tiffany said. He said the DEI order seeks to stop the reverse discrimination that was taking place. “We truly are a color blind society,” he said, noting that the many DEI programs were actually fostering discrimination. He said he is introducing legislation that mirrors the language of the executive order.

Beebe questioned the end goal and what would be put back in place as things are torn down. “It is like going into a China shop and bashing everything up,” she said.

A resident asked a question about efforts to eliminate the Department of Education. Tiffany said he supports that and believes solutions belong at the local and state level. He said he would prefer the money be sent to the states. “You set up this bureaucracy that siphons off 20 to 30%,” he said, describing it as a laundering scheme.

“Can you tell me anything the department of education does?” Tiffany asked.

“I could name a lot,” Grubbs responded from the audience, listing a number of programs dealing with reading and special education that are federally supported.

Tiffany countered that Grubbs has a local school board that holds him accountable and every other school has a local board and voters who hole those boards accountable. He said they needed to trust local boards instead of the federal government dictating to them.

A resident asked about the pardons to those involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tiffany said that those who committed crimes against property and people should face punishment. He said the order was not a blanket pardon and that in many cases the charges were commuted to more match what similar types of offenses would have as punishment elsewhere in the United States.

Mike Haas called on Tiffany to hold a congressional investigation into military activity that occurred in Central America decades ago to ensure that veterans such as himself can get proper assistance from the Veterans Administration and get the expeditionary badge for their service. Tiffany directed Haas to work with his staff to get the process underway.

John Germain asked about the freeze that was announced on federal spending and how this would impact projects including those that were under the Inflation Reduction Act. Tiffany noted that while he voted against that bill, he supported continued funding for the projects in it.

“I do support President Trump’s pause,” Tiffany said, noting that the pause was to review how money was being spent and if things should be eliminated. He gave the example of spending $70 billion to install electric charging stations, comparing it to building gas pumps and saying private businesses should be doing that.

A resident asked about Medicaid especially in regard to concerns about cuts, especially for older people “Medicaid will not be cut by one third,” Tiffany said. However he said there needs to be some “right-sizing” to take place including a work requirement so that ablebodied people are not getting free healthcare.