In the News

 By Joyce Jones Congressional Black Caucus members and their staffs are still combing through the details of President Obama's 2014 budget blueprint. At first glance, there are things they like, such as increased access to high-quality early education programs. And even though the budget calls for an increase in cigarette taxes to fund it, something Rep. G.K. Butterfield… Read more »

 State has more people on the two congressional budget committees than any other, even California By Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel Washington, D.C. - Depending on how you see it, the budget debate in Congress is a moment of great clarity or futility, an edifying clash of competing worldviews or a fruitless partisan standoff. In either case, the state of… Read more »

 Reaction to the Supreme Court oral arguments on Proposition 8, to the March 27 oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act and to the widespread push for marriage equality in the United States:Openly gay U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.: “The Supreme Court has an unparalleled opportunity … to move our country closer to our founding ideals of equality for all. …I am… Read more »

 Airport Improvement Program is not part of sequestration By Joe Taschler of the Journal Sentinel As budget cuts force the Federal Aviation Administration to carve chunks out of the nation's air traffic control system, the agency cannot touch a program that allocated $17.9 million for airport improvements on the Pacific island of Saipan. Or $9.4 million for… Read more »

 By John Diedrich  More than 100 members of Congress are asking the FBI to track hate crimes against Sikh, Hindu and Arab-Americans, according to a letter issued Thursday. The move comes as members of the Sikh community push for the tracking in the aftermath of the August massacre at their temple in Oak Creek. White supremacist Wade Michael Page killed six members… Read more »

 By Craig Gilbert  Washington, D.C. -- Wisconsin’s five GOP House members voted for Paul Ryan’s budget plan Thursday, and the state’s three Democratic House members voted against it, reflecting the budget’s approval along stark party lines. The House passed the Ryan budget Thursday 221-207. All but ten Republicans voted yes. Every Democrat voted… Read more »

 By Kirsten West-Savali “We don’t raise boys to be men,” said former NFL quarterback turned feminist Don McPherson. “We raise them not to be women, or gay men.” That brutally honest statement delivered at the March 8th launch of “Ring the Bell” — a bold campaign developed by global human rights organization Breakthrough… Read more »

 By Barrington Salmon  Organization Contends Their Version is a Sharp Contrast to Ryan's Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) presented an alternative budget for the 2013 fiscal year that they said slashes deficits, eliminates the sequester and protects those programs which are safety nets for the most vulnerable. "Since 1981, the CBC has… Read more »

 By Pete Kasperowicz   House Republicans and Democrats spent several hours Tuesday in what looked like a futile attempt to convince each other to abandon their respective budget positions. The debate did not appear to change any minds, and seemed to serve mostly as an example of the intractable debate over taxes and spending that has frozen Washington for the last… Read more »

 By Bryan Kristensen Two distinguished authors and journalists specializing in educational issues highlighted the growing support for school choice programs in Wisconsin at an event at Union South Monday. Sarah Carr and Barbara Miner, two writers known for their works on educational matters in New Orleans and Milwaukee respectively, spoke on their experiences reporting and… Read more »