There will be a changing of the guard in Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District tonight as someone other than U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., will be elected to the seat she has occupied since 1998.
As Baldwin pursues a spot in the U.S. Senate, state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Republican Chad Lee have been vying to succeed her in the traditionally liberal south central Wisconsin area. In separate interviews with The Daily Cardinal, the two candidates outlined their plans for Congress if elected.
Pocan, a member of the state legislature for 14 years, said he wants to first tackle joblessness by providing more capital and increasing the amount of loans available to small businesses, while investing in research and technology and encouraging fairer trade deals.
“I clearly want to make sure I can take my experience from the legislature and running a small business when it comes to issues like jobs and the economy and I want to be able talk about those right of the bat,” Pocan said.
Meanwhile, Lee, a Mount Horeb native who lost to Baldwin by more than 23 percentage points in 2010, said balancing the budget is a top priority, but that he is willing to reach across the aisle to accomplish that goal.
“If you look at my background in business, it’s not just being able to work with people from different backgrounds and different ideas, but I also have to balance budgets without printing money,” Lee said. “We need to send people to congress who understand the dynamics of that.”
Lee said he opposes any tax increases for at least the next year given the current economic situation and supports the full extension of the Bush tax cuts. However, Pocan said he would like to see the Bush tax cuts expire for those making $250,000 because they failed to create jobs as promised, but wants to keep them in tact for everyone else.
To make college more affordable, Pocan said funding for Pell Grants and student loans need to stay in place but also reduce the terms of loans so students are still not paying them off years after graduation.
“No one should not be able to go to the UW just because they can’t afford to,” Pocan said. “If you’re talented enough you should be able to get in.”
Rather than focusing on loans and grants, Lee said the government can work wit universities to keep tuition down.
“We have to get to a point where universities and really the government can come up with some kind of solution where we make college affordable because we have tens of thousands of dollars in debt and half of them cant find a job in the industry in which they studied,” Lee said.
As for health care, Pocan said he wants to keep the Affordable Care Act in place, while Lee wants to fully repeal President Barack Obama’s landmark law, arging “Obamacare” will not lower health care costs, but increase taxes on the middle class and regulations on businesses.
