Governor Scott Walker

With the gubernatorial race coming up this year, the Republican Party of Wisconsin is stepping up its preparations. Gov. Walker was in Waukesha on Feb. 3, meeting with party members, where he said last month’s race for Wisconsin’s 10th Senate district turned out to be a wake-up call, after a Democrat won in a traditionally conservative area. Walker says he expects the gubernatorial election to be a tough one.

“I think it will be as challenging a race as I’ve ever had. That includes the recall,” he said. “I think this will be as tough cause we’re going against prevailing wins, I think for us, we have to get out person-to-person, door to door, making that contact.”

Nine Democrats are slated to square off in the August primary. The winner will take on Walker.

Source: fox6now.com

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Sen. Baldwin has asked Inspector General Mark Bialek to investigate whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has put on ice a probe into the Equifax data breach that threatened the sensitive, private information of more than 145 million Americans.

On Monday, Reuters reported that “Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc. failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers.”

In her letter to the Inspector General, Baldwin wrote, “The mission of the CFPB is to protect consumers in the financial marketplace. As such, investigating the largest breach of consumer financial data in American history is not optional, but obligatory. In fact, the CFPB initiated an investigation into Equifax under its previous leadership as part of a crucial first step to ensuring that consumer financial data is protected going forward. Media reports note that the CFPB has not issued a single subpoena for testimony from Equifax—and has even discouraged other regulators from examining the company.”

Baldwin has been calling for stronger accountability for Equifax. At Senator Baldwin’s insistence, Equifax executives were called before the Senate Commerce Committee last November, but failed to give direct answers to many questions posed by members of the committee.

Source: Baldwin press release

Senator Ron Johnson

Sen. Johnson said he is frustrated that the House has not passed his bill to give terminally ill children the ability to try experimental treatments, even though the Senate passed it unanimously in August.

“It is frustrating that we hit this logjam for months,” he said.

However, Johnson said President Trump’s support for “right to try” legislation during his State of the Union address and at a separate speech at the GOP retreat last week could help break that logjam. Vice President Mike Pence is also a major supporter, having signed a state law for right-to-try when he was Indiana’s governor. “I am hoping we can get this resolved in the next couple of weeks,” Johnson said of a potential timing on a vote.

Source: washintonexaminer.com

President Donald Trump

President Trump weighed in on a tumultuous few days on Wall Street on Wednesday, lamenting that recent reports of “good news” on the economy hadn’t resulted in the stock market rising. “In the ‘old days,’ when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down,” the president tweeted. “Big mistake, and we have so much good (great) news about the economy!”

For months, the president and his administration touted the surging stock market as an indicator of U.S. economic strength, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing the 25,000-point threshold for the first time earlier this year. But Monday, the Dow took a historical plummet the same day Trump delivered a speech on the taxes and the economy. The decline came amid concerns that the massive corporate tax cut could lead to an overheating economy, spurring the Federal Reserve to step in to cool things down. After Monday’s record-setting 1,175 point drop in the Dow – the largest single-day point loss in history – volatility continued Tuesday, with the index closing 567 points higher. Choppy trading continued on Wednesday.

Source: politico.com