In an invigorating speech to Democratic delegates from Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in April, Congressman Mark Pocan covered a range of issues facing the nation, but spent considerable time on three particular challenges – inflation, immigration at the southern border, and ongoing conflicts in Gaza and the broader Middle East.
On inflation, Pocan touted the Inflation Reduction Act passed under President Biden as helping to reduce healthcare and energy costs, while acknowledging that more work remains to be done. He argued that compared to other countries, the U.S. is in a relatively good position on controlling inflation after COVID-related supply chain issues.
Immigration and the situation at the southern border were another focal point. Pocan blasted Republican inaction on immigration reform when they controlled Congress and the White House under Trump. He backed a recent Senate bill that would have expedited asylum claims to within 3 months as a way to discourage illegal border crossings.
Finally, Pocan voiced concerns over the escalating violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. With over 34,000 killed already, he stated “enough is enough” and urged the White House and Congress to do more to secure a ceasefire and lasting peace in the region.
The Congressman’s speech aimed to rally Democrats heading into a critical election year, while laying out his party’s approach to tackling some of the most contentious issues facing the nation.

SPEECH TO THE 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

by MARK POCAN

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Mark Pocan: “And it really is a pleasure to be with you. As soon as I walked in, someone said, you know, you’re my adopted member of Congress. I want to let you know, you’re my adopted Congressional District.

Brett Happ and I, uh, did a book together. Spent a lot of time together in your district, uh, two years ago. Went to every campus on district, did a lot of work. Gonna do that again this time because, uh, we’re gonna make sure that, uh, Derek can go full time into the acting off author business that he, uh, plays in and we’ll help on that.

Look, 2024 is gonna be a hell of a year. we’re gonna have a lot of work to do. And after this week, now spring of 25 with the Supreme Court race, is going to be, uh, also extremely important for the state. But, let me just, if I can, break down the fall a little bit with you as I see it, and hopefully how we’re all going to be able to work together on things.

First of all, top of the ticket, Joe Biden, I mean, we’re not going to have a more clear contrast between the two candidates. you know, Joe Biden got so much done just in the little time, the first two years of his presidency. He got us out of COVID as a nation as safely as we could. Uh, he invested in four major bills, building our infrastructure, Four presidents, Democratic and Republican, talked about investing in infrastructure.

Joe Biden got it done. And that means roads and bridges and water delivery systems, broadband. We have seen 1. 6 billion dollars alone come to Wisconsin for Hispanic broadband. A bill to make it so that we’re making more things in the United States again. Things like computer chips. You know, we only, we found during COVID that we only made 12 percent of the computer chips that we use in this country and passing the Chips and Science Act, not only is going to make sure we’re making more of those here, but that’s leveraged 40 billion of private sector money into constructing factories so that we can hire the tens of thousands of people that are going to do that.

And that happened. And finally, the Inflation Reduction Act that we passed, helping reduce the cost of healthcare and energy costs for people. This is the most comprehensive legislation yet introduced and passed in Congress to tackle climate change. And that happened under Joe Biden. So, we’ve got a lot to go around and talk about.

But, you know, we have to be honest. There’s some headwinds, too. And we’ve got to be honest about addressing those. One, Joe Biden is an older American. But so is Donald Trump. Joe Biden is using the agent experience to get things done. Donald Trump is using it to divide the nation. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m happy to have this conversation with anyone, people who use experience for good things versus not.

But we have three other headwinds, and I just want to touch each one briefly. One is inflation, two is the border, and three is Gaza. Inflation. Look, we’re doing better than most every other country on the planet right now when it comes to inflation, but we’re not completely there yet. When we reopened, the entire world reopened after COVID, everyone wanted things.

And there was a huge amount of demand and a limited amount of supply. Economics 101, that drove inflation globally. You can’t blame Joe Biden for inflation globally, but Republicans certainly are trying to. But that’s why he used every lever he had as president and legislation, like the Inflation Reduction Act, to do just that.

can I just get a quick, how many of you are Medicare eligible age in the room? Just raise your hand. Thanks to Joe Biden, and share this with your peers, just part of that Inflation Reduction Act. Maximum 2, 000 out of pocket for any kind of pharmaceuticals you need. We’ve capped, uh, insulin at 35 for people, uh, on diabetes.

And we’re working to reduce the cost of prescription drugs by negotiating with drug companies, who I think have taken us on for far too long and treated us, you know, really, really poorly. There is still some corporate gouging going on. There’s no question. The President’s still trying to address that.

But when you compare us to anywhere else on the planet, uh, we have a really good story to talk about. The border. I’ll tell you, the border is clearly a mess. When I came into Congress, I got elected in 12. In 2013, there was a bipartisan bill that came out of the Senate with 69 votes. When you hear anything coming out of the Senate, 69 votes.

it had extra protections at the borders. It had a pathway to citizenship for aspiring Americans. It did much of what needed to happen. And John Boehner refused to take it up on the House of Representatives. So, we didn’t fix it. It’s been on Congress for decades to deal with this. This guy that we all know, Donald Trump, got elected president.

This issue became politicized, beyond recognition. But, just this year, uh, we tried to do something about it. In the Senate, they tried to pass a bill to address the border. right now, there’s really only one legal pathway to come in to the country because it is a mess and it’s asylum. So, everyone, people who legitimately claim asyl and others, are coming in that way.

But because it’s the only non broken process of coming in, it takes, when you come in that way, I said, uh, up to six to eight years I got politifacted. Uh, it’s actually an average of 3. 9 years to have your case heard. We had a bill that would have put staffing at the border so that if you came here and if it wasn’t the right way to come in, Within three months, you have been adjudicated.

We would have discouraged people to come to the border who weren’t coming for legitimate reasons. And Donald Trump said, no, you can’t do it in election year. And all the Republicans rolled over and had their bellies scratched. And we didn’t do anything about the border. And the first two years that Donald Trump was president, when he had a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, they did nothing about the border.

So if they want to talk about the border We’ve got a lot to talk about, and we, again, can’t be afraid to talk about their inaction and what they did to kill that boy.

And then, Gaza. I’ll tell you what, we saw what happened again last night. Very fortunately, over 99 percent of the missiles were taken out, uh, before landing, but in a retaliatory strike because Israel had gone after an Iranian embassy in Syria. So, yeah, love it. many of us, uh, have said enough is enough, and we want to stop, and we want to cease fire in general.

But this is an issue, that’s having a huge impact. Uh, I did rural town halls during the last two week period I was home. I was in Mazamanian, Sauk City, I was in, Monroe, and Edgerton. The number one and two thing people wanted to talk about afterwards, keep talking about, was Ukraine and Gaza. Look, 34, 000 people have been killed.

Uh, there’s famine. Officially, we have called famine is happening in Gaza. Uh, the average caloric intake for someone right now, according to Oxfam in Gaza is 250 calories a day. we need Congress and the White House to do more, but we do know that under Donald Trump, don’t forget Jerry Kushner said what great beach front property that is in Gaza.

but that’s a habit. And we’re going to have to really make sure we’re listening to people and talking as that campaign goes on.

 

Fortunately, on the Senate ticket, we have, I think, America’s best Senator, Tammy Baldwin.

Very well respected. She gets things done in a bipartisan way. and, uh, she has unwavering values. And we have known her for a very long time. I came to the Dane County Board of Supervisors when she was on there. I have watched her over the decades. And she is the same person that she’s always been, which to me, I think is one of the best compliments you can give anyone.

and her values have been completely solid. now, she’s running against a guy that, you know, I know it’s a little bit easy to laugh at at times. Eric Hovey, right? I mean, he was named one of the 500 most influential people. In Orange County, California, right? Uh, it’s, it doesn’t sound like someone like that necessarily is gonna, uh, do real well here.

But we’re a purple state. And it’s rumored he could put up to 20 million dollars of his own money in this race. I’m quite sure Tammy will be outspent in this election. But let me give you a couple things for that. One, do you remember when, State Senator Kevin Przybylski ran against Barbara Lawton, because I know many of you are from, uh, part of the district here.

Uh, he outspent her quite a bit, but her values, uh, were able to make sure that that mattered more than the spending. Just this past cycle, California’s primary a month ago, uh, there was a congressional district where, uh, someone named David Min was running. he was outspent, I believe it was five to one, with all the outside money, someone else that was running that had some special interests behind them.

Uh, and he came through the primary. Again, proving that as an experienced state senator, values matter, people do care about that. Tammy does all of her work the five years before election year to get re elected as U. S. Senator. And no matter how hard, and we are going to work hard for her, We’re not going to let spending at all be an issue, and uh, we’re going to make sure that Tammy Baldwin, uh, is again, our U.S. Senator here in Wisconsin. On state legislature maps, so you’re having a number of, like, friends from the state legislature.

I see Joe, he’s still here. Good luck with, uh, being a grandmother again. We’ll hopefully see you soon today. I can’t stress enough how important these new maps are. And what a real opportunity we have to get a majority back in the legislature. And you know what’s at risk. We’re living in 1849 law for people, uh, for abortion.

we have watched the UW system be hit over and over by this legislative majority. We’ve watched attacks on voting rights. Fake electors, uh, coming through our state, and so much more. We’ve fortunately got a lot of candidates, good candidates running, and I know that, uh, you’re going to hear more of that, uh, later today.

But, uh, let’s do everything we can make do to make sure that the legislature, uh, is going to be a bright blue, brilliant, democratic majority this fall, right? Why is this important to me for last? Which is the third congressional district. look, no one in this country knows how bad your congressman is outside of you and me, right? This guy is the worst. I like to say DVO, Daily Vitriolic Offensiveness, right? This guy has got it down. but even though he’s a gift in many ways, who exactly is he?

 

I mean, let’s just break it down a little bit. So, first of all, he’s an insurrectionist. He came to the January 6th insurrection and then said, No, I wasn’t up at the Capitol. And then there’s photos of him up on the Capitol grounds. Well, I was up at the Capitol, but I wasn’t in the buildings. Look, we recently had one of the January 6th police officers touring through Wisconsin, including the 3rd Congressional District, and I think he really did put it best. I mean, you know, he could have been there to stop the actions, he could have done the responsible thing, and instead, he was part of the mob. And that’s who Derek Van Orden is. Now, I know he’s a former Navy SEAL, and I appreciate his service to the country, and if you look at his Twitter, his new example is he’s also an actor, now he fails to mention that he’s a multiple time failed small business owner in multiple states. Cause, you know, he’s not from Wisconsin, right? We know that. and he did, although to be fair, he did have one of his failed businesses in Wisconsin. So, let’s dissect this actor off. So he had a small role in Act of Valor. And then he did a few movies that I think we will never ever find because I looked them up and I’ve never heard of them. and he also is an author. He wrote a book on how to be a man. So, I bought it for 1. 87 on Amazon. The shipping was more than the book. But, I can tell you this. Guys, it’s about light fires and thrown punches. but he also has a page in there where he talks about and he brags about That as a member of the Navy, how he went to a nurse with one of his friends, and he was bragging about exposing his buddy’s genitals to a female nurse. This, it’s in his book, yeah. And I gotta admit, this is super embarrassing, I’m gonna take an extra ten seconds to say this, but I didn’t want to read his book, because I really didn’t want to read it, so I went backwards through it, to find the passage, and it’s just, awful. But, so here’s the problem is, this actor author, not from Wisconsin, He’s playing the role of what he thinks someone from the 3rd Congressional District in Wisconsin would do. Now, I don’t know if you know this, because I haven’t gotten much press, but every single person who goes to a meeting in his office, they get offered beer and cheese. 9. 30 in the morning, Boys and Girls Club, you get offered beer. Everyone. And it’s bizarre, but I think it’s his role playing of what he thinks you would do if you were from Wisconsin and you served in Congress. So, anyway, that’s the actor author. Three, he’s a hothead. I mean, this We have seen it over and over and over. During the campaign, we saw it, uh, with the poor library intern, uh, in Prairie du Chien, right? He’s fighting with Republican members of Congress, just in the last couple days on his Twitter. He fights with Democratic members of Congress. He fights, he has a drunken fight with teenage senate pages. Uh, after he was giving a midnight tour one day. He fights with Department of Defense officials in classified briefings. He’s fought with farmers. Recently in a hearing, I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but there was someone about trade. And he said to the person, Don’t you think that we should, or do you think we should be exporting agricultural goods to China? Because isn’t that like providing Nazi Germany in 1939 before they invaded Poland goods? Does he understand the economy of the third district? he was a heckler at the State of the Union. Look, that’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s job. Derek, don’t do that. but this guy has been embarrassing at every level. And finally, he’s a bad member of Congress. Look, let me give you one example. There’s something called the Dairy Innovation Fund. And, uh, that fund, uh, helps people, dairy farmers bring things to market. It was 25 million. Republicans did their version of the budget, cut it to nothing. In fact, they cut it 41 percent the entire Department of Agriculture. just to give you an idea. So Derek is swift thinking, uh, came up with an amendment to restore 10 million. So essentially what he said to dairy farmers in Wisconsin is I’m with you. 40 percent of the time. That’s 40 percent of the funding. He doesn’t even get what his job is as a member of Congress. So, anyway, you know all of this. We have to win. Good news, the DCCC is completely committed to the 3rd Congressional District this time. So, they don’t play in primaries, they stay out of primaries, but they, uh, it is a 180 degree difference that we’re going to see. And last time, I was really frustrated. you know, when I went around with Brad and we couldn’t get that money we needed uh, from the federal party. Hakeem Jeffries has personally several times told me they are committed to the first and the third in particular in Wisconsin. And several times he’s just said the third. So, you are definitely on his radar map. And that is very important. So, really just let me kind of finish with this final thoughts of what I think we need to do, uh, to make sure that we’re beating Derrick Van Norden, but also, uh, doing what we need to with, uh, the things this fall. First of all, let’s just make sure we do no harm, right? Support the candidate of your choice, but make sure we’re not harming anyone else. you know, Joe Biden in particular, if you don’t agree with him on every single thing, fine, but let’s all the good stuff I mentioned is still there and we have to lead with that and we have to focus on that. Not, I think there’s probably most everyone you don’t agree with all the time, but this is something we really have to do. Honestly, Tammy, I think we’re gonna be in good shape. I think you’re gonna hear a lot about California influence, which will, you know, make that pretty toxic. So, if you’re from California, sorry. But, uh, I think we’re gonna be alright. We’re alright with Tammy. In the congressional race, you have three great people running. you’ve got a well respected state legislator with 12 years of experience and a record of bipartisan accomplishments. You have a former professional political fundraiser and small business owner who started a non profit that’s doing really good work. You have a real estate and health insurance professional who has a very compelling personal story about health care. Let’s make sure that we remember the person that we’re going to defeat is Derek Van Orden. And that’ll make sure that we do defeat him in November. So that’s the first point. Second, let’s just be as county parties, as organized and ready as ever, uh, to take this on. You know, fortunately, Ben Wickler, I think, is the best party chair in the country right now. He’s been really great at organization and fundraising and things, but it’s upon us. We know our counties better than anyone. And whatever we can do to make sure that we’re getting the resources you need, let us all vote, because the 3rd District is so, so very important, and our get out the vote has to be the best ever. Third, we’ve got to boost our College DUN units. I see Matthew here. Matthew, stand up. Matthew was just elected President of the College. We’re proud to be the third CD. Let me just do this for a second. So, Eau Claire and La Crosse, you have great units already. Let’s just continue to provide them all the support they need. River Falls and UW Stout has some units that need a little love and caring. so Pierce and DUN Counties Let’s express that love and caring in every way possible because those campuses are going to be so crucial. to Stephen’s point in Platteville, so a quarter to Grant County, we’ve got to build something. And they don’t have it right now, but if we build it by September and that gives us the rest of April, May, June, July, August to get there, we can have The best turnout at these college campuses. There are more undergraduate students at those six campuses than at UW Madison in my district. That student youth vote is going to matter. But, I’ll tell you, I used to be the president of UW Madison. Back then we were Young Democrats. Now they split them, but it’s the same difference. these units are so important. And I think for the third CD and for the state victories, They may well hinge on that vote. So will we commit to do everything we can to help our college downed units? How do you find your personal commitment? You know, I know you’re all here on a Sunday morning, on a beautiful day. What’s wrong with you? But thank you for doing that. But everything that we can do in talking to our neighbors and knocking on doors and helping have organized party units is going to matter so much, uh, so please, uh, keep doing that. So are you ready for the campaign of your lifetimes this fall? Are you ready to keep the president, keep Wisconsin blue, pick up the third congressional district and win back the legislature? And are you ready to make Western Wisconsin the place that delivers these victories? Thank you so much for inviting me here today and I’m going to look forward to spending lots and lots of time with you this fall. You’re going to get tired of me at some point, sorry, but we’re going to win.”