- Mark Pocan: Hello, everyone.

I'm Congressman Mark Pocan from the 2nd Congressional District in Wisconsin.

I am running unopposed this fall.

But I do want to share some of what's happening in Washington and see if I can help you to have a better idea what people are thinking about when it comes to federal politics.

This has been a very volatile session.

Thanks to actions by President Trump, we're all paying more for groceries and everyday goods because of the erratic nature of the use of tariffs.

Tariffs are the power of Congress.

Only emergency tariffs are the power of the president.

But the current Congress and Republican majority under Mike Johnson have refused to stand up for that.

So, because of it, we are paying essentially a tax on goods that come into America, and we're the ones as consumers who pay for that.

So, we're paying more for groceries and everyday goods.

We're paying more for gasoline because of an illegal war in Iran.

I think there's been five or six votes to give Congress the power back again, a War Powers resolution.

It is up to Congress to go to war.

Only if we are in imminent attack can the president initiate one.

Well, we were never in imminent attack.

However, right now, we are paying a lot more for gasoline because this war wasn't planned out well.

It's not executed well, and there doesn't seem to be a plan to get out of it.

We're paying more for healthcare and utilities because of actions that were in the Big, Beautiful Bill, so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill," that was passed in Congress a year ago.

And because of it, we are seeing people lose access to health insurance, about 4 million people nationally through the Affordable Care Act who lost the subsidies that were provided.

That's what made it affordable.

And after January, 7 million people will lose access through Medicaid, largely because of paperwork requirements.

And we saw this happen in Arkansas, and 70% of the people who lost access were eligible, just they couldn't figure out how jump through all the hoops in order to get the healthcare they need.

And let's face it.

People are still gonna get sick if they don't have coverage.

We all cover it, which is why we're starting to see rates increase as much as 30% for some group plans.

So, we're just paying a lot more for things in this country than we need to.

Healthcare is at risk, and more people are losing access than I can remember ever before.

And the outright corruption of what's happening in the Trump administration, from, you know, building a ballroom after tearing down part of the White House without anyone's approval, to trying to build an arch, to putting out cryptocurrency and meme coins and all sorts of things to enrich the president and his family.

It's been a really difficult session on many fronts.

Unfortunately, the Republicans of Congress have allowed all this to happen.

They haven't stood up for us as a co-equal branch of government.

And that's what we are.

We're not a subservient branch according to the Constitution-- power of the purse, Article 1.

We're watching the White House steal funds that Congress appropriated.

Much needs to be done.

The good news is, I think you're gonna see a lot of faces change in Congress this November.

I think you could see the majority change in the House and possibly in the Senate.

And if that happens, you can have real accountability.

We can have oversight.

We can bring in administration officials and make sure that we're protecting the public and the purse, your tax dollars, the best we can, and we can stop any bad actions from happening.

And we can do lawsuits on behalf of Congress, which would be much stronger than some of the lawsuits we've seen that have stopped some of the president's illegal actions.

That's, in a nutshell, what's happening in Washington.

It's been a pretty wild session, but I appreciate your support in going back to Congress another term, and I will do all I can to make sure I'm helping to lower the cost of goods for Americans, making sure that we're bringing healthcare back for people, especially those who've lost it, and to end the corruption that unfortunately happens on a daily basis there.

So, thank you so much for listening, and I look forward to working with you.

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