Hope all of you have had a great Easter!

I wanted to start off with something that I had mentioned in class about Sen. Kohl not having raised any money this quarter. This news creates more speculation as to whether or not Kohl is planning on retiring in 2012. This news stirs things up because Kohl has loaned $1 million last year towards his campaign, a move that seemed to point out that Kohl will run again in 2012. There have been talks that Kohl will retire only to leave the door open for former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold to get back his seat in the Senate.

With all the news about the Federal Budget Plan, Paul Ryan and Herb Kohl have brought the debate to their home state. The two have been very busy talking about both sides of the budget in Wisconsin. Paul Ryan is obviously trying to promote his new deal that would cut more than $6 trillion in the next 10 years. Kohl, however, is talking about the budget proposed by President Barack Obama. Kohl is saying that the budget proposed by Obama will cut as much as $4 trillion in the near future. Both men are acknowledging that this debate will last for many more days to come.

On a very quick and short note, Kohl is the only remaining Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee that has not sponsored a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. If the bill passes it would repeal the law that does not recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. A gay-rights group in California has begun a campaign to sway over Sen. Kohl to join in on the bill.

Finally, Kohl again shows off his Wisconsin roots by supporting a bill that would help dairy workers out not only in Wisconsin, but throughout the entire country. This new bill would allow farmers to use a visa program that would allow them to hire foreign workers. This would allow the immigrants to come in for a three period term which could be extended for another three years by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. This is a great potential bill for the farmers because it would most certainly provide great help to farmers for much less than normal.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the last day before getting back to school!

More Work Ahead

I think I've been so used to Herb Kohl having such busy weeks, that finding only two brand new things that he's doing this week seems like a week off for him. Still, Kohl has been hard at work in order to improve things in Wisconsin. For those of you that were in Thursday's class, I mentioned how much of a true Wisconsinite Kohl is. Kohl's new fight revolves around the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program which faces major budget cuts in the new House Budget Proposal.

Kohl, along with 16 other senators has lead the effort to include the COPS program in the Senate Budget Resolution for the 2012 Fiscal Year. The program which has been around since 1994, would need $600 million in funding in order for it to stay functioning like it has been in the past. The COPS program which is facing major budget cuts has but more than 120,000 policemen in local communities. In Kohl's recent survey that he has conducted with the Wisconsin law enforcement he has found these results when it comes to problems in the areas of law enforcement. The results come from the link above.

   " 64.2% cited budget cuts as a primary concern. 63.3% listed inability to hire enough staff to properly function, 56.7% listed equipment purchase and upkeep, 39.4% listed drug abuse in their jurisdictions, 19.3% cited lack of access to grant funding and 14.8% cited lack of officer training programs."

At the very beginning of the 112th Congress, Kohl has introduced a bill to help improve the COPS program. The bill would provide enough funding to hire up to as much as 50,000 new law enforcers to protect our neighborhoods and communities. Again, this bill demonstrates the strong ties that Kohl has with Wisconsin, and his continuing abilities in order to improve our state.

On a side note, the FDA has been under much scrutiny this week for failing to give high-risk medical devices the attention that they deserve.  Kohl, who is the committee chairman for the Special Committee on Aging, has a very difficult task ahead of him. The article outlines how Kohl has a tough choice to choose between innovation and safety. The FDA has been conducting a series of tests on technology such as pacemakers, artificial hips, and hip joints since 2009. The part which puts FDA under extreme criticism is based around the argument that despite some recalls, there are still some parts that the FDA has allowed hospitals to use possible faulty technology that could put the patients at risk.

It seems as if those are not the only people to have complained about the FDA lately. FDA has had very low approval among most Americans and this case only gives us more to complain about. Hopefully Kohl can find that fine balance between safety and innovation, and our safety will be more important than the newest technology advancements that are not proven yet.

Have a great Sunday everyone, and don't forget to Thank Herb Kohl for defending the Clean Air Act.

Plenty to Thank For!

Another week has gone by, and today's weather has hopefully given us a good preview of the next few weeks to come leading up to summer. Thanks to the last minute deal by President Obama, the government averted a hot situation themselves.

More news has occurred in the Google situation. Earlier this week, Google has proposed a $700 Million buyout of ITA Software. After an eight month review, the Justice Department has agreed to this decision on the condition that Google will allow all of its' search engine rivals to look at all of it travel data, and also allow the government to review any complaints from other companies that Google is acting unfairly. As mentioned in my previous posts, Fairsearch.org has joined together in order to protest against this deal becoming done.

Despite the protests from Fairsearch, the deal has been agreed upon on Friday. Another provision has been officially added to the deal however. Google will also have to create a firewall on the data of its' clients and also has to allow government review at any request; one that does not even have to come from a different company or search engine. Many say that Google has only hurt themselves with this deal. Because of the deal, a larger review seems to be looming ahead for Google. Apparently after the deal has passed through, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department have began to contemplate the idea of an investigation on the accusations thrown towards Google. I'm sure that in the next couple of days we will know everything.

What to thank Senator Herb Kohl for? Well, if you have a pair of healthy lungs, then you can thank him for trying to keep them clean and healthy. Just recently Herb Kohl used his authority and popularity to "lobby" for the Clean Air Act to be passed. In a statement made by Steve Cochran, the Environmental Defense Agency Vice President, he praised Kohl for fighting to "make sure that every American will have clean air to breathe." Since then, many twitter posts have been put up for citizens to call or write to Herb Kohl for thanking him.

How is this really important to the state of Wisconsin? It's huge. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) has also been lobbying for the Clean Air Act to be passed. In a presentation made to Congress, the NASN presented some shocking numbers regarding chilren's health in the recent years. For more of the numbers and the arguments you can go here.
Here's somethin' to leave ya with before the weekend's over... If you're one of those people thinking "okay, what's the big deal, it's a clean air act that probably won't change anything anyways." Now go up and say that in front of the 123,000 kids in Wisconsin that have asthma. Those same kids, have needed more than 12,000 emergency rooms when they went through a serious asthma attack.

That's kind of a big deal don't you think?

Kohl Connections

As the first weekend of baseball has just ended, we are left to wonder, whether or not the Cincinnati Reds' sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers is an indication of things to come during the season.  Many of us Brewer fans may be worried that this is just another over-hyped season that will only end up being a huge disappointment. You may ask, where's the relevancy to Herb Kohl when I'm talking about baseball... that's a pretty good questions, and luckily for me, I've got the answer.

With the beginning of the baseball season, that means that basketball season is coming to an end, and with the Milwaukee Bucks looking more and more poised to be going home instead of making an appearance in the post season, Herb Kohl has some decisions to make. The Bucks have only created a buzz at the beginning of the season with their new acquisitions, but have become one of the most disappointing teams in all of basketball. Relevant? Yes. Herb Kohl not only opposes Scott Walker's Budget Repair Bill because it's not what the people of Wisconsin want. Herb Kohl also is not a fan of the fact that Scott Walker rejected the plan for the Madison to Milwaukee high-speed rail that was supposed to be connecting the two cities.

This rejection leaves us with an Opening Day question. How much of a hit will the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers lose out because of this. Kohl had hoped that this connection would bring in more fans to the city of Milwaukee, which would turn into bigger profits for both franchises. Scott Walker's only explanation: "It was a waste of money." But how much of a waste is it really? This project was meant to create more jobs in Milwaukee and Madison. This project could have greatly helped the Wisconsin economy. The Republicans however, believe that this is a waste of money, and have supported Scott Walker's rejection of the plan.

More news on the events happening in Libya. After President Barack Obama told the American people that even though "This is not what we wanted" he is "deeply aware" of the risks that could result from our military action. Wisconsin representatives like many of us, have joined the criticism of Obama's actions.

Herb Kohl is also connected to a bill that has made April the Financial Literacy Month. This bill is meant to promote financial literacy in not only schools, but also in homes, workplaces, and our communities. More than 77 million adults in the United States are either under or un-banked. Last year the U.S. bankruptcy filings reached a total of 1.5 million. In the past, most have had to wait a bit of time before they could actually get a credit card. Today, our mailbox is often filled with letters and information from credit card companies that urge us to just pick up the phone and give them a call so you can set up your account right away. I think that having a month that is dedicated to this is a great idea, because there are many people that are looking for help with handling their money and credit.

Finally, on the SeniorCare note that I had touched on in the previous post, Herb Kohl has released a small statement which you can read here.

Enjoy the first full week of April, and Go Brewers!

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