2CSS202001HD_Candidate_Statement_Transcript
 
- Mark Pocan: Hi, everybody. I'm Congressman Mark Pocan, representing the 2nd Congressional District of Wisconsin. It's been an honor to serve people in the 2nd Congressional District since I was elected in 2012. I currently serve on the Appropriations Committee, the committee that-- we essentially do the spending for Congress by making sure that we prioritize our values by putting our money into programs that are important that really represent the best that we can do as a country and to make sure that we're supporting programs right here in Wisconsin. Things like University of Wisconsin, for example. It's been a real honor during this incredibly troubling period of time with COVID to represent you in Congress. The last six to eight months we have been operating Congress out of 7,500 different locations across the country. That's where members of Congress are, our staffs, all working out of home. It's been extremely difficult and different than we've ever experienced before. But we've need to do so much more to help people who are hurting right now during these times of COVID. People who've lost a job, at no fault of their own. Small businesses that have lost demand, at no fault of their own. The frontline workers who need the protections so that they can continue to take care of us, and make sure that they and their families don't get sick. We need to support our local and state governments that right now we are doing the testing and making sure that all the services, like contact tracing and other things, are getting done so that we can isolate people who are ill. We need to help the economy where it's been hit so hard. 100,000 small businesses have closed down just since the beginning of COVID and we need to take care of that and address that really quickly. We need to address health care. Too many people still don't have healthcare in a nation as great as ours. We need to address climate change. I support the Green New Deal. I think we need to put serious effort into making sure that we reverse the negative effects of climate change, whether it be the wildfires in the West or the hurricanes in the South. We clearly are seeing increased activity. And we can do it in a way that helps create jobs right here in the United States, good family-supporting jobs. We need to stand up for workers everywhere by strengthening their voices in their workplaces and supporting their ability to have a voice in their workplace. We need to address so many issues in this country, and it's been a really difficult year doing that, but I have really been very honored to be able to serve the people of the 2nd District. I would love to be able to continue to serve the people of the 2nd District. And if we do that, I really am looking forward to making sure that we stop COVID, have a vaccine that can be distributed widely, and get this thing to end as quickly as possible so we can get back to normal, which I think people are desperate to do. I want a Lake Perch fish fry with a Spotted Cow and friends more than just about anything right now, and it's one of those things that's really difficult to do. I think we also need to invest in our nation's infrastructure so that we can help create good-paying family-supporting jobs, but also fix the roads and bridges, the schools, the broadband, and so many other services that need help right now. Our water delivery systems. There's things that just need an investment that only government can do and we can do that by helping create good-paying jobs along the way. We need to address, as I mentioned, climate change. We have to address racial tensions in this country. There are many things that have to happen, and I am up for that in the next Congress to do that. I would be honored to have your support. I would be honored to have your vote. And I will commit to do everything I can to make sure that we're making, not just this country, but making the world a better place. We really have that capacity to do it. And I would so appreciate your support in the coming election.  
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