Progressive Thinking

Sen. Smith writes about the things we can do to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect our children as they begin their new school year.

EAU CLAIRE, WI - We’ve reached that point of year again when kids are excited to return to the classroom, see their friends and begin a new school year. As adults, we can understand their excitement, but it’s up to us to make sure kids can have a safe and successful school year.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen a drastic turn of events in our fight against COVID-19. Like many other states, Wisconsin is experiencing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. This is ramping up just as schools are preparing to welcome back our children. This should alarm all of us. The good news is we have tools at-hand to reverse this trend and help our schools stay open.

With all that we’ve learned since the beginning of the pandemic, we know how to stop the spread if we do certain things. The easiest is getting vaccinated. On August 23, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine. Prior to this announcement, the COVID-19 vaccines met the FDA’s “rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization,” and now we can be even more confident knowing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine is confirmed.

The COVID-19 vaccine can prevent you from getting COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill or dying of COVID-19, according to Mayo Clinic. Additionally, the vaccine can prevent you from spreading the virus to others and get us closer to reaching herd immunity. Fifty-one percent of Wisconsinites are now fully vaccinated, but we still have work to do to protect kids who are too young to get the vaccine.

When polio raged across the country, people celebrated the discovery of a vaccine and eagerly lined up to get vaccinated. The same goes with chicken pox and other communicable diseases. Of course, the first reason folks get vaccinated is to protect themselves and their family, but also to protect others in their community.

The COVID-19 vaccine is free for Wisconsinites. If you haven’t received your vaccine yet, you can receive $100 for doing your part to protect your community. If you get your first vaccine dose by September 6, you’ll be eligible to receive $100 just by visiting 100.wisconsin.gov.

We have to move forward. We are at a pivotal time in getting through the pandemic. We owe it to our loved ones, our frontline healthcare workers, our local businesses and our children’s future to get vaccinated so Wisconsin can flourish during this critical time.

We don’t have to look back this year if we get vaccinated and wear a mask when we’re indoors and around others to stop the spread. The reason to wear a mask is no different than staying home when you’re sick or keeping children home from school if they have symptoms: so they don’t infect others.

With school open now it’s even more important to stop the spread. Next to long term care facilities, schools are probably the most vulnerable to the spread of communicable disease. Anyone could be carrying the virus without knowing it before they infect others. That includes children who can spread it to other children and the adults in their school. We must all do our part to keep kids at school, teachers teaching and support staff working by limiting the spread and preventing schools from being short-staffed.

Before our kids head back to school, we adults have some homework to do. Talk to your doctor or head to Vaccines.gov to learn more about how you can protect yourself and your loved ones. We all want to see our kids have a good year and it’s our job to set them up for success.

Sen. Smith writes about legislative efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs and improve access to affordable, high-quality health care for Wisconsinites.

MADISON - Nobody should have to choose between paying for groceries or lifesaving drugs. Many people even ration their drug to save money and end up putting themselves at greater risk. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 37% of individuals taking four or more medications per day could not afford their prescriptions.

In 2019, Governor Evers signed Executive Order #39 to form the Task Force on Reducing Prescription Drug Prices.

The cost of insulin had risen from $40 a vial in 2001 to $289 in 2018. Medications to manage asthma increased as much as 50% over just a few years. Cancer treatments, arthritis medication and other lifesaving prescriptions also saw massive price increases. With the knowledge that prescription drugs were estimated to cost Wisconsin residents over $1.3 billion in 2019, the Executive Order required the following:

“The Task Force shall advise and assist the Governor in addressing excessive prescription drug prices and the financial burden that prescription drug prices place on Wisconsin residents.” The Task Force was responsible to:

a.       Gather and analyze data and information relating to the development, pricing, distribution, and purchasing of prescription drugs.

b.      Review actions already to reduce prescription drug prices.

c.       Identify opportunities to coordinate with other states and the federal government.

d.      Recommend potential actions that can be taken to reduce prescription drug prices in Wisconsin.

Now, I know that I don’t need to rehash what you probably already know. Profits for drug manufacturers have gone through the roof which affects all of us either directly or indirectly through the cost of insurance.

The task force met 8 times through August of 2020, and through consensus, made a number of recommendations that included the following:

1. Require additional transparency and reporting for prescription drug supply chain entities.
2. Increase the number of consumer protection staff and anti-trust attorneys focused on improper pharmaceutical industry practices.
3. Increase funding for free and charitable clinics, dedicating a portion of the funding to pharmacy benefits, to expand access.
4. Limit the copay an insurer can charge for a month’s supply of insulin.
5. Ensure that health care providers participating in the 340B drug discount program are able to reinvest savings from drug purchases into patient care and support activities.
6. Advocate for federal regulatory changes to streamline the market entry of affordable generic equivalents.
7. Explore and support efforts to improve physician access to real-time patient pharmacy benefit information in electronic medical records to allow physicians to consider out-of-pocket costs when prescribing medications.

In his budget proposal earlier this year, Governor Evers included measures to begin implementing the recommendations from the Task Force. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical corporations still wield a lot of political power and those measures were cut from the budget by Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee.

Just because a few politicians in positions of power don’t want to take on the drug companies and address the rising cost of prescription medication doesn’t mean this issue will magically go away. That’s why I recently joined a number of colleagues and introduced 16 stand-alone bills that we hope will force our legislature to act. The following are samples of what is in those bills.

·         Creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board and Office of Prescription Drug Affordability

·         Grants for free and charitable clinics

·         A program to import more affordable medications from Canada

·         A cap on Insulin co-payments

·         Fiduciary and disclosure requirements on pharmacy benefit managers

·         Licensure of pharmaceutical representatives

·         Insulin safety net programs

You can help move these important bills by contacting your legislators and the committee chairs in each house. It’s about time we took common sense measures to protect the health and well-being of everyone.

Sen. Smith writes about the Ho-Chunk Nation’s Code Talkers role and their contributions to our country during World War I and II and the need to commemorate their service and sacrifice in Wisconsin.

EAU CLAIRE - In the horrific wars of the early twentieth century (World Wars I and II) members of Native Tribal Nations were just as willing as their non-native neighbors to enlist and defend our shared values.

Some tribal nation members who enlisted were recruited for a special duty, a special force you might say. The secret skill these soldiers possessed wasn’t new, it was very old and persisted despite immense pressure and attempts to strip this cornerstone of their culture away here in the United States.

It was literally the words they spoke! The U.S. military realized that by using native languages, it would be much harder, if not impossible, for our enemies to intercept and decipher critical messages on the battlefield.

This is one of the most interesting stories from those world wars. It is this sort of contribution to our own heritage as a nation of many cultures, religions and ethnicities that we should lift up and celebrate. Telling the story of the native “Code Talkers,” as they were known, tells the story of this nation. How we endured and came together using the unique skills and strengths we possessed.

The stories about Ho-Chunk code talkers are amazing and offer a glimpse of what America was like during this tumultuous time of war. An enlisted man was asked if he spoke his native language and he replied that yes he did. They then assigned him to the code talker unit. This gentleman was thrilled because it was an upgrade in his quarters as well as his meals and other amenities. When it came time to begin his new assignment someone accompanied him to the radio room. He sat before a receiver and someone spoke over the radio. The officer hovering over him asked him what the message was.

The soldier responded that he didn’t understand the sender. The officer was puzzled and demanded to know why he had told them he could speak his native language but couldn’t understand this message. He responded that he is Ho-Chunk and what he heard came from someone speaking Navajo. That is a humorous anecdotal story that also reminds us of the misunderstanding we can suffer about other cultures and the presumptions we all make at times.

The efforts and sacrifices of the Code Talkers were kept secret for decades until the program was declassified in 1968. Even then, it took several more decades until native code talkers were finally recognized and honored by our nation for their unique and significant contributions to our military success.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed August 14th as National Code Talkers Day in honor of all Native American veterans who served the United States in times of war dating back to the American Revolutionary War. And in 2013, with the support of Rep. Ron Kind, Congress honored the contributions and sacrifices of these veterans with a Gold Medal Ceremony where members of the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk, Oneida and Menominee Nations were among the 33 tribes recognized for their heroic efforts.

We may never know the whole story, but we do know their service made an impact on the world.

Last session, I was proud to author bipartisan legislation to designate the stretch of Interstate 90 from La Crosse to Tomah for the Ho-Chunk Code Talkers who were so instrumental in our efforts to protect freedom and democracy. As I continue to talk with Native leaders across our state, it is clear we can all do better to educate ourselves about these unique and important stories that are too often overlooked in our country’s history. Be sure to do what you can to learn more about our country’s history by listening, reading and having conversations with others.

Sen. Jeff Smith writes about the Ready to Amend Act, legislation he introduced last week as part of the Campaign Integrity Package to help restore faith in the electoral process.

MADISON - Last week I joined a number of other legislators to introduce the Campaign Integrity Package, legislation to help restore faith in the electoral process. We know there isn’t one quick fix to get money out of our political process, but it will take a number of changes—and the Campaign Integrity Package is a start.

Nearly every day I see or hear comments that people feel that they are without a voice and their vote doesn’t matter. It’s understandable why they feel that way. Billionaires and corporations spend unfathomable amounts of money to influence your vote. Most working Americans can’t imagine donating but a few dollars if anything. Someone who can afford to write a $1 million check to a campaign or third party group can drown out the voices of regular voters and tilt an election in their favor.

While money has always had too much of an influence, it was the decision in the 2010 court case of Citizens United vs. FEC (Federal Elections Commission) that really opened the flood gates by declaring corporations are “people” and money is “speech”. It was this decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that finally allowed the biggest moneyed interests to spend almost anything they wanted with very little restrictions or oversight.

Just look at the numbers. In 2016, legislative candidates and 3rd party groups spent $28.1 million. In 2018, that number increased to $35.8 million. And in 2020, both of those previous records were shattered when we saw $53.9 million in political spending.

But even with the horrendous Citizens United decision, there are simple, commonsense campaign finance reforms our state can implement in order to restore faith in our democracy:

“Campaign Contribution Limits Act” (LRB 4220): This proposal restores sensible campaign contribution limits including limiting contributions to Political Action Committees (PACs).

“Closing the PAC Loophole Act” (LRB 4221): This proposal defines a PAC, for campaign finance purposes, as a committee that includes a person, other than an individual, that spends more than $1,000 in a 12-month period on expenditures for express advocacy.

“Coordination Control Act” (LRB 4222): This proposal places the same financial limits on coordinated expenditures between candidates and groups as are currently in place for direct contributions.

“No Corporate Campaign Bribes Act” (LRB 4223): This closes the segregated fund shell game loophole used to funnel additional money to committees by prohibiting corporations, labor organizations and other such associations from contributing to funds administered by a political party or campaign committee.

“Contribution Sunshine Act” (LRB 4224): This proposal requires any committee that receives campaign finance contributions of more than $100 cumulatively from an individual to report that individual’s place of employment and occupation, if any.

“Communications Transparency Act” (LRB 4225): This proposal also provides a definition for mass communication related to campaigns and requires so-called “dark money” groups to disclose the names of their donors who have given $100 or more in the preceding 12 months.

“Ready to Amend Act” (LRB 4226): This resolution places a question on the November 2022 ballot to ask the people if Congress should propose an amendment to overturn Citizens United v. F.E.C.

I hear a lot of ideas about ways we can change the system. Some think term limits are the way to go, but this won’t fix how money is spent or how it influences the person elected to office. Good government happens when we end gerrymandering and make our electoral system more open and transparent.

The Campaign Integrity Bills, combined with my bill to create a non-partisan redistricting process, can improve our democratic process and end the political stranglehold of the corporate elites. It’s not too late to restore the voice of you the voter as long as the people you entrusted to represent you take action.

Sen. Jeff Smith writes about all of the fun activities families can enjoy at a local county fair.

EAU CLAIRE, WI - Summer is all about family fun. It’s the season with plenty to do outdoors. Family vacations are planned around national parks and monuments. Campgrounds fill up and lakes are busy with boats, kayakers, anglers and swimmers.

With everything going on and the many places to visit, it can be easy to overlook what’s happening right in your own backyard, including your local fair. County fairs are held across the state offering fun times and entertainment for your entire family.

Not all fairs are alike; some have midway rides and games, some have musical events and other shows. Other fairs keep it as simple as possible with demonstrations, displays, animal showings and food. Oh, the food. Fair food may not make the list for your healthy diet, but it’s certainly hard to resist.

My own family has made terrific memories thanks to our county fair. We were a 4-H family, so my daughters entered projects in woodworking, food preparation, natural science and more. Every year we had animals at the fair and it taught my daughters the important value of responsibility because they had to keep their area clean and care for their animals. My family got to the fair early and left late each day.

For current 4-H members, the fair is still the culmination of a year of hard work. They built connections, learned new things and worked on skills that will be judged during those few days in the summer heat. During the course of the year, they may have honed their shooting skills with an air gun or bow and demonstrated they know how to shoot safely. Their very special project made from wood might win them a blue ribbon. Youngsters can show off the relationship they’ve built with their animals over the last year. It’s so rewarding to see young people with their horses, not to mention all of the other animals, including cats, dogs, exotic animals, sheep and goats.

When some think of a county fair they think of the typical farm experience: showing cattle or hogs. Of course that’s a big part of it, but there’s so much more. From shooting sports and playing piano to showing your dairy cow and shooting a rocket into the air, there are plenty of activities for kids to enjoy at a county fair.

In my experience, I’ve been lucky enough to assist in our county fair even after my daughters graduated. It never gets old seeing the excitement of youngsters bringing in their projects. Every year there are creative projects I’d never seen before. When interviewing kids about their taxidermy mounts, they tell the story of their hunt with their parent or mentor. It’s always special – and you can share in their special moments at the fair.

At this point of the summer many, if not most, county fairs have come and gone until next year. But county fairs are the precursor to the state fair. The Wisconsin State Fair begins August 5th and runs through the 15th. Champions in every category from every county have the chance to be entered in the state fair and be judged one more time. It’s also your chance to experience fun and sample new food with fellow Wisconsinites.

Maybe your summer included travels to distant and amazing places. After all, we have so much natural beauty throughout this great country. You may have spent your summer relaxing on one of Wisconsin’s beautiful lakes or at the local pool socializing with neighbors and friends.

Let’s face it, football is on the horizon and that means fall is right around the corner. Visiting the fair might be your last chance to enjoy summer in Wisconsin.