Mike on the Issues

Both parties talk about affordability, but they haven’t done anything to make life more affordable. Let’s call it what it is - life should be cheaper. But that will only happen when Congress takes on corporate greed and price-gouging which I will fight for by enacting stronger federal oversight of utilities, pharmaceuticals, and essential goods. Rising utility costs are a huge burden to our families as energy companies keep getting richer. That’s why I will back legislation to reduce energy costs through competition and modernization of the power grid. 

We must also break up the monopolization of our food supply chains, from seeds and pesticides to meat packaging and farm equipment allowing for more competitive markets and cheaper prices at the point of production and consumption. 

All across the country, we’re seeing housing prices skyrocket as Congress stands with developers, not residents. I will fight to expand federal and state affordable housing programs, including incentives for developers to build workforce housing, and advocate for tax relief targeted to middle-class families, not billionaires and large corporations.

The tax burden is currently being carried by the middle class and small businesses. We can lower taxes for regular Americans without raising the deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, targeting wasteful government spending, and cracking down on fraud. My wife and I are raising four kids - we know how important tax cuts for families are, which is why I will push for an expanded child tax credit that will make life more affordable for working families.

We must stop letting pharmaceutical companies and private equity drive our health care system.

1. Medicare needs to negotiate all drug prices directly. 

2. Block private equity firms from taking over health care services and senior care centers

3. Stop giving giant subsidies to Big Pharmaceuticals who enrich their executives and board members while leaving the American people to die overcharging for drugs their tax dollars helped develop. If US tax payer dollars are used in a drug's development, a price cap should be placed on the drug when sold in the US.

The right to repair is a key factor in breaking up monopolies that drive up everyday costs for Americans. It's supported by 83% of the American people but has been squashed by multinational corporations and the politicians they own in Washington. 

In the farming industry a few manufacturers have monopolized the market which has forced farmers into lifetime contracts that cause operational costs to rise and small farms to go out of business. The right to repair must be upheld and strengthened at the federal level in order to help bring down the cost of food.

The personal electronics market tells the same story. Multinational corporations like Apple have essentially shut independent repair shops out of the market causing electronic repair costs to sky rocket. 

This is also true of the car repair market. “Propietary” electronics and systems in cars have all but sidelined independent repair shops driving up costs significantly and destroying small businesses. 

The right to repair must be supported through direct legislation by congress in order to actually allow American consumers to have a free market.

"Surveillance price setting” is where companies build a profile for a person based on their personal data and determine how much to charge them for their service or product based on this information. It is a symptom of having weak data protection laws, and corporate price gouging gone wild. I will be tackling both these problems by banning algorithmic, or surveillance price setting to individual consumers, and by pushing for much stronger data protection laws.

1. Ban private equity from the housing market. Housing costs are at an all time high and having billion dollar firms competing against families to buy a home is insane. It must end. 

2. Ban hedge funds and private equity firms from taking over senior care facilities and healthcare facilities.

3. Regulate the banks and wallstreet. In the last decade our government has bailed out the banks and wallstreet more times than I can count, from the major crash of 2008 to the more recent bail-out of Silicon Valley bank in 2023. This must end. Reinstating glass steagall, strengthening the CFPB, and cracking down on fraud will help reign in the recklessness of our current speculative banking industry.

Social Security is not a government hand out, it's a retirement guarantee earned from every paycheck American workers have ever received. Washington seems to have forgotten that, but I won’t.

Part of the American dream is retiring and enjoying the fruits of our labor. I will not allow Washington to raise the age of retirement, cut social security benefits, and play games with workers retirement funds just because their banker buddies want a slice of our pie.

As a firefighter I understand first hand the sacrifices first responders have to make day in and day out to keep our communities safe. That is why I will make sure all first responders and Emergency services are fully funded by: 

1. Advocating for increased federal grants and state support. I will invest in modern training, equipment, and mental health resources, including programs for PTSD prevention and recovery, and I will push for local input in policymaking to make sure communities and first responders have a real voice in how safety resources are allocated.

2. Making sure federal funding for WEM is sent on time. Politicians can’t play politics with emergency planning, it leaves our communities vulnerable and no citizen should have their safety be decided by their zip code or if congress wants to do its job. 

3. Breaking up monopolies that price gouge emergency service equipment leading to wasted tax payer dollars, and extreme wait times for lifesaving equipment. 

Production levels are at historic highs yet only a small sector of the ultra wealthy are seeing the profits. That is why I will fight to pass the PRO Act, to protect the right to organize by strengthening labor law enforcement and cracking down on companies that illegally fight unions. I will oppose bad trade deals (like NAFTA and TPP) backed by both parties that outsource manufacturing jobs and support federal programs for companies that hire locally. 

I will push for legislation to expand apprenticeships and vocational training in partnership with community colleges and local employers, and defend pensions by opposing cuts to retirement security programs. 

Workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect - and that means jobs that can support a family, with protections for workers, and safe working environments.

I will enforce “buy American” rules and tie federal contracts to companies that manufacture and hire in our district. I will relentlessly go after monopolies and prevent large corporations from squeezing out small manufacturers, cutting costs and taxes to help small businesses grow without cutting worker protections. I will support workforce development programs that connect manufacturers and trades employers directly to skilled workers in the district.

As we move into a modern industrial revolution we need real leadership and decisive action at the federal level to make sure the tech billionaires do not trample everyday American workers. Congress has failed to pass any meaningful legislation regulating AI or holding tech companies accountable. We must stop Big Tech from influencing the way our government will regulate AI, and I will fight for legislation to ban technology that infringes on our personal privacy and freedoms. 

Additionally, I would fight to make sure American workers are protected as we move into this next industrial phase. AI puts us on the precipice of a new era where many essential workers are no longer needed in order to maintain current production levels. We have been here before and know that this could be revolutionary, leading to shorter work weeks, and better production capacity, but that is going to take serious foresight to make sure that these benefits are passed on to everyday Americans. Protecting workers and making sure that they are represented in this tech revolution will be at the forefront of my AI policy work.

Data centers are going to be a vital piece of modernizing our current infrastructure and keeping up with AI demands, but they cannot become a burden on our communities. They must pay their own way and not at the expense of Wisconsinites. I will pass legislation tying all new data center proposals to federal and state contracts that update power grid infrastructure to bring more jobs to the state, bring down energy costs, and make sure our grids can meet the energy demands brought on by data centers.

Wisconsin is currently home to 47 data centers with more being proposed or already under construction across the state. There are currently no federal or state frameworks for regulating the energy costs or the consumption of natural resources that these centers use. I will back legislation mandating that all data centers must pay for their own energy consumption. Similarly, I am calling for full transparency on all data center water consumption (there currently is none) and a push for legislation charging these major tech companies for utilizing our water.

We should not be spending billions of dollars a year on foreign wars. While thousands of our decorated service members struggle with homelessness and PTSD we should not be lining the pockets of Boeing and Raytheon execs. While Wisconsin's infrastructure gets a grade of C+ we should not be giving billions of dollars to defense contractors. American tax payer dollars should be spent on helping our veterans and our people, not making defense contractors and their shareholders rich while trying to police the world.

Donald Trump did the right thing moving Cannabis from a schedule I drug to a schedule III, but we need to go further. Pharma lobbyists have spent billions of dollars fighting cannabis and hemp legalization not because it's bad for you, but because it's bad for their business. We waste billions of tax payer dollars per year criminalizing hardworking Americans when we could be boosting our economy by providing a new cash crop that will help our farmers.