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Gwen Moore says that thanks to Scott Walker, Milwaukee could be a "ghost city"

As Gov. Scott Walker prepared to declare the state’s economy “dramatically better” in his state of the state speech Wednesday night, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore was decrying the Republican’s priorities.

In a stop at the Journal Sentinel to meet with editorial writers, the Democrat from Milwaukee said that unseating Walker was one of her top goals for 2014.

Moore said Milwaukee needed a “miracle” to avoid becoming a “ghost city” after Walker signed legislation ending residency requirements for school and municipal workers.

She declared of governors such as Walker who refused an expansion of Medicaid with mostly federal funding under the Obamacare health law: “People gotta be stuck on stupid waiting for dumb to come.” Walker says he instead made changes that meant “this year, for the first time in Wisconsin history, everyone living in poverty will be able to access health care under Medicaid.”

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House Democrat 'convinced' Ted Cruz will run for president

A House Democrat who joined Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on a congressional delegation to a memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa said he has “no doubt” the Texas conservative will run for president in 2016.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland said Cruz, considered a potential 2016 presidential candidate, tried to dodge the issue but admitted that he had plans to travel to states considered crucial in the early presidential nominating process.

“I asked him, was he going to New Hampshire, was he going to South Carolina, Iowa, and he said he’d probably be going to all of those places and he would be doing the things a presidential candidate would normally be doing.”
“But he wouldn’t say yes or no, but it was quite clear to me,” Cummings said. “I have no doubt about it.”

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What Ted Cruz Talked About at 10,000 Feet

Before he could make the late Nelson Mandela’s media-mobbed memorial service all about him by very publicly storming out (take that, Cuban President Raul Castro!), Sen. Ted Cruz had to get to South Africa.

His ticket to ride included a lengthy trans-Atlantic jaunt during which several members of the Congressional Black Caucus bent the Texas Republican’s ear about everything from swirling policy initiatives to personal issues.

HOH has confirmed that Cruz, who did not respond to email requests seeking clarification about any interactions whilst traveling, spent at least part of the 40-hour (round trip) voyage getting better acquainted with Reps. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., John Lewis, D-Ga., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

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Local admirers remember Nelson Mandela

Tracey Joubert, the South African chief financial officer of MillerCoors, will never forget the moment when President Nelson Mandela walked onto the Johannesburg pitch at the final game of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Dressed in the jersey of the Springboks, South Africa’s traditionally all-white rugby team — in the year after the fall of apartheid — the former political prisoner inspired a fractured nation, black and white, to seek a new, united future.

“A lot of people realized then that we can live together and we can win together,” said Joubert, who mourned Thursday the passing of the man she called the “father of a new South Africa.”

“He was just an amazing human being,” Joubert said. “I’m absolutely devastated.”

Mandela died Thursday at the age of 95 after months of ill health. He was mourned in Wisconsin and around the world by countrymen and admirers.

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23 members of Congress attending Mandela memorial service in S. Africa

At least 23 federal lawmakers are traveling to South Africa to attend a memorial service for the country’s former leader Nelson Mandela, who died last week at age 95.

The service will be held Tuesday in Johannesburg at a soccer stadium that can hold roughly 95,000 people.

A government aircraft carrying 22 members of the House and one U.S. senator departed from Andrews Air Force Base on Monday morning, ahead of Air Force One, which is carrying President and Michelle Obama, former president George W. Bush and Laura Bush and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to the White House.

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The quiet before the sequester storm

The holiday season is upon us. While some are crossing items from their shopping lists, there are those across America who are wondering how they will heat their homes, purchase food or pay for child care. The year 2013 was difficult, but according to the Center for American Progress, 2014 will be worse.

As a member of the House Budget Committee and as someone who has lived in poverty, I understand how our budgetary decisions directly affect American families. This week, the bicameral, bipartisan budget committee will reach its deadline for presenting a budget deal. Should this committee succeed, it is my hope that its compromise finds a solution to the sequester cuts affecting families across this nation. Simply put, Americans cannot afford the sequester.

The across-the-board spending cuts known as the “sequester” took effect in March. This reduction has been deeply felt across the nation as struggling families continue to squeeze their resources to support themselves. Though we did not experience immediate economic calamity and family financial ruin as predicted, we must not survey the consequences of these cuts with a myopic lens. What some do not realize is that without a fix, the pain these cuts have caused will continue into 2014 with far greater severity.

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Continuing the Push for Integrated Employment

Why Not

I am a husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. I believe in sharing my talents and experiences by giving back to the community by giving my time to coaching, church and especially to the disability community. I truly believe that all men and women are created equally.

I had the opportunity to meet with Representative Gwen Moore in her office, along with her staff and some fellow self-advocates and advocates, sharing our thoughts on the proposed implementation of the Health and Human Services (HHS) rule on “integrated settings.”  As I have written before, this is not a new rule and we are not looking at closing “sheltered workshops”.  What we are looking at is a paradigm shift in how we are looking at employment options for individuals with disabilities. Individuals today want to work and be a part of their community.

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