Paul Ryan protests continue, with Randy Bryce arrested

Demonstrations near House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Racine office are a frequent occurrence, and they’re ratcheting up as the November mid-term elections approach.

March 5 and March 6 featured back-to-back actions targeting the 1st District congressman.

Ryan’s two Democratic challengers, Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers, were among about two dozen people arrested at the March 5 demonstration for blocking traffic on Main Street near Ryan’s office.

Voces de la Frontera organized the event to call on Ryan to allow a vote on permanent legislation for young immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program technically expired on March 5, leaving an estimated 3.6 million DREAMers — people who were brought to the U.S. as children — in an uncertain situation. 

Patriotic millionaires

On a slushy, blustery March 6, a handful of people gathered at Racine’s Monument Square to call out Congressional Republicans for being too chicken to oppose raising taxes on middle-class families in order to give billions to their wealthy donors.

The event, which featured a 30-foot inflatable “Tax March Chicken,” is part of the Patriotic Millionaires’ 100-day NOT ONE PENNY national tour, which is providing a stage for local elected officials and citizens to talk about the recently enacted Republican tax plan.

Prior to the rally, Patriotic Millionaires sent out a statement saying that the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy researched the Tax Cuts and Jobs Plan and discovered that richer Wisconsinites will receive large tax cuts while taxes will increase for lower and middle-income families.

Among those who spoke was Democratic state Sen. Bob Wirch, who said that voters will not be happy once they learn the details of the new law. He warned of a backlash when “there’s a thorough debate on the consequences of this tax cut bill and deficit, and people find out about the cuts to Social Security and to Medicare.”

Wirch also took the GOP to task for its hypocrisy on the federal deficit. “The Republicans for eight years criticized Obama for the deficit,” he said. “As soon as they got in, they passed this tax bill that adds to the deficit out there, breaking their promise (to rein it in). I think the answer has to be at the ballot box next November.”

“We are no longer going to accept taxation that robs the poor so that pass-through corporations, like those of lobbyists and massive law firms and most of the Trump family business ... can enjoy a 40 percent permanent tax cut while most tax cuts for individuals and families will expire,” said United Automobile Workers retiree Juan Batista Dominguez. “We will no longer accept a rigged system.”

“We know that investing in the community should benefit our family, friends, neighbors and businesses,” said Becky Cooper-Clancey, owner of Bounce Milwaukee. “I honestly don’t mind paying taxes. But what I do mind is when my friends and family and other small business owners are paying so much more than the Walton family, the Koch brothers and the Trump family.”