WAUPUN — 6th District Congressman Glenn Grothman held a town hall event Wednesday afternoon at the Waupun Public Library conference room. The event was attended by 46 people from Waupun and the rest of the 6th Congressional District who came to express their concerns and ask questions of Congressman Grothman.
The town hall began with a brief introduction from the 6th District Chairman and Congressman Grothman’s Chief of Staff Alan Ott. Congressman Grothman then spoke about several issues that he is working on, primarily ongoing issues with the border crisis such as fentanyl-laced drugs and human trafficking. He also spoke on the national debt and welfare reform. There were also questions from the audience on a variety of subjects, including the push to transition the military to all-electric vehicles, which Congressman Grothman said was unrealistic.
The event was attended by 53rd District State Assemblyman Michael Schraa and Mayor of Waupun Rohn Bishop. Assemblyman Schraa answered a few questions about the State of Wisconsin as a State Representative.
Mayor Bishop also gave a few remarks at the end of the event about Waupun and the 6th District.
“Thanks for coming to Waupun again, Glenn,” Mayor Bishop said. “It’s kind of interesting how you were just talking about welfare reform, and one thing I’ve learned from you over the years is that the 6th Congressional District of Wisconsin has more manufacturing jobs than any other congressional district in the whole country. And as the mayor, as you do as the congressman, I tour local businesses and manufacturers and they’ve all got a help wanted sign up; they’re all starting at 17 dollars an hour and up, no one’s even talking about minimum wage anymore and at a time like this with the budget deficit that you’ve been talking about, I think to improving employment cutting welfare is a good place to start, because the employers are begging for help. At this time there isn’t any reason to stay home.”
Congressman Grothman responded by talking about how there’s very few people looking for a job who can’t find a job, and that most unemployed people aren’t truly looking for a job in the first place. The Congressman acknowledged that a lot of that stems from government welfare and benefits programs.
“All the benefits operate on computing a percentage of poverty and as a result all of the programs discourage people from making too much more money or discourage people from getting married,” he said. He went on to describe some of the bills that he and other members of Congress are working to propose to solve this problem.
A number of Waupun police officers served as venue security.
