We debrief and look forward following Sunday’s bombshell announcement by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin that he would not support the president’s signature Build Back Better. Where do we go from here? With a new even more transmissible COVID variant spreading fast, the panel reviews the state of the seemingly endless global pandemic. Wisconsin Assembly Democrats are under new leadership following the election of Greta Neubauer as Minority Leader this week, but Rep. Jimmy Anderson reminds us of how far we have to go when it comes to providing people with disabilities equal opportunities, even in the Democratic Caucus. Wisconsin is in the news, yet again, leading the GOP effort to extinguish democracy. Robert reminds us of the great lengths Republicans in Wisconsin went in November 2020 to try to steal the election for Donald Trump, and what’s ahead in 2022.

Battleground Wisconsin

Manchin abandons American people

We lead this week with the passing of the latest COVID milestone of over 800,000 deaths. Is this an omen of human toll that awaits us in the coming Omicron surge? There is no doubt that Republican politics are making the pandemic much worse. This week, shamelessly playing to the know-nothing Trump base, Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos blamed Wisconsin hospitals for the bed shortage because they are requiring their workers to be vaccinated. Next, our panel updates the Build Back Better debate in the U.S. Senate. Is the most sweeping social and economic reform in half a century dead or merely stalled? Also, as the Senate Parliamentarian prepares to strip the immigrant rights provisions of Build back Better, Voces de la Frontera and allies stage a series of protests. In a rare showing of Republican courage and regard for the truth, State Sen. Kathy Bernier makes national news by taking a stand against Robin Vos and his “big lie” henchman, disgraced former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. In Democratic Party news, State Representative Gordon Hintz announces he will step down as Assembly Minority Leader. Who will replace him and what are the implications for 2022 and beyond? Finally, we shout out the UW-LaCrosse students and community leaders who held a successful event Monday urging serious university action on the climate crisis.

Robin Vos shamelessly blames hospitals for bed shortage

This week the panel digs into the unprecedented partisanship of the COVID pandemic, which is driving another major surge and threatens (AGAIN) to overwhelm Wisconsin hospitals. We also discuss the shocking new numbers that living in a red county dramatically increases your chances of death. Next we delve into the growing GOP conspiracy to undermine the basic mechanisms of democracy, and guarantee domination of Congress, the Legislature, and a Trump victory in 2024. Next we discuss another threat from the right wing takeover, the likely end of Roe vs. Wade. Finally we recognize the eventful career of State Senator Jon Erpenbach, who announced his retirement earlier this week.

Partisan Pandemic

We review our discussion with Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Mark Pocan at our fundraiser Wednesday evening. In the process, we get critical inside information on the big Build Back Better Act debate in Congress. Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project and a Citizen Action member, joins us to review the hyper-partisan Wisconsin Supreme Court decision giving legal cover to Republican rigged election maps. Will we be stuck with the Scott Walker districts for another 10 years? Our panel then talks about the COVID spike in infections, hospitalization rates and deaths in Wisconsin, ahead of the likely arrival of the latest COVID variant. We are joined by Ben Levenson, from our national network People’s Action, to discuss whether President Biden and America are really fighting for a COVID vaccine patent waiver. The waiver is critically needed to produce enough vaccine to immunize the entire world, saving millions of lives and stopping the production of even more threatening variants.

Most undercovered story of 2021: The failure to get a COVID vaccine patent waiver

We welcome State Representative Greta Neubauer to discuss 22 new climate bills she and other Legislators unveiled this week. The bills provide a series of doable next stop policies to start the state on the path to seriously addressing the climate crisis. We debrief the Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate candidate forum, one of the first major forums of the hotly contested Democratic primary. Did the leading contenders commit on the major issues that matter to progressive primary voters? We preview our Annual Virtual Fundraiser on Wednesday, December 1st at 5:30pm, featuring Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Mark Pocan. Both lawmakers will discuss the emergence of progressive power and influence in Congress. GOP Gubernatorial front runner Rebecca Kleefisch to take election administration away from the state agency in charge, and Robin Vos and the radical right Legislature continue their insidious assault on our democratic institutions. We close with an update on the Build Back Better legislation, following President Biden’s historic signing of the Infrastructure bill this Monday.

Forward On Climate

Our panel discusses the alarming rise in COVID cases in Wisconsin as kids begin to get vaccinated. Why is this pandemic continuing into a third year with no end in sight? We discuss Ron Johnson's shocking call for the Republican Legislature to take over the state’s election commission and run federal elections, and Judge Michael Gableman’s shameful testimony in a legislative hearing this week? Are there no limits to what the hard right GOP will do to undermine democracy? We express our deep concern that the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is not going well as the whole world (again) watches Wisconsin in horror. Finally we have an in-depth conversation with In These Times magazine publisher Joel Bleifuss about new research which shows why centrist Democrats are losing working-class voters and how the party’s progressive left has the popular bread-and-butter solutions to our electoral challenges

In These Times, progressives have the solutions

We welcome Wisconsin State AFL-CIO president Stephanie Bloomingdale to discuss the wave of strikes, and the willingness of workers to take on their exploitative corporate employers. Next the panel digs into the end game in passing the long delayed Build Back Better bill. Is Manchinema finally relenting on behalf of their corporate bosses? The media is making apocalyptic predictions for 2022 because of the loss in the Virginia Gubernatorial contest. What happened, and is the sky really falling on the Biden presidency? And what does the failed school board recall in Mequon mean for the GOP's new parent backlash tactics? Finally, we check in on the progress of the "big lie" in Wisconsin, with the GOP witch hunt targeting the Wisconsin Election Commission’s administrator and bi-partisan board. Does it even matter what the facts are? (spoiler alert, no)

Union Strong

Our panel discusses President Biden’s push this week for a deal with Congressional Democrats on Build Back Better, while Sens. Sinema and Manchin continue to oppose popular policies on behalf of their corporate bosses. We review the devastating cuts to Biden's new plan demanded by Manchin and Sinema and whether the Progressive Caucus will support the deal or push for more negotiations. We interview Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes on his campaign for the U.S. Senate, in our continuing series of discussions with Democratic candidates. RSVP to the Citizen Action’s 2022 U.S. Senate Candidate Online Forum with top candidates on Tuesday, November 16th, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

U.S. Senate Candidate Interview with Mandela Barnes

We discuss breaking deals and compromises in the historic Build Back Better negotiations in Congress. Will the Democrats be able to bring their two rogue Senators into line, or do their corporate paymasters want to sink reform? Is a smaller version of Build Back Better still worth having? Next, we discuss Wednesday’s failed U.S. Senate vote on the Freedom to Vote Act, Senator Manchin's slimmed down version of electoral reform. Does the GOP use of the fillibuster to block even debating the bill mean Democrats can finally do away with the Jim Crow and slavery era relic? Back in the Badger State, Republicans release outrageously gerrymandered maps. Will Governor Evers step up and veto them? A national report ranks Wisconsin the state with the worst Black incarceration, and if things could not get even worse, the Senate GOP passes a pro-child labor bill. We close the show with a look at the GOP’s national school board strategy to bully and remove school board members who stand up for public health, and GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Rebecca Kleefisch's role. TAKE ACTION: plan to testify at Legislative hearing on maps >>> https://bit.ly/30HJ36t

Democrats leadership at stake

We talk about the latest COVID surge in Wisconsin and update the status of the stalled Build Back Better plan in Congress. Will the new alliance between moderate and progressive Democrats produce generational reform, or will it crash and burn, dooming the Biden presidency? Rebecca Lynch joins us as a guest panelist to take a deep dive into the resurgence of organized labor fighting back across the country against corporate greed and pandemic profterring on the backs of workers. We close by checking in on the election investigation circus train which left the tracks weeks ago, making Wisconsn a national spectacle.

Labor strikes back against corporate America

We welcome back former panelist Rebecca Lynch to the show to fill in for Claire who is on vacation. The panel updates the latest on Build Back Better legislation in Congress, including next steps now that Speaker Pelosi has delayed a vote in the House until the end of the month. Michael Gableman issued subpoenas in his phony election investigation to 5 Democratic cities this week, and he shamefully admitted he does not understand how elections work. This week 4 years ago Donald Trump and Scott Walker broke ground at the Fox con. We welcome U.S. Senate candidate Steven Olikara to discuss his campaign in our continuing effort to interview Democratic candidates willing to challenge Ron Johnson.

Interview with Steven Olikara

Our panel updates us on the titanic Congressional battle to overcome a handful of Corporate Democrats standing in the way of the most sweeping reform in half a century, President Biden's Build Back Better Act. We then welcome Kirk Bangstad, the founder of Minocqua Brewing SuperPAC, to discuss their emerging plan to file federal lawsuits against school districts that don’t protect kids and educators from COVID. Finally, for two full segments we have Alex Lasry, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, to discuss his campaign and the kind of Senator he hopes to become.

An interview with Alex Lasry

We update the grim surge of COVID in Wisconsin that has state health officials pleading for mask use and vaccinations while the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association and some local elected officials called for indoor mask mandates. We discuss the internal Democratic Party battle against corporate Democrats who oppose the Build Back Better Act. We have two public events next week in Milwaukee and Eau Claire to support Congressional action on the president's entire physical and human infrastructure agenda. We are joined by Fair Elections Project director Sachin Chheda to review the latest legal maneuvering on redistricting Federal court and the State Supreme Court. We close with Republican efforts to promote the “Big Lie” in Wisconsin. Disgraced right-wing judge Michael Gableman, who is leading the State Assembly's 2020 election fake-investigation, attempted this week to shift the burden of proof to local clerks to prove they committed no crimes or election fraud.

Supreme politicians in robes

We discuss the escalating and human-made COVID pandemic here in Wisconsin and across the country. New state data shows that in August the unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die. Robert highlights a new In These Times Magazine story revealing the US is not really pushing a COVID vaccine patent waiver at WTO, despite an official policy earlier this year. We discuss the Gableman/Vos election probe, which is getting national news in an embarrassing Arizona kind of way. Next, the panel updates the latest developments in Congress on the Build Back Better agenda. Finally, we welcome U.S. Senate Candidate Tom Nelson, the County Executive of Outagamie County, in our continuing series of interviews with Democratic U.S. Senate candidates. We learn more about his views on Medicare For All and other progressive issues.

Interview with Tom Nelson

We reflect on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the destructive 20 year “war on terror” that ensued. Our panel discusses the cost of the war and the American “police state” that followed. We update the latest situation in Congress with the effort to pass the historic $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. We close with Wisconsin’s concerning COVID surge that finds over 1000 people in state hospitals for the first time since January as students head back to school.

Endless War vs Green New Deal

Battleground Wisconsin is Citizen Action of Wisconsin’s weekly podcast that features the latest political news from the front lines in the embattled state of Wisconsin. The show features: · Tanya Atkinson, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin · Robert Kraig, Executive Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin · Matt Brusky, Deputy Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin.