Sen. Tammy Baldwin Sworn Into Office
After seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Baldwin's ascendance to the Senate marks Wisconsin's first female senator and the country's first openly gay senator.
As the 113th Congress begins this year's session, Wisconsinites will have a new U.S. senator in Tammy Baldwin.
Baldwin, a Democrat, was sworn in Thursday during the first Senate session of the year. After seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Baldwin's ascendance to the Senate marks Wisconsin's first female senator and the country's first openly gay senator.
The 113th Congress includes a record number of women, along with the country's first Buddhist senator, first Hindu representative and first bisexual member of Congress, according to the New York Times.
According to her U.S. Senate page, Baldwin serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), the Senate Budget Committee, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. She also serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Baldwin will replace Democratic U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, who has represented Wisconsin since 1989. She will represent Wisconsin alongside Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.
Johnson and Kohl both escorted Baldwin into the chamber to take the oath of office Thursday, according to the Huffington Post. She also ran into Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, who gave her a hug and congratulated her on her new position.
The two Wisconsin senators have also announced a friendly wager with Minnesota Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar over this Saturday’s Packers-Vikings playoff game, according to a report in the Sawyer County Record. As part of the wager, the losing team's senators have pledged to buy the other team's senators a case of beer from their home state.
“This has been an exciting week,” Baldwin said. ”but it’s only going to get better when the Packers beat the Vikings and put an end to this trash talking from my Minnesota colleagues.”
Sen. Baldwin's staff can be reached locally at 14 West Mifflin Street, Suite 207, Madison, WI 53703 or by phone at 608-264-5338. Her Washington staff can be reached at 1 Russell Courtyard, Washington, DC 20510 or by phone at 202-224-5653.
Nuitari
1:09 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
She is hot.
Steve ®
6:44 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
You're damn right!
Joe Resident
8:53 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Forget it, she loves what you like.
Nuitari
11:01 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Money?
Steve ®
5:33 pm on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Socialism?
Dirk Gutzmiller
1:09 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
It is a sad day when the Senior Senator from Wisconsin is whatshisname.
Greg
1:15 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
You'll get over it. Go bang a drum and chant "shame, shame, shame", you'll feel better.
FreeThought Troy
2:06 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
There is always hope for 2016. Too bad this Embarrassment is in office until then
Matt
5:36 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
FTT:
Senators serve for 6 years. We get to replace Johnson in 2016 and re-elect Tammy in 2018.
Dirk Gutzmiller
1:33 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Greg - Still pouting and kicking about the Walker civil protests in Madison when the "most liberal" U.S. Representative, and from Madison, is now YOUR U.S. Senator? What goes around, comes around. You must be in a state of gross hysteria.
Greg
1:40 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
I'm not the one that came on here to cry. How's Tammy doing on those Coast Guard cutter engines?
FreeThought Troy
1:49 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Proud day for Wisconsin. We haven’t had that many the past year or two. Good to see a reason to celebrate.
morninmist
11:54 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Very well said Free Thought Troy.
Steve ®
2:17 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Sad day for Wisconsin. We have had so many reasons to celebrate in the past year or two. Good to see a reason to cry shame shame shame.
Nuitari
3:17 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
You're damn right.
FreeThought Troy
2:34 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/tammy-baldwin-ron-johnson-federal-budget_n_2102760.html
Sen. Ron Johnson. What a condescending jerk.
Greg
2:41 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
I agree, Tammy has Super Heros to help her with the budget items.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7YDaXqyL-Y
FreeThought Troy
2:54 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Yeah, never mind the:
“…served for six years on the House Budget Committee in my first six years in the House,"
Forget knowledge and experience, right?
Steve ®
3:05 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
He is probably on to something. How many years now have the democrats NOT passed a budget?
FreeThought Troy
3:10 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/02/parliamentary-procedure
It’s not Senate Republicans who are filibustering the passage – oh wait, it is. Not a good point blaming Democrats for Republicans playing politics with the country.
Greg
3:11 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
She's a Lefty. Liberals are always looking for a way to be offended. If Sen. Johnson had not made the offer, she would have been offended. Grow up already.
FreeThought Troy
3:17 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Ummm – liberals aren’t complaining he made the offer to help her adjust to the Senate. I, personally, am complaining Sen. Johnson is a condescending jerk for assuming Sen. Baldwin doesn’t know how to review a budget despite her experience in the House.
CowDung
3:29 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Has the house passed a budget yet since Obama has been in office?
FreeThought Troy
3:31 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Have Senate Republicans not filibustered every budget proposal offered – not even allowing an up/down vote
atthec44
3:59 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Wasn’t there an Obama budget recently brought to the floor that received ZERO votes?
CowDung
4:07 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
...and as your link indicates, the budget proposals have not been filibustered in the Senate.
CowDung
4:07 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Troy:
There were a couple of votes taken. Voted down unanimously. I think this has occurred once in each the House and the Senate.
Robert
2:44 pm on Saturday, January 5, 2013
How are you allowed to speak in public? My God your an idiot. The house has passed several budgets and none of them have been allowed to even come up in the senate for a vote buy the majority leader. They dont want to vote on them because then they would have to take a position. Its much better for them to vote on a CR and continue on the massive over spending sparked by the omnibus bill and the stimulus in Obama's 1st and only budget. Every other budget the White House sent down was voted down 100% even by his partners in crime. The "big lie" is all you morons have when you try to posture in public. To bad I dont have a delete button for your free speech, but that right was won by my relatives , friends and myself so self important free loading imbeciles get to further their incompetent view points and even more unfortunately reproduce. Your ignorance shines brilliantly here on this tiny issue. Hopefully you are still around when the stuff hits the fan and are recognized so you can be kicked to the curb. I must go now and read something intelligent to make up for the stupidity I just absorbed from reading your thoughts.
atthec44
3:57 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
If a person’s sexual orientation isn’t supposed to matter, why does everything written about Tammy Baldwin point out that she’s gay?
FreeThought Troy
4:00 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Senator Baldwin is breaking barriers. We should acknowledge that.
Greg
4:23 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Then any discussion about Sen. Johnson should mention "honest".
Bob McBride
5:54 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
She's not actually breaking barriers (even for this particular seat in the Senate). She's just being open about the subject. That's a personal choice. I suppose that's a big deal. I keep hearing it is.
But that's neither here nor there. What does she think about Kwanzaa? Has anyone asked yet? Let's stop farting around and get to the red meat issues...
jbw
11:08 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
Yeah, haven't we had quite a few members of congress caught up in gay relations? I guess she's the first to use it as a campaign platform.
Wanda Williams
3:07 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
It's not fair, she can switch on or off her political lesbianism in a moment, to suit her current needs. Gay and straight guys have to actually perform their sexual identity. On behalf of all sexual males, I demand justice and equality and fairness and reparations and viagra and victimization brownie points and pant suits and Jeeps (or at least a Subaru) and the return of Zima and comfortable shoes and free thought, Troy.
OffTheGrid
4:02 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
A staffer advised Tammy that the Packers are a football team from Green Bay, WI.
Blair Nielsen
8:30 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
At offthegrid. LOL
jbw
11:09 pm on Friday, January 4, 2013
It's nice to hear that our leaders are enjoying drinking and watching sports. Wake me up the year when they do something to make my life better instead of worse for the first time ever.
Luke
7:26 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
One of Tammy's biggest accomplishments was getting a post office named after Bob LaFollette. I hope she uses her new influence to get a bike trail named after Barney Frank, or a freeway rest stop after Jim Doyle.
Dare to dream.
Dirk Gutzmiller
10:19 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Maybe Tammy is working to get a men's toilet at Mitchell airport named after Sen. Larry Craig, or the public Estabrook beer garden named after Sen. Mike Crapo.
She is trying to be nonpartisan. .
Wanda Williams
3:08 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
I was thinking the Barney Frank Tunnel.
TOM
9:02 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
MAYBE if the goverment would register homo's and lesbians like they want to do with guns we could have a safer life for our kids by knowing publiclly was living next door
morninmist
11:56 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
@TOM
You shame this board with your comments.