EAU CLAIRE — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin heard concerns from the public Thursday about the first five weeks of the President Trump administration, saying her office has been flooded with calls from Wisconsin residents who are fearful of what is happening with budget cuts, layoffs, and new executive orders.
"We have a rather chaotic rollout of items in this new administration," Baldwin said during a 45-minute conference call Thursday. "It does feel a lot like chaos here (in Washington). A lot of people who feel vulnerable have reached out to my office and feel under siege. They are concerned about Medicaid cuts, and ICE raids, and executive orders that the president signed on day one of his administration, and have continued to sign in the weeks that have followed. We don't normally get 1,000 calls a day."
Baldwin discussed those concerns and took questions from the public during a Zoom conference call and online town hall. She noted the Senate is in the middle of a 10-week floor period. She said it is difficult to track what budget items have been canceled by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, and which ones have been restarted.
"Many of the things proposed have resulted in lawsuits," she said. She noted that many judges have blocked the implementation of the DOGE cuts.
"We saw these massive layoffs of people serving our Veterans and working on the avian flu outbreak, and we're still trying to sort that out. Some of that chaos and confusion is very intentional," she said.
Baldwin took a question from a Stevens Point High School student who noted that many students have stopped going to school out of fear of ICE raids.
"If we want meaningful change, it's got to be in Congress, and coming together to get things done," she said. "We've seen presidents try to issue executive orders to change the system in their own way, but that's not the way to get things done."
Baldwin said she wants to see long-term comprehensive immigration reform.
"What I've been so heartbroken to see in the first few weeks of this administration is the unannounced raids," she said. "Including in the places we thought were safe, like at church services. Shouldn't our churches be safe places for people to worship?"
Baldwin expressed disappointment that Trump and Republicans are continuing to push for a $4.5 trillion tax cut, which she noted predominantly benefits the top 5% of wage-earners in the country, while the committees are also focused on cutting budgets.
"We know Medicaid is the target," she said. "Many children and adults with disabilities get their health care through Medicaid, and about eight million senior citizens are on Medicaid."
Baldwin warned that it could lead to closures of rural and critical-access hospitals in Wisconsin.
"There is a face and a family behind every one of those numbers," she said.
Baldwin noted that DOGE is an unsanctioned organization, as the so-called department was never created by Congress and is not an official government agency. She discussed their effort to layoff all probationary employees, who are mostly workers who have been on the job for less than a year. She noted some of the layoffs are long-term employees who worked on suicide hotlines for Veterans.
"This is not the way to run a government; this is not the proper way to go about it," Baldwin said.
More than 1,000 employees in the Department of Veteran Affairs have been terminated.
"What they are really talking about is firing Veterans. They are forcing out hard-working doctors and nurses in the VA hospitals, and people who are on the front lines of helping Veterans."
When asked about tariffs, Baldwin said it's an "important tool in our trade toolbox," and should be used "In a targeted way to level the playing field."
However, "what we've seen from this administration is just doing tariffs on everything," Baldwin said. "And when you do across-the-board tariffs, it just creates havoc, because it leads to retaliatory tariffs. So I see those across-the-board tariffs as an alarm. We need to see our prices at the grocery store go down. And I think those tariffs are going to result in prices going up, when people are already having problems making ends meet."
Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza served as moderator on the conference call, noting that the senator helped secure funding for new fire department equipment.