Dear Friend,

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I want to take a moment to thank you for being a loyal Tiffany Telegram subscriber. I truly enjoy sharing updates with you each week and keeping you informed about the work my office is doing. If you know someone who would like to subscribe, they can sign up by clicking here.

In recent weeks, I’ve highlighted some big-picture priorities, but today, I want to focus on a few local issues that are important.

As you know, delisting the gray wolf and returning wolf management back to the states, along with expanding rural broadband, remain priorities for me. Another critical issue is improving access to rural healthcare.

That’s why I supported a bipartisan package this week to expand veterans’ access to care, especially in rural areas where Veterans Affairs (VA) services are less accessible.

H.R. 8371, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, will ensure the men and women who served our country have access to the quality, modern healthcare they deserve.

This package includes numerous proposals that will create more job opportunities for veterans, increase access to Home- and Community-Based Services, address veteran homelessness, and expand eligibility for transportation assistance to medical appointments.

I’ve heard from many veterans that the current system is not working, and this is a critical first step toward improving the care our veterans receive. You can read more about it here.

I also want to extend my gratitude to the service members who are currently serving and won’t be able to make it home for the holidays. Your sacrifice is much appreciated.

Lastly, if you haven’t yet participated in my survey on what President-elect Trump should prioritize first in the new year, please click here.

Thanks again for starting your weekend off with the Telegram. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great opening weekend of gun deer season! We will be back in two weeks with more.

Sincerely,





Tom Tiffany
Member of Congress

Wishing you a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving that hopefully ends with a Packer win!

Free Thanksgiving meals

I know that the holiday season can tend to be stressful for families, and while we did see a slight decrease in prices from last year, the average Thanksgiving meal is still 19% more expensive than it was five years ago. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I wanted to provide some resources to ensure that your day is stress-free with good food and great company. Fortunately, there are many people in our communities who will be hosting Thanksgiving meals at no cost to you. You can find a list of locations and meal times across the Seventh District here. Please feel free to add any additional places that are not included in the comment section. Click here for more ways to ensure this holiday season doesn’t gobble up your wallet.

Ending the foreign invasion

This week I was pleased to see President-elect Trump confirm that he plans to utilize military assets to finally put an end to the illegal alien invasion created by the Biden-Harris administration. This long overdue step should have been taken years ago, and it’s one we should all be able to get behind. As Telegram readers know, this is an idea I have proposed three times in the four years I’ve been in Congress: Once in 2021, again in 2022, and most recently last year. My proposal sought to authorize the deployment of US military personnel to our border to stop terrorists, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and illegal aliens from flooding into American neighborhoods. Unfortunately, my amendment never got an up-or-down vote in the House. But support for this common-sense measure now appears to be gaining momentum. It’s great to see President-elect Trump already getting to work on this important issue by proposing bold solutions to restore American security and sovereignty.  You can read some past news coverage about my troops-to-the-border amendment here. 

Free taxpayer-funded flights for murderers?

Telegram readers will recall the horrible crimes we have witnessed from illegal aliens here in Wisconsin and across the U.S. From an illegal alien’s drunk driving killing a father of three in Rusk County to a Venezuelan gang member sexually assaulting a woman and abusing a child in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin hasn’t been immune to this crisis. But perhaps the one that caught the most national attention was the murder of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student. While jogging on campus, she was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal alien who attempted to rape her. This horrific crime was preventable, but the federal government and sanctuary cities failed her every step of the way. Her murderer, Jose Ibarra who is a Tren de Aragua gang member, crossed the border illegally in 2022 and was paroled into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration. He was then released again after being arrested in New York City, since sanctuary cities do not notify ICE of arrests. He later stayed in a taxpayer-funded hotel in Manhattan and received a taxpayer-funded flight to Georgia, where he murdered Laken months later. This week, Ibarra was convicted on all charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, the liberal district attorney’s office in Athens declined to pursue the death penalty. Crimes like these warrant the strongest punishment – anything less is a failure of justice. You can read my comment on this here.

Committee Update

Judiciary

Placing children at strip clubs is the best they can do?

Under the Biden-Harris administration, there has been a massive increase in the number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) crossing our southwest border without a parent or guardian to look after them. To keep up with the tidal wave of UACs pouring into the country thanks to the Biden-Harris open borders policies, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra cut back on background checks and vetting procedures to speed up the processing. Since taking office, they have released 440,000 UACs to unvetted sponsors throughout the United States. Sadly, as a result of his decision to prioritize speed over safety, HHS lost track of over 300,000 children. It turns out some of the “sponsors” Secretary Becerra placed children with were affiliated with gang members and criminals, and some were even placed with “sponsors” that listed a strip club as their home address. Many of these UACs ended up being exploited, abused, and forced to work extremely dangerous jobs that children are legally prohibited from doing. This week when Secretary Becerra came before the House Judiciary Committee, I confronted him with examples of the UACs that had been abused and asked whether he would do anything different given the number of children that are unaccounted for on his watch. His response? “We do the best we can.”

Secretary Becerra was unable to explain why he allowed UACs to be pimped out by the unvetted “sponsors” he placed them with. Click here or on the photo above to watch our exchange.

District Update

2024 Congressional App Competition Winner

Congratulations to Neel Gonugunta from the Marshfield School District on being selected as the winner of Wisconsin’s Seventh District 2024 Congressional App Challenge. Neel’s app, WasteWise, was designed to help us reduce world hunger by analyzing food loss and waste data. The first-place winner will get to have their app on display at the United States Capitol and be featured on the House of Representatives website. I want to thank all the students who participated in this year’s challenge. Each submission we received highlighted exceptional young talent. Click here to learn more about WasteWise.

Photo of the week

Wisconsin is home to beautiful wildlife, and one of those species is the red fox. If you snap a picture of Wisconsin’s wildlife, please submit it to [email protected] with your name and location to be featured as our photo of the week.   

“Fox-trotting Through the Forest” – Submitted by Sara in Northcentral Wisconsin

Resources  

Vacation is meant to be relaxing, so don’t let renewing or applying for your passport stress you out. The current processing time is 4 to 6 weeks, so we recommend getting this done as soon as possible. For more information, click here.

Additionally, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) are available in Wisconsin due to economic losses during the wet spring that occurred in April. Click here to see if you are eligible to apply. FEMA also announced that Fiscal Year 2024 Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) are available. For more information, click here.

The USDA continues to make resources and assistance available to agricultural producers and working families to ensure access, safety and stability for food markets and supplies. 

If a friend forwarded you this newsletter, and you would like to receive it in the future, you can subscribe here for weekly updates and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

As always, you are welcome to visit my website or to contact my offices in Washington, DC or Wisconsin, which remain open for service, if you have any questions or need assistance. 

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