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I’m pictured above with Wisconsin Wing Civil Air Patrol members that recently came down to my capitol office for their bi-annual briefing on the Civil Air Patrol and their squadron. If you’re not familiar, the Wisconsin Wing of the Civil Air Patrol consists of almost 1,100 members statewide that perform missions for America in the areas of Emergency Services, Aerospace Education and Cadet Programs. There are 33 subordinate units spread throughout the state and their groups, squadrons and flights provide services to communities throughout Wisconsin.

Civil Air Patrol members perform a wide variety of missions including:

Developing young, American aerospace leaders through the CAP Cadet Program
Working with local civic organizations and schools to bring the wonder of aerospace to life
Cost-effective search and rescue teams and aircrews that maintain a high level of training and readiness
Disaster relief support utilizing ground and air assets, including highly trained aerial photographers
Providing schools and civic organizations with high quality youth who live a drug free lifestyle
Maintaining a fleet of 12 single-engine aircraft to ensure a high level of readiness for missions requiring aviation assets
A wide-ranging communications network utilizing reliable equipment with trained operators

I’ve had the chance to meet with a number of cadets and officers from local communities that have come through their ranks in recent years, and they’re always impressive. The skills members learn are especially valuable to the state in the areas of disaster relief support and emergency services. They have and will continue to provide support to help some of the areas close to home for us that have suffered in recent flooding events.

Squadrons close to the 70^th, include:

The La Crosse Composite Squadron – http://caplacrosse.org
The Stevens Point Composite Squadron – http://stevenspointcap.com

In legislative news, I recently signed on to a letter with my colleagues from the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, sent to our state’s congressional delegation and Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin to show support for “The Whole Milk For Healthy Kids Act of 2019" (H.R. 832).

H.R. 832 is a bipartisan piece of legislation that has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Collin Peterson (D-MN). The legislation would allow regular and flavored whole milk as options for school children across the country. The letter also requests that the USDA re-evaluate the school lunch program to include a 2 percent milk option along with whole milk. The letter can be found here – http://tinyurl.com/y2v2sadr

As is stated in the letter of support, my colleagues and I understand that our state’s dairy farmers are facing extremely challenging economic times and we understand that we need to do everything we can to promote, support, and fight for Wisconsin’s dairy farms. Everything we do in the agriculture committee this session will especially be filtered through that lens and I think formally showing the committee’s support for this federal proposal was an easy decision to make. There are a number of health benefits with milk related to nutrition for students and anything that can be done on the demand side to promote dairy is a good thing.

In closing, I want to continue to show my appreciation for everyone that has reached out recently regarding specific legislative proposals or budgetary issues. Your input is valued, considered, and appreciated. That said, please keep an eye out for my biennial spring survey that will hit mailboxes soon. There will also be an electronic option to complete the survey on my legislative website as has been offered in the past.

Please continue to utilize my legislative website, legis.wisconsin.gov/
assembly/70/vandermeer, and follow Rep. Nancy VanderMeer on Facebook to communicate with me and receive up to date information and communication.

Sincerely,

Nancy VanderMeer
70th Assembly District Representative

News from Nancy