Mark Pocan

Thursday morning the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest court for Connecticut, New York and Vermont, unanimously ruled the bulk collection of megadata by the NSA unconstitutional.

Gwen Graham, first 2015 freshman to earn her clown outfitYesterday, the House passed Steve Chabot's Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015 (H.R.

The wealthy have never allowed the idea of democracy-- stuff like majority rule-- stand in the way of their greed and power. There were times when politicians have been brave enough to stand up to them-- but not since FDR, at least not on a presidential level.

You mean Crowley rocking out with Huckabee doesn't get Queens & Bronx voters out to the polls?Turnout for the midterms in California was a dismal 42% this year. Barbara Lee (CA-13- Oakland) didn't have a real race, but her constituents turned out for her in greater numbers than any other congressional candidate in the whole state, more than any other Democrat and more than any Republican.

Wednesday the Congressional Progressive Caucus elected-- mostly reelected-- it's caucus officers. With no opposition, Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) were again voted caucus co-chairs and Barbara Lee (D-CA) was reelected whip. Freshman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) was made a vice chair/liaison to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Matt Cartright was also named a vice chair/liaison for new members.

Mark Pocan was elected to Congress from Madison, Wisconsin when Tammy Baldwin went on to the U.S. Senate. He beat his Republican rival 265,422 (68%) to 124,683 (32%). Since being elected he's had the best lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score of any Member of Congress, 98.68. With George Miller retiring, Pocan is generally viewed as organized labor's go-to guy in Congress.

This year's Congressional Progressive Caucus alternative budget, the Better Off Budget, was developed by Mike Honda (D-CA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Obviously, it's a complex document.

Mark Pocan (D-WI) will have to be a magician if he's going to get his Restore Honor to Service Members Act (H.R. 2839) out of committee and passed into law. Sure, Pocan rounded up 144 cosponsors for his bill, but only one-- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen-- is a Republican. Her colleagues are accustomed to writing off her pro-LGBT actions because she doesn't hassle them over their homophobia and because she has a huge LGBT population in her blue-leaning district.

Matt Cartwright: "I did not come to Congress to kick the most vulnerable Americans off of food assistance."After all Obama's talk about equality of opportunity in the State of the Union last night, at 11 this morning House conservatives rammed through a horrendous $100 billion farm bill taking another $800 million a year from the food stamps program and preserving subsidies for wealthy farmers.

Someone's got to have the best voting record in Congress, might as well be Mark!Wednesday I got an e-mail from the Gay And Lesbian Victory Fund with the subject line "What a Night!" And what a night it was for them!