Congress

Wisconsin’s U.S. Senators, Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, have forged an agreement to establish a Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission that will work to move federal nominations that require approval of the U.S. Senate forward.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has been a critic of government over-reach since taking office in 2011, now he is taking on excessive regulation as a specific target for reform with his new Victims of Government Project.

Nate Silver, the New York Times’ statistics whiz, who shot to stardom (well, stardom for a statistician) for his elections forecasting, has taken a crack at answering the question “What Is Driving Growth in Government Spending?”

Silver’s analysis of government spending at the federal, state and local level on entitlement programs, defense, interest on the national debt, and infrastructure and services (everything else) is an interesting read.

Retiring Sen. Herb Kohl recently took to the Senate floor to give his farewell address. Kohl took office in 1989 for his first of four terms. The 77-year-old is stepping down after his current term is up Jan. 2. He will be replaced by fellow Democrat Tammy Baldwin.

Now that the election is over, news outlets seem to cover nothing but the royal baby and the fiscal cliff. While news about Will & Kate’s future offspring is easy to grasp, information on the fiscal cliff is more complex and deserves a more in-depth explanation than it has gotten.