Tammy Baldwin on the Laken Riley Act: “I wouldn’t support it in its current form”

On “The Maggie Daun Show,” the Democratic senator from Wisconsin talked about the high-profile Laken Riley Act and whether or not she’d vote in favor of the bill.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin joined “The Maggie Daun Show” to discuss the bill she led the passage of that would create the first ever monument dedicated to women’s history on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

The bill, the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act, was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Saturday, Jan. 4. The bill had bipartisan support, and was one she co-led with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. 

After discussing that bill, Maggie Daun asked Sen. Baldwin about the Laken Riley Act, a Republican-led bill aiming to address illegal immigration and crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Baldwin said she would be voting to bring the bill to the floor — a vote that happened shortly after the interview — but said she “wouldn’t support it in its current form.”

“I plan to vote to bring it to the floor, but I think the bill itself, sadly, is flawed in how it is written and that it needs to be perfected,” she said. “But I also think this is an opportunity to remind folks that we need to have a much broader discussion about immigration, about border security. I’m hopeful, as we take up the first measure we’re going to take up during this session, that my Republican colleagues, who have just taken the majority in the Senate, are going to be willing to look at amendments, have a broader discussion about DREAMers, about border security, about really important topics that we must tackle. But also, the underlying bill is, as drafted, is flawed. And I wouldn’t support it in its current form. But I want to give the new majority an opportunity to work with us to actually consider amendments. We’ll see whether they’re genuine in their offer to try to work on important topics in a bipartisan manner.”

Watch the clip of that interview here.

Find the full podcast from “The Maggie Daun Show” online here.