Senate candidates Baldwin, Fitzgerald hold town hall meetings

OAK CREEK -- Tammy Baldwin and Jeff Fitzgerald -- two candidates for Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seat currently held by Herb Kohl, who will retire, made appearances in the Milwaukee area Thursday, April 5th.

Baldwin held a town hall meeting in Oak Creek Thursday, to discuss Medicare and its future.

Baldwin says under the Republican budget plan proposed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, senior citizens would be hurt, by forcing them to pay more in health care costs. Baldwin also said the tax cuts in the plan don't help the majority of Americans.

"Not only is there individual tax cuts in this budget, there are enormous corporate tax cuts, so really, this is about as fundamentally unfair as we've seen," Baldwin said.

Ryan has defended his budget, saying Republicans want to tackle America's deficit by cutting taxes and reforming Medicare. Ryan is calling for a new Medicare system that would give future senior citizens a fixed monthly stipend to buy health insurance.

Meanwhile, one of Baldwin's opponents, Jeff Fitzgerald, toured a company in Oconomowoc Thursday. The Republican state representative made a stop at Sentry Equipment Company.

After taking a tour of the facility, Fitzgerald spoke about how more companies like Sentry are needed to help the U.S. economy grow.

"The problems we faced in Wisconsin are the exact same problems we face on a national level. We are not competitive in a global market, and we need to start making more products," Fitzgerald said.

Baldwin is the only Democrat in the race. Other candidates running for U.S. Senate include Republicans Former Governor Tommy Thompson, businessman Eric Hovde and Former Congressman Mark Neumann.