Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) bickered on camera Wednesday during a Spectrum News interview.
Pocan was discussing cuts to public broadcasting when Van Orden pulled up in his Harley-Davidson, revving the engine and interrupting the interview, according to the video shared by the outlet.
“Hey Derrick, classy as always, man. We love it. Thank you,” Pocan said after his colleague pulled up.
“Have you lost your mind? You know, people read this stuff,” Van Orden said, referring to the lawmaker’s comments on the Republican spending package.
“I saw your drunken tweet at 1:30 in the morning last night,” Pocan shot back.
The recent feud between the two started with a post on the social platform X on Wednesday morning.
“Wisconsin is getting $1,000,000,000 a year plus up to Medicade per year. If any Wisconsinite loses coverage it will be due to incompetence, mismanagement, and malice by @GovEvers,” Van Orden wrote.
“Seek mental health counseling,” he added.
The message was written in a quote tweet of Pocan’s post from New York cartoonist Paul Noth with an image and line that read, “You no longer have Medicaid, so you have a big beautiful bill.”
Democrats have been decrying the millions of Medicaid removals slated to come following the budget reconciliation.
The tension seeped over into the Wednesday spat between Wisconsin lawmakers on air.
“Derrick, why don’t you debate me? Why are you so afraid to debate anyone? Here, we can do this in the media. Why don’t you want to debate the big, beautiful bill?” Pocan said.
“So, Mark Pocan has never had a job his entire life other than politics, and he doesn’t understand,” Van Orden said.
“I’ve owned a small business for 37 years. Tony, you’ve owned a small business; that’s a little work, isn’t it?” Pocan fumed, turning to Rep. Tony Wied (R-Wisc.), who stood by during the verbal flare.
“He funnels over $500,000 a year of his campaign money to buy signs from his company,” Van Orden interrupted.
Pocan then asked if he was intoxicated.
“Okay, look that up. Oh my God. Are you drinking right now, Derrick? That’s the real question. All right,” the Wisconsin Democrat said.
Their back-and-forth represents a larger divide among representatives in the House who are reeling from sweeping cuts to social services and new reforms lauded by the spending legislation.
