These responses were submitted by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, who faces Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan. The questionnaire was prepared by GLT in partnership with the League of Women Voters of McLean County. See more candidate responses.
What in your history demonstrates a willingness to avoid partisanship and work across party lines? Be specific.
One of the reasons I ran for Congress was to make Washington work and you can’t do that by only working with one party. When I came to Congress for my first term, I specifically requested to be on the House Agriculture and Transportation Committees not only because these are important issues for this district, but because they are two very bipartisan committees where Democrats and Republicans work together to get results.
While on these committees, I have had the opportunity to work on bipartisan, long-term highway, rail, water, and farm bill reauthorizations. I worked across the aisle to ensure contract towers like the one at the Bloomington-Normal airport stayed open when members of both parties were working to close them. I worked with Mayor Koos of Normal to increase local control of federal highway dollars and worked with Connect Transit to support federal dollars to improve the bus system in Bloomington-Normal.
I’ve worked with like-minded Democrats to defeat legislation that could negatively impact our union workers here in Central Illinois. I’m proud of the hard-working men and women of this district and I’m proud to have been endorsed by 11 different labor unions.
On September 11th, U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) joined me all the way from California in visiting high schools in the 13th District to talk about our friendship and working together in Congress. We have a responsibility to the next generation to not only make Congress work now, but stress the importance of understanding and listening to all sides of an argument. Jimmy and I play against each other in the Congressional Baseball Game, where Republicans and Democrats play each other at the Washington Nationals stadium. Baseball helped bring us together on policy. We started the bipartisan Agriculture Research Caucus and are working to improve agriculture research in this year’s farm bill.
Jimmy and I also talked to these students about the shooting that happened last year as I was up to bat practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game. A gunman from Illinois shot more than 60 rounds nearly killing Majority Whip Steve Scalise and several others. After this politically motivated shooting, I vowed to be more vocal in encouraging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to tone down the rhetoric. We can disagree without being disagreeable. Jimmy and I are a prime example of not agreeing on everything, but understanding where each other comes from and working to find common ground.
While our more bipartisan work doesn’t always make the headlines, Congress just passed a bipartisan opioid package that addresses this epidemic from every angle. This Congress secured the biggest increase in research funding for the National Institute of Health (NIH) in 15 years to help find cures for some of our nation’s deadliest diseases. There are many more bipartisan wins from this Congress, but these are a few good examples.
What are specific proposals you would introduce to improve the American healthcare system?
Health care is extremely personal to me, which is why I continue to work to improve health care for people in the 13th District. My wife was diagnosed with colon cancer 19 years ago when our daughter was just two years old. Shannon has a genetic form of colon cancer, which means she will have this risk, or pre-existing condition, for the rest of her life. She is the reason I fight for medical research funding and to increase access to good, affordable health care. One of our focuses must be increasing access to employer and group health insurance.
We should get rid of some of the government impediments that prevent small businesses or groups, like AARP, from pooling together to offer health insurance. We passed a bill (H.R. 1101) to begin allowing this but I believe we should go further.
I continue to support repealing, replacing, thus fixing Obamacare. Obamacare premiums have increased 108% since 2013 so whether you’re completely healthy or have a pre-existing condition, you’re paying those higher premiums and deductibles that many can’t afford. One of the reasons Obamacare failed is because 18 of the 23 insurance co-ops set up under Obamacare failed, costing taxpayers more than $1.7 billion in federal loans that will never be paid back. Insurance companies exiting the markets have led to 75 percent of Illinois having only one or two insurers leading less choices in providers for consumers and increase costs.
While I fundamentally disagree with Obamacare, there were changes made that I support, like protections for pre-existing conditions, getting rid of lifetime caps, and allowing people to stay on their parents health insurance until the age of 26. These are all things I fought to keep when the House passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA).
The American Health Care Act (AHCA) included reforms that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms will lower monthly premiums, provide nearly a trillion dollars in tax relief, and reduce the deficit by $119 billion. While this bill wasn’t perfect, it would have provided a path for additional reforms to lower costs and offer better coverage for many Americans. Some continue to claim that people with pre-existing conditions will be thrown off their health care, but that is false and some of these claims have received Four Pinocchios by the Washington Post.
The bill specifically says that insurance companies cannot limit access to coverage or charge more as long as continuous coverage is maintained. Democrats have also falsely claimed that this will put an “age tax” on seniors, but in reality the AHCA was off of recent changes the state of Maine made to their individual market which created indivisible risk pools and ended up saving people age 60 more than $7,000 in premiums.
Expanding our current safety-nets like Medicaid, which was designed to help low-income and disabled Americans, and Medicare, which seniors have worked their entire life for, is not the answer. Obamacare expanded Medicaid costing taxpayers in Illinois billions. This has led to 1 in 4 people now on Medicaid in Illinois and 44 percent of the expanded population are working-aged males ages 19 to 34. This has put a strain on the system and is contributing to doctors denying Medicaid patients or long waiting periods for care. My fear is expanding government run health care, which many Democrats are pushing, would have the same result. Medicaid-for-all or Medicare-for-all are some of their plans which have been estimated to cost taxpayers $32 trillion, and would end Medicare as we know it for seniors and end employer-based health care that millions of Americans currently have. Clearly, they are not the answer.
How would you reduce gun violence in the U.S.?
The only reason I’m still standing here today is because two people, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, had the ability to fire back the day a crazed gunman from Illinois started shooting at me and other Republicans practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game last June. I believe criminals by definition do not care if they break the law and therefore, further restricting law-abiding citizens' 2nd Amendment right will do nothing to reduce crime.
As a parent, I believe every school needs a system in place to prevent a mass shooting, which why I led the charge to immediately re-authorize and increase funding for the Secure Our Schools grant program that provides money to schools to improve safety. When I sent schools in this district information on how to apply for these grants, the response was overwhelming.
This Congress also passed measures to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to ensure that criminal and mental health records are up to date so people who shouldn’t have firearms don’t. I also advocated for banning bump stocks, which were used most recently in the Las Vegas concert shooting. I believe this should have been done by the Obama Administration, but now the Trump administration is taking action.
Most recently, I supported a bipartisan red flag bill (Protecting our Communities and Rights Act of 2018) introduced to provide funding to states that adopt and enact “meaningful and constitutional” extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) to protect individuals who may be a danger to themselves or others. Under the legislation, states receiving federal funds under this may only deprive a person of a right to possess firearms after a hearing where the person is given notice and is provided an opportunity to participate and if they are provided. The hearing must include a finding of dangerousness by a neutral decision-maker with an evidentiary standard consistent with deprivation of a constitutional right (by clear and convincing evidence). Such orders expire no more than one year after issued and the same procedure must be undertaken to renew an initial order. In addition, the legislation provides a mechanism to expeditiously return firearms when the order expires or is terminated. I believe this balances a person’s rights while protecting them and society.
Last Congress, we passed monumental legislation to change the way we treat mental illness in this country. Nearly every mass killing in this country that is not related to terrorism has been committed by a person who is mentally unstable and have reached a breaking point. I continue to work with our local governments and mental health professionals to ensure these reforms and funding are getting to them.
What do you think of President Trump’s handling of the Mueller investigation?
I believe that we need to continue to let the Mueller investigation play out and hope his findings will lead to changes that prevent future meddling by foreign governments in our elections. While I don’t believe Russia changed any votes, we must invest in securing our elections. I have voted to provide funding to states to use to protect the integrity of our election process.
The omnibus bill Congress passed in March provided $380 million to help states bolster security. DHS, FBI, and Director of Intelligence is working with state and local officials to secure their systems. All of our states need to utilize these grants. Illinois has received $13.2 million in grant money and DHS has given the state high praise in their efforts to address this.
What do you think is a viable path forward on comprehensive immigration reform?
In addition to supporting strong border security and interior enforcement, my office helps people come to this country legally everyday and it is an incredibly difficult process that needs reformed. Earlier this term, I met with college students here in Bloomington-Normal who were brought here as children by their parents and we need a permanent solution for them.
Earlier this year, I advocated for and voted for an immigration plan (H.R. 6136 and H.R. 4760), which would have provided a permanent solution for DACA recipients, those who were brought here as children through no fault of their own, provided immediate funding for the border wall, would move us toward merit-based legal immigration, and prevent the separation of families.
Despite this bill having the four pillars that were agreed to by Democrats when they met with President Trump at the White House, too many Republicans and Democrats chose to play politics instead of make important fixes to our broken immigration system and both votes failed.
We need to address border security, interior enforcement, and DACA recipients before we can develop a plan to fix the rest of our immigration system. Both sides must put politics aside and focus on the policy for us to pass meaningful immigration reform. I will continue to put people above politics and fight to fix our broken immigration.
What can the federal government do to make higher education more affordable for low- and middle-income students?
The 13th District is home to eight colleges and universities so ensuring affordable education is important. I am also the proud parent of a college student and two high school seniors. I have always supported Pell Grants, 529 savings plans, and other important mechanisms to help families afford college. I also continually ask our universities how they are working to keep costs down for students and make these dollars go a little further. I have voted for legislation to curb the unnecessary regulations that drive up costs and prevent colleges from using technology that can reduce costs - Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act and Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Projects Act
College debt is a huge problem. Student debt now represents the second highest form of consumer debt and has forced many college graduates to delay making critical investments in their future. Seven in ten college seniors last year graduated with student loan debt.
On December 22, 2017, the President signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This legislation reduces an average family of four in this district’s taxes by roughly $2,000. Unfortunately, an early version of the bill eliminated valuable tax incentives for graduate students, including employer tuition assistance benefits and graduate student waivers. With eight colleges and universities in the 13th district, I led the effort to encourage the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, and other members of the Conference Committee to retain these important provisions in the final version of the bill. After our hard work, these provisions were included in the final bill, which was signed into law. It’s easy to vote no in Washington because no bill is ever going to be perfect for all 435 districts throughout the country, but finding a way to improve a bill is necessary to end the gridlock and move our country forward.
Last year, I introduced H.R. 795, the Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act, which engages private employers and encourages them to offer a tax-free benefit to put toward an employee’s student loan debt, similar to the existing tax benefit for tuition assistance. Employers would be able to use this benefit to recruit and retain young talent by assisting with the student loan debt, and employees would receive a tax-exempt benefit to help pay off their student loans.
In addition, I am also working on legislation to offer student debt relief to graduate assistants. Graduate assistants should be allowed to deduct tuition waived by colleges and universities, just as their peers in teaching and research positions receive. Graduate assistants at institutions like Illinois State University and others deserve the ability to have tuition waivers be exempt from taxable income and that is exactly what my bill, the GAP Act does.
What would be your priorities in the next farm bill?
The primary challenge facing agriculture has been the downturn in the farm economy since record high incomes in 2013. The single greatest piece of legislation impacting the farm economy is the farm bill. Renewed every 5 years, the farm bill provides our producers with a farm safety net to weather the storm during tough times. With the most recent farm bill up for reauthorization this year, I'm currently serving my farmers as a member of the farm bill conference committee, an opportunity I also experienced as a Freshman member of Congress five year ago. Each time, I've advocated to strengthen the farm safety net by providing choices my farmers demanded, and defending against attacks to weaken the farm safety net.
In the 2018 farm bill, I also fought to ensure the integrity of organic labels within the farm bill by including provisions that place greater scrutiny on organic imports. I believe consumers who choose to purchase organic food should be able to have complete confidence in what that label means.
Agricultural research, like that done here at Illinois State University, is incredibly important to the future of agriculture and the area. The 2018 farm bill includes my bill (H.R. 5071), which focuses research at USDA on agriculture’s most needed priorities, ensuring our investment in agriculture research goes further.
Many of our communities in rural Illinois still don’t have reliable internet access. We need to change that. This farm bill authorizes funding to significantly expand broadband services into our rural areas that need it the most. This investment will be linked to requirements that ensure broadband services provided to rural communities meet standards necessary for rural residents in today’s technological age.
About 80% of the farm bill is related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). There are more people on SNAP today (42 million) with our unemployment rate the lowest it’s been in 18 years, compared to in 2009 (33 million), during the height of the recession, when unemployment was 9.5%. I believe we must strengthen the work requirements, invest more in workforce training, and create more flexibility. Work requirements already exist for SNAP, but states, like Illinois, have found ways to exempt nearly every county. Helping people get trained to find a full-time job is the only way to end the cycle of poverty for millions of Americans. When I visit businesses, like Bridgestone Manufacturing in Normal, the biggest issue I hear about is finding qualified, trained workers. We have 6.6 million jobs open in the country today. If we don’t make these investments now with a strong economy, then when?
The 2018 farm bill, passed by the House, invests historic funding in SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) programs to help states implement a realistic and supportive work solution for work-capable adults. It establishes streamlined, simplified work requirements of 20 hours per week for work-capable adults ages 18-59. Children, seniors, disabled, caretaker of a child under 6, pregnant women, and 18-year olds still enrolled in high school are all exempt. It does not prevent anyone who is currently eligible for SNAP from receiving SNAP benefits if the work training requirements are followed.
What’s the best way for the U.S. to reduce its use of fossil fuels and increase renewables?
I have consistently supported an "all of the above" approach to meet our nation’s energy needs. Certainly, the benefits of renewable and sustainable "clean" energy sources are evident. I also recognize how vital it is for our country to stay competitive on the international stage in terms of energy production. As a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus, I am committed to protecting, conserving, and being a good steward of the environment in ways that are both economically viable for Americans and safe for our valuable wildlife, including marine species.
I have also supported efforts to make America energy independent and biofuels, like ethanol, are part of that solution. Policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) help lead us to energy independence, which is why I believe the RFS must be maintained and strengthened. The RFS sustained more than 800,000 jobs in the United States and displaced more than 13 billion gallons of oil in 2013 that America otherwise would have imported from foreign countries.
I also recognize the importance of investing in nuclear power. Nuclear power plants across our nation provide energy as well as thousands of well-paying jobs, including those at the Clinton nuclear power plant in my district. The state of Illinois is certainly doing good work on the nuclear power front and I supported the Future Energy Jobs Act when it passed the Illinois House and was signed into law.
Over the years, we have seen the use of biofuels, nuclear power, and wind energy become more prevalent in Illinois and it’s my hope that as a state and nation, we can continue to work to improve on this. Be assured, I will continue to support energy policies that protect our environment while also advancing our country economically.
