Illinois’ congressional representative for the 13th district, Rodney Davis, published an editorial on Red Alert Politics today to share his thoughts on the current government shutdown and gridlock in Washington. The congressman has spoken with various news outlets in the district over the course of the now 9-day shutdown, including The News-Gazette, but this is his first op-ed specifically covering this topic.
In his editorial, Davis provides a bit of a civics lesson but, like many of his colleagues, mostly uses the space to point the finger away from himself. He accepts some blame, but heaps substantial scorn on the other side:
In the 10 months since I was sworn in to Congress, the House has only passed four of the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government. While this is a failure, our colleagues in the Senate have yet to approve a single appropriations bill.
He saves his most damning (and misleading) condemnation for the end, however:
As things stand now, Harry Reid and President Obama are refusing to negotiate or compromise to find a way out of the current government shutdown. Refusing to be a part of this process is unacceptable, it’s not real leadership and the hardworking taxpayers of this country deserve better.
What Davis neglects to mention in his op-ed, though, is that he voted with his party on the continuing resolutions that led to the government shutdown (i.e., the CRs that stripped the funding from the Affordable Care Act in order to keep funding the government).
As the debt ceiling deadline draws nearer, it’s important to know where our representative stands on these major issues. His full op-ed can be read here.