[Peace-discuss] Who is Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District?

Tue Feb 25 14:20:14 UTC 2020

Who is Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District? 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE | FEB 19, 2020 

Two Democratic candidates are running for their party’s nomination in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. Here are their responses to questions from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board ahead of the March 17 primary. 

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Age: 48 

Occupation: Self, Non-pro t advisor and leader 

Education: Education: University of Illinois, 1993, B.A. Rhetoric; B.S. Political Science 

CAMPAIGN SITE 

ABOUT 

Why should voters nominate you and not your opponents? 

I am a daughter of the 13th district. My roots in this community go back generations. The people here are my friends and neighbors and I am running for Congress to fight for us. I know firsthand what health care access means for the families across our 14 counties and I will fight tirelessly for access to quality, affordable health care. I will work to bring good- paying union jobs that build our local economies -- and that people can raise their families on -- back to our communities. I will work to support our schools and teachers and make sure they have the resources they need to educate our children. I will vote against cuts to Social Security and Medicare because these are earned benefits and must be protected. 

I am proud to once again receive the endorsement of End Citizens United, an organization dedicated to getting big money out of politics. The corrosive effects of corporate PAC and special interest money are clear when our representative votes against protecting people preexisting conditions or against lowering the cost of prescription drugs while taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. I am refusing to take any corporate PAC money, in this campaign or when I am elected to Congress, because I refuse to be beholden to big pharma, insurance or any corporation for that matter. 

I am also very proud to be endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters because I believe that clean water, air and land are human rights. Additionally, EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood have again endorsed me because I trust women to make the best health care decisions for themselves and their families. Our current representative signed on to an amicus brief calling for the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade. 

My campaign is also endorsed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Steelworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Unions like these built the middle class and strengthening them will help reverse the enormous and growing income inequality in our and SPECIAL nation. I will always OFFER It is vital stand we with work 12 Get WEEKS the real to working grow news FOR the in men economy real ONLY and time 

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not the top down, 

What are your highest priorities for Illinois and the NOW 

nation? 

As I travel around the 13th district, the number one issue I hear about is still health care. Whether it’s access to quality, affordable health insurance or the rising cost of prescription drugs, people need help. In Congress, I will work to stabilize the Affordable Care Act and protect the Patient Bill of Rights. I will support a public Medicare option that can compete with private insurers, starting with rural communities, and work to pass into law the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 which will allow Medicare to directly negotiate lower prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies. 

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I will also protect Social Security and Medicare benefits for the millions of Americans who depend on them. I am proud to be endorsed by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare which is committed to defending these earned benefits from any cuts. I stand with them and middle-class families across the district and the country in making sure we strengthen these programs while ensuring their long-term solvency. 

IMMIGRATION 

If you could fix longstanding problems with this country’s immigration system, what would you do? 

Our immigration system remains broken. I believe that national security is a critical part of the federal government’s role and that border protection is an integral part of that responsibility. The ongoing situation at the border is still a national and humanitarian crisis and should be treated as such and I strongly oppose the inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants by this administration. I believe that separating children from their parents, as well as keeping people in cages, is fundamentally un-American. 

We need comprehensive immigration reform which must include the critical step of formalizing a pathway to citizenship that is humane, reasonable and fair. 

ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS 

Are you prepared to take up real reform to Social Security and Medicare to ensure their future solvency? What specific reforms and cuts to entitlements would you be willing to support? 

I believe we must strengthen Social Security and

Medicare 

through common sense solutions which will help ensure these programs remain solvent without cutting benefits. I 

believe we should raise the cap on Social Security taxes. I strongly support NOW 

the recently passed and bipartisan Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 which would allow Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies. This would lower prescription drug prices while also saving an estimated $345 billion over a ten-year-period according to CBO estimates. 

I also continue to support the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) which offers providers and suppliers an opportunity to create a new type of health care entity, an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). An ACO agrees to be held accountable for the quality, cost, and experience of care of an assigned Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary population. ACOs align provider and payer incentives to focus on value instead of volume, with the goal of keeping patients healthy and costs manageable. In 2016, with four years of data to review, the results are positive. While it takes an initial investment from an ACO to create the infrastructure to comply with the MSSP (depending on the ACO’s chosen track,) overall, it demonstrates that over time, they improve the quality of care while also saving money. 

HEALTH CARE 

What is the government’s obligation, if any, to help American workers secure health insurance? Do you support the creation or continuation of a program, such as Medicare for All or Obamacare? Do you have a different idea? If you support a government-related insurance plan, how would you pay for it? 

I believe health care is a right, not a privilege, and my priority remains ensuring universal access to quality, affordable health care. I will work to stabilize the ACA so no one loses coverage and ensure that all Essential Health Benefits, such as hospitalizations and substance-abuse treatment, are protected. I will push to expand Medicare and lower the age for of SPECIAL care eligibility. as well OFFER By as preventative bringing 12 Get in WEEKS younger, real care news as FOR they healthier in real ONLY age, time 

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should and have ensuring an overall they have healthier consistency 

aged 

population. We can also incentivize more states to join Medicaid Accountable NOW 

Care Organizations (ACOs) to bring down costs and expand eligibility. 

I will push to introduce a Public Option -- allowing this option, through Medicare, to bring more competition to the market of providers, beginning with rural communities and small business owners. Offering a Public Option would create competition and help bring down rising costs. I am in favor of lifting the caps on social security and rolling back damaging provisions of the recent federal tax plan, which puts corporations above families that need access to quality and affordable health care. 

Instead of working for us, we currently have a representative who has voted eleven times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries while voting against lowering prescription drug costs and against protecting people with preexisting conditions. These votes stand in direct conflict with the express needs of people throughout the 13th district. I refuse to take any corporate PAC money in this campaign or when I’m in Congress because I refuse to be beholden to big pharma, insurance or any corporation for that matter. 

FOREIGN POLICY 

What security role should the U.S. play in world affairs? 

My priority will always be to keep our nation safe. In order to protect the wellbeing of the United States and our citizens, we must demonstrate steady leadership as well as strengthen our alliances with countries that share our values. Maintaining strong relationships with our allies is critical to our counterterrorism efforts which require a global approach to information sharing and agency interdependence. Our ability to contain threats from hostile countries such as North Korea is also dependent on building coalitions to enforce sanctions and help constrain their access to weapons and other resources. 

As the branch of government constitutionally empowered to determine when to use military force, Congress should reassert its role by updating the current Authorization for Use of Military Force. Congress must have a voice in our security policy and has for too long allowed the Executive Branch to use military force unchecked. Given recent events the need for Congress to act as a check on the administration is essential. 

ECONOMY 

Unemployment is at a 50-year low and economic growth is steady. Assess the state of the economy and tell us how you would improve economic prospects for Americans. 

I meet people every day who are having trouble paying their bills. They tell me about their skyrocketing health care premiums, the rising cost of prescription drugs, their inability to pay for college, and the cuts to their social security benefits. Too many people in this district are still working two or three jobs and can’t make ends meet. The benefits of our economic growth are disproportionately going to those at the top while working men and women are increasingly getting left behind. 

Meanwhile politicians like our current representative champion tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy on the back of middle-class. Despite repeated claims that the 2017 tax bill would pay for itself, the CBO has concluded that tax revenues have fallen each year as a share of the economy. Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center recently released an analysis that the top 20% of wage-earners income received over 60% of the tax savings. Additionally, no one is talking about the nearly $2 trillion dollars this tax cut is projected to add to our debt. 

Instead of tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy, I am in favor of investments in the middle-class. I support comprehensive infrastructure plan that will bring good paying jobs to central Illinois, fix our roads, bridges, waterways, rural broadband and electrical grids and strengthen local economies. I support investments in workforce development to make sure people have the necessary training for current and future job opportunities. I support creating incentives to keep people and jobs in Illinois and lowering the barriers to loans for small businesses. This will allow for economic growth from the center out, not top-down. 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

What measures if any to combat climate change do you support? 

Climate change is an issue I hear about throughout the 13th district. This past year, Central Illinois experienced historic flooding, one of the predicted effects of climate change. Farmers across the district are suffering from these increasingly extreme weather patterns in afford SPECIAL the forms to wait OFFER of to soil address. 

erosion 

Instead of working to combat climate change, the actions of the current administration have moved us backwards. Whether it’s the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, rolling back emission standards, or lying about the effects of renewable energy, they have failed us. Our representative has happily gone along with these actions, voting against legislation like Climate Action Now to help keep us in the Paris climate accord. 

We must increase our investments in safer, cleaner and new infrastructure and research to upgrade our electrical grids, waterways, roads and bridges. Additionally, investments in public transportation systems will have the dual effect of reducing the numbers of cars on our already strained roads and bridges and providing a more affordable method of transport. Not only will this help push back the effects of climate change, if done correctly it will also create good union jobs. We can do both but only if we act now. 

GUN LAWS 

Describe briefly your position on how to balance the 2nd Amendment and gun safety. 

I come from a family and community of responsible gun owners, and I respect individual second amendment rights. I am also a parent of three children, two still in college, and believe that they have the right to feel safe in their classrooms. I support a unified, federal background check system on all gun sales. I believe those convicted of violent offenses, including domestic abuse, should not be able to obtain firearms. I believe we must keep firearms out of the hands of dangerously mentally ill individuals. 

I believe it is imperative that gun owners and non-gun owners work together to address gun violence in our communities because we are all concerned about keeping our children, grandchildren, and neighbors safe. It is critical to fully fund the CDC to study gun violence as a public health issue to help identify both underlying causes and actionable steps to reduce it. 

When have you shown independence from your party on an issue of major import? 

I proudly spent 7 1⁄2 years of my professional life dedicated to preserving the legacy of the most celebrated Republican in American history, President Abraham Lincoln. Working for the Foundation to support the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was an incredible honor and firmly rooted in me the critical importance of prioritizing our United States over party politics. 

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you are a backbencher. 

I am most proud that my professional life is diverse and allows me to bring a well-rounded perspective to Congress. My work as a middle-school teacher; as the first Director of Alumni Affairs for the University of Illinois-Springfield; going int

o business for myself as a writer and editor then learning graphic and web design to increase marketability; working for Senator Dick Durbin; and my work with non-profit organizations have all challenged me and each forced me to stretch and grow in different ways. I think Congress needs more people like me who have lived full lives and can bring that diversity of experience to Washington.

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