We had a chance to meet up with Congressman Rodney Davis at a recent visit to the Head Start facility in Urbana and ask him a few questions:
As you can see from the video, the connection we drew between Rep. Davis’ visit to a facility that benefits low-income families/children and his voting record in opposition to those families/children is a connection Congressman Davis didn’t appreciate us making, but it’s one we felt was more than fair.
Make no mistake, the same families that benefit from Head Start would have been absolutely decimated by the almost 900 billion in Medicaid cuts Davis voted for several months ago, a vote he defends to this day. We also tried to get Rep. Davis to square his supposed support for these families and children with his support for the current GOP tax plan, as that plan would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1% while providing meager and (despite Davis’ insinuation) far from universal tax cuts to low and middle-income families.
We feel that these are far from separate debates, though Rep. Davis clearly wishes they were. We get it. It’s easy to show up, read some books to kids, snap a few photos, and pretend you’re making a difference. What’s harder is going back to Washington and voting against the moneyed interests that overwhelmingly fund Davis’ campaigns, and seem to be the only people he cares to interact with. These wealthy donors and special interests would have been the overwhelming benefactors of the AHCA, and stand to make out like bandits if the GOP tax plan goes through.
This is the sort of cynical behavior that turns people off from politics, and it’s easy to see why. It takes someone with a tremendous amount of courage, or a tremendous lack of shame to sit down and read books to children from low-income families, then jet back to Washington and vote to gut their healthcare and give a handout to the top 1% at their expense. The parents, teachers, and families of Head Start deserve far better, and we’re committed to making sure that the people who claim to represent them are held accountable for their actions.