Though he’s not excited about it, Congressman Davis has announced that he’s generally supportive of Obama’s plan to open up some coastal waters to oil drilling.
Even from an ecological standpoint, given that America will continue to consume oil for the foreseeable future (especially with Obama’s consumption-oriented stimulus plan in full bore), it makes more sense to drill within America’s stronger eco-guidelines than to import oil pumped under the lax rules of third world nations.
No, it won’t end our dependence on foreign oil, but if companies are willing to drill for it, this off-shore oil is certain to benefit the country, and Davis is right to support access to it.
Danny Davis voted with the majority of Congress on Thursday to extend the Patriot Act by another year, breaking with his two prior votes against the Act and violating his IVI-IPI survey response claiming that he supported repealing the law. The extension, which was part of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, passed the House with a vote of 315 to 97 and will now go to be signed by President Obama (who has worked behind the scenes in support of it).
All told, this is yet another blow to Davis’ so-called “progressive” record and another indication that what he found unacceptable during the Bush years is suddenly very acceptable to him now.
Congressman Davis appeared recently on the “Public Affairs” program and spoke with host Jeff Berkowitz on a range of issues. The interview was a fairly interesting one, even getting a tad heated at moments. You can view the 30-minute video below:
Overall, Berkowitz did a good job of interviewing Davis and holding his feet to the fire, even when Davis tried to dodge on questions about his positions on the Cook County sales tax hike and charter schools in Chicago.
However, Berkowitz also seemed insistent on pinning some of the blame for the failure of Chicago public schools on Davis, to which the congressman rightly replied “Talk to the people who run the schools!” Indeed, public schools are largely run at the local, not federal, level.
Berkowitz also repeated tried to frame Davis’ congressional actions in a “how has this benefited the 7th?” mindset, to which Davis again appropriately countered by saying that his voters cared about the country as a whole. (I certainly do).
However, it certainly wasn’t all wisdom flowing from Davis’ lips. When the discussion came around to Obama’s proposed Afghan troop surge, Davis offered lukewarm criticism of the troop increase, but then consoled himself with the following:
“The one thing I did agree with – that I really liked – was the fact that President Obama says, ‘We’re going to go in here, we’re going to have a surge, and we’re going to start pulling out at a time certain.’ I hope that that does in fact work, but I’m not enthralled with the fact that we’re sending 30,000 additional troops.”
Unfortunately, as Glenn Greenwald has pointed out, statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have directly contradicted Obama’s promise of a fixed withdrawal date.
Things then went further down hill with Davis justifying his trust in the Commander in Chief by saying, “It’s possible that President Obama may have known something that I didn’t know.”
Of course, Congress’ role is not to trust that the president “knows best” but to act as a check and balance. Furthermore, can anyone imagine Davis applying the same logic while Bush was still in office?
Another chapter in Congressman Davis’ backward human rights policy was written last week when he voted to pass a version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act that contained a measure to block the court-ordered release of evidence of detainees being abused in U.S. custody. Such evidence reportedly included, among other things, prisoners being raped in U.S. custody.
If voting for such a cover-up weren’t disgusting enough on its own merits, David Rohde, the New York Times reporter who recently escaped after being held by the Taliban in Pakistan, described the motivating force behind the Taliban as including Muslim prisoners being “physically abused and sexually humiliated in Iraq.” So, while the bill Davis supported may have been a Homeland Security bill in name, it’s hard to fathom how protecting and perpetuating the crimes that motivate our enemies promotes any kind of “security.”
So, once again, while Davis bemoans the civil rights situations of third world countries on the opposite side of the world, he again does nothing when given the power to stop similar abuses in our own backyard.
According to Davis, “The study by the Project on Student Debt raises concerns for education policymakers because it shows a dramatic increase in students’ use of private student loans that often lack important consumer protections, even when federal loans that include such protections are available. For example, private student loans typically have variable interest rates, lack options to make payments manageable (e.g., deferment, income-based repayment), and are almost impossible to discharge via bankruptcy.”
What the release doesn’t mention is that the difficulty in discharging private student loans through bankruptcy is an intentional government policy designed to encourage lenders to lend more money to students. Without such strict standards, there would be fewer private student loans available to the students who wanted them.
However, Davis goes on to say, “Congress should restore bankruptcy protections afforded to private student loan borrowers similar to those protections afforded to other unsecured debtors…”
If this is his intention, it would certainly mean greater protection for student loan recipients, but at the cost of reducing student ability to take on debt. We’ll have to wait and see if Davis truly follows through with this proposal. After all, if there’s one thing the Congressman seems to love, whether it’s for new SUVs or old wars, it’s more debt.
Is it already that time again? Congressman Danny Davis has just offered up yet another non-binding resolution, H. Res. 711.
The summary of the resolution reads as follows:
Calling on the United States Government and the international community to address the human rights and humanitarian needs of Sri Lanka’s Tamil internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently living in government-run camps by supporting the release of such IDPs, implementing and facilitating an independent oversight of the process of release and resettlement, and allowing foreign aid groups to provide relief and resources to such IDPs.
Davis, of course, traveled to Sri Lanka in 2005 on behalf of the Tamil minority there. That trip, supposedly was funded by the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan rebel group labeled as terrorists by the U.S. government.
This doesn’t diminish the very real plight of the Tamil in Sri Lanka, but with Davis denying funding for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and breaking his promise not to fund the Iraq War without an exit plan, one wonders what position he is in to criticize the the Sri Lankans on human rights.
With the national debt rocketing past $11.6 trillion, Congressman Davis and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently released a letter to President Obama and Speaker Pelosi mocking the “spurius claim” by some Democrats that our nation cannot afford Obama’s proposed health care plan.
In another demonstration of how low health care, fiscal responsibility, and personal freedom are on Congressman Davis’ priority list, he voted yesterday to approvean additional $2 billion to help people who already own cars buy new ones. That amount of money could have bought health insurance for 800,000 people (the population of San Francisco) for one year at the average Illinois individual market rate. Instead, if this measure passes the Senate as well, that money will be gone forever.
The $2 billion will go to the “Cash for Clunkers” program, which rewards buyers with a discount of up to $4,500 for trading in old vehicles for new ones with higher MPG ratings. The program had exhausted its initial $1 billion in funding, which Davis voted for as part of this bill, just days after commencing.
While supporters of the program have claimed it benefits the environment, that claim is only weakly supported by the program’s actual terms. For example, under the plan, a driver who trades in a 16 MPG Hummer for a brand new SUV that gets a marginally better 18 MPG can apparently receive a rebate of up to $3,500. Furthermore, these discounts give personal vehicles an unfair advantage over already disadvantaged mass transit systems such as Chicago’s CTA.
Another cause that doesn’t benefit from this program is that of America’s working poor. Those who don’t own a vehicle, own one that already gets high mileage, or can’t afford to buy a new vehicle even with a rebate, get little or no help under the Cash for Clunkers program.
Sound ridiculous? It’s all in a day’s work, apparently, for Illinois’ 7th District “progressive” Democrat congressman.
Update:A recent report by Edmunds.com has concluded that because so many “cash for clunkers” sales would have happened anyway, the total price to taxpayers for each new car sale created by the program was $24,000.
The Mises Institute has also pointed out that the program’s destruction of used cars contributed to an increase in the cost of living in October.
The government will in theory offer up to $3,500, for example, to a driver who trades in (at a participating dealer) a 16 MPG Hummer for a brand new SUV that gets a dismal 18 MPG.
“Yesterday, Democrats in the House introduced a 1,000-page national health care plan. To make sure at least some people read it, they named it ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Pound Proposal.’”
Last week, the House Committee on Ways and Means, of which Congressman Davis is a member, voted to send the Obama health care plan out of committee. Three Democrats voted against the bill. Davis was not among them.
If this is any indication, Davis is likely to vote for the final bill when it comes to a vote before the House.
If you want to help stop this dangerous expansion of government intrusion into health care, now is the time to act. Below is a sample message you can convey by phone or by email to Congressman Davis’ office:
“I’m a constituent and I’m calling/emailing to let Congressman Davis know that I’d like him to oppose H.R. 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. Instead, I would like to see tax breaks and stimulus currently going to new home buyers and big corporations used to help Americans make their own health care decisions.”
Alternatively, the Chamber of Commerce has an online form letter you can send to both the House and Senate telling them to oppose the bill.
Watch this site or subscribe to our feed to follow this bill and Davis’ actions on it.
“I’m a constituent and I’m calling/emailing to let Congressman Davis know that I’d like him to oppose H.R. 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. Instead, I would like to see tax breaks and stimulus currently going to new home buyers and big corporations used to help Americans make their own health care decisions.”
Another chapter in Congressman Davis’ backward human rights policy was written last week when 
Having voted this year to 
