Danny Davis Q & A

1) What is the No. 1 issue in your district and how would you address it?

Jobs and economic development. Please see response to question 2 on how to address the problem.
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I also have been deeply involved in working with agencies of state and local government and with federal agencies to develop and strategically place resources where they can do the most good for the least cost such as the "Put Illinois to Work" program which is a paid work experience where trainee workers are paid subsidized wages as they learn skills "on-the-job" and finding the funding for summer jobs programs for youth.

2) How would you promote job growth in your district?

I support --

The American Jobs Act:

Tax Cuts to Help America's Small Businesses Hire and Grow

Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs

More Money in the Pockets of Every American Worker and Family

Fully Paid for as Part of the President's Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan

The Airports, Highways, High-Speed Rail, Trains and Transit: Make it in America Act

Increases domestic content provisions for airports and rolling stock and eliminates non-availability waivers.

Jobs Opportunities Between our Shores (JOBS) Act

Establishes a Workforce Investment Act pilot program to provide education and training programs in advanced manufacturing.

I also support other legislation to help end the current economic crisis with support from the public sector such as --

The Restore the American Dream Act, a package of near-term job-creation measures and budgetary policy reforms that would meaningfully boost employment and improve the long-term fiscal outlook.

* Enacting the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act sponsored by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) would boost employment by approximately 1.1 million jobs in each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013.1

* Continuing the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program would boost employment by roughly 323,000 jobs in fiscal 2012 and 185,000 jobs in fiscal 2013.

* Reinstating the Making Work Pay tax credit for 2012 and 2013 would boost employment by 409,000 in fiscal 2012 and 532,000 jobs in fiscal 2013.

* Reinstating the higher Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) used to determine federal reimbursement for state Medicaid programs would boost employment by 349,000 jobs in fiscal 2012.2

* Increasing federal surface transportation investments by $50 billion in the next decade would increase employment by 47,000 jobs in fiscal 2012 and 112,000 jobs in fiscal 2013. Even greater employment gains would be achieved in later years.

* Defusing the automatic spending cuts currently scheduled under the Budget Control Act would boost employment by more than 1.1 million jobs in fiscal 2013.

These major components of the Act would increase nonfarm payroll employment by almost 2.3 million jobs in 2012 and almost 3.1 million jobs in 2013.

3) Should the federal government cut spending and where?

I helped to formulate and I support the budget put forward by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus the "People's Budget."

The People's Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The People's Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.

This Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus in ten years

This Budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.

This Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America's Competitiveness

* Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them

* Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs

This Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System

* Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012

* Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more

* Implements a progressive estate tax

* Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations

* Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange

This Budget Protects Health

* Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies

* Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade

This Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years

* Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share

* Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side

This Budget Brings Our Troops Home

* Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad

* Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs

This Budget's Bottom Line

* Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion

* Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion

* Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion

* Public investment $1.7 trillion

4) If Republican, which GOP presidential candidate do you support?

n/a

5) Give an example of something you’ve done that is bipartisanship in nature.

I authored the bipartisan Second Chance Act which was signed into law by President Bush in 2008 to improve outcomes for people returning to communities from prisons and jails. This first-of-its-kind legislation authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victims support, and other services that can help reduce recidivism.

Currently I am one of the leaders in the bi-partisan Congressional Sugar Caucus attempting to eliminate sugar subsidies.

6) Name one good policy idea that comes from the opposing party.

I was a co-sponsor of Rep. John M. McHugh’s (R-NY) United States Postal Service Financial Relief Act of 2009 which addressed critical financial problems facing the Postal Service

7) How do you define family values?

I believe family values are those which lead to strong, healthy families

Examples include:

Ensuring that children to have a real opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive, including the right to shelter, nutrition and health care, freedom from violence, and a clean environment.

Equality between women and men.

Support for all families

Providing parents with a living wage, paid parental leave, high quality childcare, and preschool education

Reproductive choice, family planning and sex education

Ending violence against women and children

8) What are your thoughts on the healthcare law?

I strongly support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which is already providing coverage for many formerly uninsured American and which is improving the quality of care for many others.

I support a robust public option to introduce competition into health insurance and negotiating prescription drug prices -- two of the largest sources of cost in our for-profit health system. I have also advocated, with some success, expanding the role of community health centers, aggressively addressing disparities in the health care system, increasing emphasis on preventive care and inculcating healthy life styles.

For the long term I still favor moving toward a Medicare for All (everybody in, nobody out, single risk pool) type health care system which, according to the GAO would sharply reduce overhead costs while guaranteeing universal coverage and increasing negotiating power with drug companies.

9) Who is your political role model?