Coolidge and Schakowsky: Congress Needs To Work for the People

At a joint appearance in Chicago, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Congressional candidate Leslie Coolidge (D-6^th) accused Congress, as it moves into its August recess, of deliberate inaction to stem problems with the economy and joblessness.

“We’re in gridlock,” Schakowsky told the crowd at a fundraiser for Coolidge.  “Our job is to compromise and figure out solutions together.  But the Republicans have told us, ‘We didn’t come here to compromise.’”

An example of how the gridlock is hurting the middle class is the recent passage of the transportation bill in the House, said Shakowsky.  A Senate version of the bill was ready for passage last spring, at the start of the construction season.  

But the House insisted on their own version of the bill, Schakowsky pointed out, and delayed passage until more than half of the construction season was over.  

She said that the delay in passing an agriculture bill to help farmers affected by the drought is another example of the House standing in the way of economic assistance for those who need it.

Coolidge echoed Schakowsky’s thoughts.  

“I started running for Congress after last summer’s debt ceiling debacle because I was disturbed that Congress was using the full faith and credit of the United States as a political football.”  

Now, Coolidgesays, Congress is not doing anything to help the middle class: “We need to start with repairing our crumbling roads and bridges to put people back to work and we also need to invest to create the jobs of the future, in the high-tech industires, alternative energy and innovative manufacturing.”

Coolidge also pointed out that her opponent, incumbent Peter Roskam, who is part of Republican leadership, was named the most conservative member of the Illinois delegation by the non-partisan magazine National Journal and that he recently voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 33rd  time.  

“He’s too extreme for our district.  I’m a CPA and I can go to Washington and find solutions to our problems that are not based on ideology.”

Information provided by Nancy Shepherdson, Coolidge campaign for Congress