Congress faces a midnight Wednesday deadline to pass a spending bill that would avert a government shutdown.
Central Illinois' U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Dunlap, urges Democrats to go along with what's called a continuing resolution with no spending add-ons.
“That’s what Democrats have always supported is a clean CR [continuing resolution],” LaHood said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “They don’t like the fact that Republicans control the House and Senate and the White House now.”
The Republican-controlled House recently passed a continuing resolution with no additions. Democrats want to include more health care funding, including efforts to reverse some Medicaid cuts Congress passed this summer. Republicans blocked the effort in the Senate.
The Trump administration has signaled a government shutdown could lead to mass firings. LaHood said he hopes it doesn't come to that, but granted that would be the executive branch’s discretion.
“I think you gotta be careful about going too far to threaten core functions of our government and protecting the safety of our citizens,” he said.
Foreign aid
Months after Congress defunded a foreign aid program, the Trump administration plans shift $1.8 billion to support what it calls "America First" priorities overseas. LaHood, who voted to eliminate US AID, said he supports more targeted foreign aid to support allies and push back against China.
“I think we have to be engaged in the world. Our soft power is important and US AID played a key role in doing that. Not all of that money was being spent in the appropriate way, and so I think there had to be some recissions there,” LaHood said.
According to Reuters, that funding would — among other things — be used to bolster U.S. efforts to pursue investments in Greenland, diversity mineral supply chains, promote infrastructure development and counter “Marxist, anti-American regimes in Latin America.”
Democrats say the administration's move bypasses Congress' ability to determine how money is spent.
Tylenol
LaHood is expressing skepticism about the Trump administration's public health guidance regarding vaccines and Tylenol.
“I don’t think we have enough evidence to reach some of the conclusions that have been reached,” LaHood said when asked about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attempts to overhaul vaccines schedules, primarily for children, and about President Trump’s claim that it isn’t safe to take Tylenol during a pregnancy.
Many doctors and public health officials reject that claim, indicating tests that show links between acetaminophen and autism do not prove causation.
“I’m cautious of some of the things that have come from the HHS secretary. What I would tell people is rely on evidence and facts that are based on science,” LaHood said.
Charlie Kirk and watchlist
LaHood said the assassination of Charlie Kirk has sparked a debate about free speech and will likely lead to more energized voters in next year’s mid-term elections.
LaHood said he was not familiar with a professor watchlist that Kirk’s Turning Point USA publishes targeting college educators whose teachings, publications or other action the group considers objectionable.
“No one should be advocating for anything related to violence,” LaHood said.
LaHood represents parts of Bloomington-Normal along with large mostly rural portions of central and northwestern Illinois.
