Candidate Profile: Betsy Dirksen Londrigan
Name: Betsy Dirksen Londrigan
Hometown: Springfield, IL
Age: 48
Occupation: Self-employed, Non-profit advisor and leader
Position seeking: Representative in Congress for Illinois’ 13th District
Party: Democrat
Incumbent: No
Website or social media page: www.betsydirksenlondrigan.com
Why are you running and why should people vote for you? I am a daughter of the 13th district. The people here are my friends and neighbors and I know firsthand what health care access means for families across our 14 counties. In 2009, my son Jack developed a rare, life-threatening illness. He was put into a medically induced coma and was read his last rites twice. My husband and I lived every parent’s nightmare, but because we had access to quality health care we brought our son home and our family did not go bankrupt.
In 2017, after seeing our congressman celebrating his vote to take away health care protections from my friends and neighbors, I decided to run and came within less than 1% of unseating him. Instead of working for us, we have a congressman who pushes the agenda of the big corporations and special interests. He takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from Big Pharma and insurance corporate PACs while voting against lowering prescription drug costs and against protections for people with pre-existing conditions. He has championed tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy on the backs of working class families while voting against the Protecting the Right to Organize Act which would make it easier for workers to form unions and penalizes companies who interfere with their employees’ right to organize.
I refuse to take any corporate PAC money in this campaign or when I’m in Congress because I want to be very clear with my neighbors across the district that I’m going to Washington to represent THEM, not corporations and special interests. I am also proud that my campaign has received endorsements from the Illinois AFL-CIO as well as from AFSCME, IBEW, IFT, Machinists, SEIU, Teamsters, UFCW, United Steelworkers, and others. Unions like these built the middle class and strengthening them will help reverse the enormous and growing income inequality in our nation. We must grow the economy from the center out, not the top down, and I will always stand with the working men and women of Central Illinois.
What would your goals be, if elected? Every person should be able to visit a doctor, get medical help when they’re sick, and afford their medications without needing to decide whether they can put food on the table. I will work to stabilize the Affordable Care Act so no one loses coverage and protect and strengthen all Essential Health Benefits. I will ensure that insurance companies cannot discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. I will push to introduce a Public Option through Medicare to bring competition to the market, beginning with communities with one or zero providers and small business owners.
I will also work to strengthen Social Security and Medicare through common sense solutions which will help ensure these programs remain solvent without cutting benefits. I believe we should raise the cap on Social Security taxes. I also strongly support the recently passed and bipartisan Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 which would allow Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies. This would lower prescription drug prices while also saving an estimated $345 billion over a ten-year-period according to CBO estimates.
I will work to increase our investments in safer, cleaner and new infrastructure and research to upgrade our electrical grids, waterways, roads and bridges. This past year, Central Illinois experienced historic flooding, one of the predicted effects of climate change. Farmers across the district are suffering from these increasingly extreme weather patterns in the forms of soil erosion and shorter growing seasons. We can push back the effects of climate change as well as create good union jobs but only if we act now.
What issues are most pressing for your constituency? As I travel around the 13th district, the number one issue I hear about is still health care. Whether it’s access to quality, affordable health insurance or the rising cost of prescription drugs, people need help. In Congress, I will work to stabilize the Affordable Care Act, protect the Patient Bill of Rights, and pass into law the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 which will allow Medicare to directly negotiate lower prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies
.Too many people in the district are still working two or three jobs and can’t make ends meet. The benefits of our economy are going to those at the top while working men and women are getting left behind. Meanwhile, politicians like our current representative champion tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy on the back of the middle-class. Despite repeated claims that the 2017 tax bill would pay for itself, the CBO concluded that revenues have fallen each year as a share of the economy and the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center released an analysis that the top 20% of wage-earners received over 60% of the tax savings. Additionally, no one is talking about the nearly $2 trillion dollars the tax bill is projected to add to our debt.
Instead of tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy, I support investments in the middle-class. I support a comprehensive infrastructure plan that will bring good paying jobs to Central Illinois, address the climate crisis, and strengthen local economies. I support investments in education and workforce development to ensure people have the necessary training for current and future job opportunities. I support incentives to keep people and jobs in Illinois and lowering the barriers to loans for small businesses. This will allow for economic growth from the center out, not top-down.