Representative Danny K. Davis
Representative Danny K. Davis (D-7th) warned that if implemented, the controversial ultra conservative, Republican-led “Project 2025” presents a “grave danger” for his Seventh Congressional District, especially for seniors, many of whom have incomes of less than $10,000 per household, and even though it is their only income Trump and his “Trumpeteers” want to roll that back.
Should Trump win the November 5 Presidential General Election, Davis said Trump’s “Project 2025” would threaten their healthcare and food security while depriving others of the right to a quality education.
“This extreme proposal impacts low-income families, seniors and children disproportionately,” Davis said during a press conference October 10 at his Congressional office, 2815 W. Fifth Avenue.
Davis was joined by Illinois Rep. Camille Y. Lilly (D-78th), Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins, Maywood Mayor Nathaniel George Booker, Illinois Senator Rickey R. Hendon, Cherita Logan, congressional District Manager for Davis and other staff.
Vowing to do everything he can to get out the vote, Davis, who last week took two busloads of volunteers to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a GOTV on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, announced he was now leading a “Get Out The Vote” motorcade to Racine, Wisconsin on Thursday, October 17.
Upon arrival at Wayman AM.E. Church in Racine, he and volunteers began knocking on doors and reminding residents to come out in mass numbers on Tuesday, November 5, and to vote the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket.
With Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers facing threats from right wing activists, including one from a lone man arrested for threatening FEMA employees trying to help survivors of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, and increasing anti-government conspiracy stories, Davis said “Project 2025” proposes slashing FEMA’s budget and eliminating crucial disaster preparedness grants.
“By shifting financial burden to the state and local governments and privatizing the National Flood Insurance Program, communities will be left more vulnerable in times of disaster,” warned Davis.
With 57.8 million adults aged 65 and older living in the U.S. of whom 31.9 million are women and 25.9 million men, according to a 2020 U.S. Census report, Davis said, “Time limits and caps will strip 12,000 district residents of essential healthcare coverage. Seniors will be pushed towards private insurance affecting 58,000 district seniors, leading to higher costs and fewer protections.”
There is also fear of increased prescription costs. “Repealing health reforms will lead to higher drug costs for 83,000 residents with 30,000 Medicare beneficiaries facing direct increases for essential medications,” warned Davis.
And there is a greater fear that the cost of food will also rise. “Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) will leave 244,000 district residents including children, veterans and seniors without essential nutrition support.”
Davis is concerned about the existing food deserts in the African American community and any further food assistance cuts would be devastating to his senior population and across the nation.
Always concerned about children, Davis said eliminating Title I funding will devastate high poverty schools which would impact 95,610 children and eliminate 6,979 teaching positions in Illinois.
With so many millions of seniors depending on Social Security for their survival, Davis said raising the retirement age and cutting benefits will undermine the security of retirees who have paid into the system for decades.
Trump and his Republican supporters push to deny women the right to control their own bodies has Davis upset. “Project 2025 will ban medication abortion, criminalize out-of-state reproductive care and impose surveillance on pregnancies, threatening the rights of 1.85 million Illinois women.”
Issuing a call to action, Davis said, “We cannot allow Project 2025 to strip away programs that Illinois families depend on.” He called on his Congressional colleagues and constituents to “stand united against this dangerous agenda designed to benefit the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the vulnerable.”
Pointing a finger at the former president, Davis said, “Mr. Trump and his cohorts want to restore the patronage system by replacing federal civil service workers with his handpicked applicants and conservative policies” that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris say is Trump’s presidential transition plan which will destroy our democracy.
Trump denies knowing anything about Project 2025 or the authors of that nearly 1,000-page document, led by The Heritage Foundation, even though Trump’s former energy and environmental appointees, including his Cabinet secretaries, the Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, helped write the transition document.
Rep. Lilly, Mayors Hoskins and Booker, Hendon and Logan echoed Davis’ concerns about “Project 2025,” agreeing that Trump’s conservative transition plan will “take us back, not forward.”