By Illinois Radio Network

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said the recently-concluded government shutdown is all about politics.

Davis said the plan to keep the government running is chock full of issues that Democrats used to support.

“Fund our military. Fund a six-year program for children’s health insurance. These used to be what Democrats called their priorities,” Davis said. “Now they’ve decided to hold them all hostage and shut the government down to make President [Donald] Trump and Republicans look bad.”

But Davis said the fight on Capitol Hill, which centers on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the continued “resistance” to Trump, isn’t about the issues. It’s all about the politics.

“It wasn’t a coincidence that they did this on the year anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration,” Davis added. “I think they did it for political messaging, and it backfired on them. Because they’re getting the blame for this.”

Davis said Illinois’ senior U.S. Senator Dick Durbin should get a lot of the blame, Davis says Durbin is the one who drove the wedge that scuttled a government funding deal.

But Durbin, speaking Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” blamed Republicans for the shutdown.

“There’s been a consistent failure by the Republican leadership in Congress to deal with these critical issues,” Durbin said. “We don’t want to see this situation as it currently exists, but we want to see a solution that has meaning and one that will serve this nation. We’re lurching from one continuing resolution to the next.”

Davis said Durbin overplayed his hand. Still, an agreement was reached Monday morning to end the shutdown. That package provides funding through Feb. 8 for services that were impacted by the shut down.

Durbin said DACA is a bipartisan issue and he’s counting on Republicans to fulfill their promise for a healthy immigration debate in the coming weeks.