By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Our area’s two Congressmen say – don’t count out the protesters at state Capitols around the nation.
“I think there’s frustration,” said U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap). “I think that is reflected in the protests. In a district like ours, people want to get back to normality. We have been compliant for the last five weeks, we’ve listened to what the CDC and the Illinois Department of Public Health have said, but there is a collective frustration. People want to get back to some normality, and i think that’s reflected in people speaking out.”
LaHood, whose district touches Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield, and Quincy, says the district is more like Iowa and Missouri than it is like the Chicago area. And U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) added he believes the Pritzker administration – having let the April 30 expiration of the “stay home” order stay – is likely contemplating a regional re-opening.
Davis also mentioned the next stimulus bill and its effect on small business:
“The bill that’s being debated in the Senate right now would, hopefully, replenish the (Paycheck Protection Program), a very successful program that’s money directly given through the Small Business Administration to our mom-and-pop shops that were told by government, you can’t stay open anymore”
Davis and LaHood were in Springfield, visiting a drive-up coronavirus test site.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
