Anderson: GOP-led House unable to achieve anything
By Linda Girardi For The Courier-News September 19, 2012 8:22PM
Dennis Anderson, who is running for Congress in the newly created 14th District on the Democratic ticket, answers a question about the use of fossil fuels during a town hall forum at the Yorkville Hampton Inn on Tuesday, September 18, 2012. | Jeff Cagle~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 21, 2012 2:44PM
The Democratic candidate for Congress in the 14th Congressional District is concerned about where Congress is taking the nation.
“I am afraid where this country is going,” Dennis Anderson said at a town hall forum in Yorkville this week.
Anderson, 61, met with about 50 people, including students from an advanced placement high school history class, in a conference room at the Hampton Inn.
He said while the national debt and consistent unemployment are problems, the U.S. Congress “seemingly is unable to act” and he suggested the crowd visit the House Republican website to see for themselves.
“By and large they are deregulatory bills,” he said.
Anderson is challenging incumbent Rep. Randy Hultgren of Winfield Township in the Nov. 6 election.
Anderson said people would be hard-pressed to “find the jobs” in those Republican bills.
“We do have a jobs bill President Obama introduced that would create thousands of jobs and relies in large part on the creation of jobs by addressing the infrastructure problems of the nation,” said Anderson, a resident of Gurnee.
“By my count, there are around 40 bridges in this district the American Society of Civil Engineers has designated as substandard and water systems across the country are aging,” he said.
“Every year we put off the projects, we are burdening future generations with the cost. We should do it for that reason and now because it will create jobs.”
Anderson noted the Republican agenda addresses voter identification to eliminate fraud, which he said is not a pressing issue in elections and is “fundamentally undemocratic.”
“I view it as voter suppression,” he said.
Anderson said he retired in 2010 after a career in the health care industry, the final years at the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center of the Loyola University Health System in Maywood.
He said Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act is an improvement.
“Once the elements are phased in, people will be happy with it. We spend more on healthcare than any other country in the world,” he said.
And the Republican-supported voucher system for Medicare, he said, would not keep up with the cost of healthcare.
“I am disgusted, as are a lot of Americans, with the current House of Representatives. They seemingly are unable to accomplish anything,” Anderson said
