Dan In The News

Reaction was mixed Monday in the Southland to the Supreme Court ruling that says certain corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health care law's requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.

Cut services, close offices and eliminate government jobs. That's been the Republican Party's battle cry for decades, but when it comes to the Social Security Administration, it's the Obama administration that's doing all the above. For more than a year now, the Social Security Administration has rather quietly been trying to shift the public from obtaining walk-in services at its field offices to the Internet. In internal memorandums, it announced last year that as of April 1, 2014, it would no longer provide benefit verification letters or Social Security number printouts, which can be used as temporary identification, at its field offices. A negative response by many congressmen when word got out resulted in SSA officials delaying the implementation of its plan. The schedule has been pushed back to October for benefit verification letters and August for Social Security number printouts. More than 100 congressmen, led by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) of Evanston, and including U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, (D-3rd) of Western Springs, signed a letter addressed to Carolyn Colvin, acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, urging her to reconsider the decision.

"For decades, congestion along this rail corridor has been a nightmare for local residents, so this project has been one of my biggest priorities," Cong. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) said. The congressman said Madigan's "efforts in securing this funding are a big win for the Southwest Side residents and businesses that travel several times a day across the busy crossing."

Many say that Washington is gridlocked and broken, but last month the House of Representatives acted in a cooperative and effective manner on an important jobs issue. In a unique moment, Republicans and Democrats, including our own Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), came together to take the first step of an important fix to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and save the jobs of many employees, particularly those in the restaurant industry.

Rep. Dan Lipinski D-Ill. and Rep. Randy Hultgren R-Ill. are flying to Paris on Wednesday afternoon on an official visit to France to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, which is Friday. They return to the U.S. on Sunday. Lipinski and Hultgren are on what is called a CODEL, an official congressional delegation and on this trip it is the U.S. Army acting as hosts for the traveling lawmakers.

Six Chicago-area members of Congress say current tax law discriminates against those who use public transit to get to work and are asking their leadership to do something about it.

It may take time to determine the extent of the problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics and, more importantly, come up with solutions, according to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski.