Who is Daniel Lipinski? Illinois Democrat House Representative votes against $2,000 Covid-19 relief package
On December 28, Monday, the House of Representatives voted to increase the second round of federal direct payments to $2,000 after Democrats agreed with President Donald Trump's calls to increase the coronavirus relief payouts to Americans. The measure seeks to increase the stimulus checks in the year-end Covid-19 relief and government funding package from $600.
The chamber approved the measure in a 275-134 vote, with only two Democrats voting against the increase, according to our earlier report. The two Democrats who opted to vote against the bill are outgoing Representative Daniel Lipinski (representing Illinois' third district) and Representative Kurt Schrader (representing Oregon's fifth district). 44 GOP representatives voted to pass the bill.
Lipinksi is one of the more conservative Democrat representatives and was defeated in the Democratic primary by progressive challenger Marie Newman, who had unsuccessfully challenged him in the 2018 primary election. Newman won the election as the Democrat nominee and will go on to take Lipinksi's place in January 2021.
In his time as a House Representative, Lipinski has voted against the Affordable Care Act, supported the Defense of Marriage Act and has voted to defund Planned Parenthood.
Lipinski defended his decision to vote against the bill citing the national debt. In a Facebook post, Lipinski wrote, "Today, I voted against the $435B CASH Act because we cannot continue to endlessly dig our national debt hole deeper. I was proud to support the Covid-19 relief bill last week, which President Trump thankfully decided to sign yesterday."
He went on to write, "Deficit spending during this pandemic is absolutely necessary. If more aid is needed next year, Congress can work on providing that." He also added, "Federal debt is now larger than the US economy. Austerity should not be instituted now; stimulus is needed. But this does not mean we do not have to consider what we are spending and what debt we are passing onto future generations."
Who is Dan Lipinski?
Born in Chicago, Lipinski graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University in 1988, an MS in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University in 1989 and a PhD in political science from Duke University in 1998. He went on to work for a number of politicians including US Representatives George E Sangmeister, Rod Blagojevich, and DIck Gephardt, as well as Cook County State's Attorney, Richard A Devine.
Lipinski taught at the University of Notre Dame from 2000 to 2001, and at the University of Tennessee from 2001 to 2004. When Lipinski's father, Bill Lipinski won the Democratic primary for Illinois' third congressional district in 2004 and shortly afterward withdrew his reelection bid, the state Democratic Party chose to replace Bill Lipinski with Dan Lipinski on the ballot. Lipinski went on to win the seat in the district.
What is Lipinski's voting record?
Lipinski is considered a socially conservative Democrat and has an F grade from the National Rifle Association. He did not endorse President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012 and opposed legalized abortion and stem cell research. He was the only House Democrat from Illinois to vote against the Affordable Care Act and supported reauthorizing the Patriot Act in 2006.
He supported the Defense of Marriage and First Amendment Defense Acts. Lipinski also joined fellow Democratic Representative Collin Peterson, 166 Republican representatives, and 39 Republican senators to call on the Supreme Court to reconsider and potentially overturn Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, the two cases that upheld abortion rights.
However, Lipinksi has voted with the Democrats for the majority of the votes since he has been in Congress. Earlier this year, he voted to extend housing benefits in response to the coronavirus pandemic, to expand the Affordable Care Act, to make the District of Columbia a state, to combat brutality and racial discrimination by the police, to give additional rights to Transportation Security Administration employees, to make changes to labor laws, to provide disaster aid to Puerto Rico, to redirect President Trump from taking military action against Iran without congressional approval, and more.