Rep. Robert Dold (R-Kenilworth) and former Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Deerfield) exchanged views at a League of Women Voters forum in Lake Forest October 16.
Getting legislation passed in the United States Congress is no easy task, but Rep. Robert Dold (R-Kenilworth) authored a bill making the heroin antidote Nalaxon more available, which became part of a larger law.
Former Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Deerfield) waited until he was out of office to see an act he originally authored in 2014 toughening sanctions against the terrorist group Hezbollah reintroduced and passed the following year.
Amid attacks on each other and a flood of television commercials from both, Dold and Schneider face off November 8 for the third straight Congressional election to decide who will represent the 10th Congressional District of Illinois.
All three contests have been razor thin. After Dold was first elected in 2010 defeating Dan Seals in a close race, he lost to Schneider in 2012 before regaining the seat two years later. The biggest margin of victory in the first two contests was 2.6 percent.
It would not have been possible for every member of Congress to see their own legislation passed in either the 112th Congress, where Dold first served, 113th when Schneider was in office or the current 114th.
Between bills introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, 284 became law in the 112th, 296 between 2013 and 2014 and 244 so far this term, according to a Congressional website. More bills could get action after the election.
During the campaign, both Schneider and Dold have tried to paint themselves as bipartisan lawmakers who are able to work with legislators on the other side of the aisle while their opponent puts party ahead of country. While Dold’s bipartisan record is better than Schneider’s, the difference is not overwhelming.
Dold said Schneider voted with the Democrats 90 percent of the time. Dold based the statement on a Washington Post ranking of all members of the 113th Congress. In Dold’s first term, he voted with the Republicans 82 percent of the time, according to the same ratings system. There is not one available yet for the current Congress.
One ranking of bipartisanship, which has taken a look at both Schneider and Dold, is the Lugar Center in Washington, D.C. During Dold’s current term, he is rated as the fifth most bipartisan member. When Schneider served, he was ranked 66th out of 435 representatives. There is no chart available for Dold’s first term.
Dold Succeeds Fighting Drug Addiction
During a debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters on October 16 in Lake Forest, Dold said one of his proudest achievements was writing Lali’s law in July and shepherding it through the legislative process as part of a conference committee with members of both the House and Senate.
He said in a July 23 DailyNorthShore.com interview the law appropriates $10,815,000 in grants to states that do not have the resources to make Naloxon available. He said states can apply for grants up to $500,000.
“We have to start recognizing addiction is a disease,” said Dold in the DNS.com interview. “We hope this will help patients come out of the shadows and get on the road to recovery as well. Heroin does not know socioeconomics. Heroin does not know ZIP codes.”
The North Shore congressman said he started pushing the issue early this year when he introduced Lali’s Law as separate legislation to make Naloxon more accessible. He was inspired by the Laliberte family of Buffalo Grove, whose son Alex Laliberte, a Stevenson High School graduate, died from a drug overdose seven years ago.
Schneider Writes a Bill, the Next Congress Acts
Schneider, who sat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee when he was in Congress, needed patience to see a bill he authored along with three other members—one Democrat and two Republicans—become law. Though the House passed his Hezbollah International Financial Prevention Act in 2014, the Senate never voted.
The bill was reintroduced in May 2015, by one of the original Republican sponsors, passed the House as well as the Senate and was signed into law by President Obama last December.
“I was pleased to see the Senate take up this critical legislation after it was again unanimously passed by the House,” said Schneider in an email to DNS.com. “Hezbollah is one of the greatest threats to the safety of one of our most important allies—Israel—as well as to the region and the United States. Making it harder for Hezbollah to finance (its) terror activities is a step toward making the world a safer place.”
The 10th District runs along Lake Michigan from Glencoe to the Wisconsin state line as well as through much of Lake County and some northwest suburbs. It includes all of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Highland Park, Glencoe, Deerfield and Highwood as well as parts of Glenview and Northbrook.
Early voting continues in all locations through November 5 and through November 7 in select sites. Click here for a DNS.com story with all polling information.