U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson saluted labor leader Katie Jordan on her 95th birthday Monday night during a town hall about his first 100 days in Congress.
Jackson called Jordan out of the audience of nearly 300 at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134 union hall on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Bronzeville and welcomed her to the stage.
Jordan praised Jackson’s pledge to work to lower food and grocery costs for senior citizens.
“I want to say to the seniors here, we’re going to be OK,” Jordan said. “We’re not going to pay what we’re paying now.”
The Chicago Federation of Labor honored Jordan as its Woman of the Year in 1992. At the time she was president of Amalgamated Clothing Workers Local 5 and a union activist for more than 30 years.
Jackson thanked labor unions for their support as he recapped accomplishments since new members of the 118th Congress were sworn in Jan. 7. Nearly a year ago, Jackson bested 20 other candidates to win a Democratic primary and virtually ensure a November election win in the deep blue 1st District.
Jackson, a son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, became the district’s first new representative since former Rep. Bobby Rush was first elected in 1992. Jackson said he took the advice of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and accepted a seat on the Agriculture Committee.
Jackson said farmers, including growers he met Monday during a visit to Monee, told him Congress should not cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that accounts for about 80% of the $1.2 trillion farm bill. Republicans have proposed tightening work requirements for food stamps to slash federal spending.
“I don’t know who the people in Washington are representing, but the farmers want the SNAP program,” Jackson said. “That program does not need to be cut.”
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SNAP helps millions of Americans who earn less than $20,289 per year, or $390 per week, Jackson said.
“I don’t know if you’ve entered a grocery store recently, but my groceries went up,” Jackson said. “Sometimes you’ve got to put something back, and that hurts, doesn’t it? It’s terrible, but our seniors don’t have enough money to have nutritional food.”
Jackson told the audience the nation’s capital had several different moods. It’s beautiful when cherry blossoms bloom in the spring, he said.
“One day it’s like Disneyland,” Jackson said. “It’s the temple of good. It’s all the great things in history. You keep going around and seeing all these magnificent things.”
At other times Washington is highly competitive as people fight for attention and push their ideologies, he said.
“Some people come from a region where they are embraced for standing against gun reform,” Jackson said. “They want their guns. They love their guns more than I would say they love a god, because it’s unconscionable what’s going on.”
Jackson said he hosted a community roundtable on gun violence March 17 in Englewood that featured U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and others.
At times, Washington shows its ugly side, Jackson said.
“It’s like you transferred into a bad high school,” he said. “These are the reds, these are the blues. People don’t talk to each other.”
The 1st District extends from densely populated neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side through parts of suburban Blue Island, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Tinley Park, Homer Glen, Mokena, Frankfort and other towns as well as rural areas between Chicago, Kankakee and Braidwood.
Rush, Jackson’s predecessor, was criticized for ignoring suburban and rural parts of the district. Jackson said he intends to use his position on the Agriculture Committee to help the entire district.
“Agriculture involves urban horticulture and locally grown food,” Jackson said. “The fight of this new budget is coming down to agriculture. I’d like to see us selling more food abroad than bombs and missiles.”
Jackson also serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and said he visited Kenya to foster economic cooperation.
Jackson listed numerous community projects he said he submitted to the Appropriations Committee for funding in the upcoming fiscal year. He requested $400,000 for a Francisco Avenue bridge over the Cal-Sag Channel and $1.1 million for artificial turf at Rudyard Kipling Elementary School in Chicago’s Princeton Park neighborhood.
He is seeking $250,000 to help fund a police reform initiative in Robbins and $2 million to fund a shelter for Chicago youths experiencing homelessness. He requested $1.5 million to improve safety along U.S. Route 6 in Will County, $800,000 to replace 100 lead service lines in Evergreen Park and $2.275 million for water system improvements in Wilmington.
Another $1 million would help fund a feasibility study for a flyover ramp at Stony Island Avenue and 79th Street. Jackson said he requested $2 million for senior housing improvements in the Brainerd neighborhood, $2 million toward replacing lead service lines in Chicago and $5 million for water infrastructure improvements in Dixmoor.
Residents who get water from Lake Michigan deserve reliable service, Jackson said.
“There is still brown water in pipes,” he said. “We have communities connected to the lake that still have poisonous water.”
Jackson asked his audience to prayer for members of Congress who face death threats and other challenges due to toxic partisanship.
“Good people are walking out of doing the job, they just say, ‘I don’t even want to do this anymore,'” Jackson said. “People are calling you and threatening your life, pretty soon you’re like, ‘What am I doing this for?’ That’s not something I thought about six months ago but now I see it every day.”
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.
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