Davidson
By Sam Wildow
MIAMI VALLEY — U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, representing Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, held a telephone town hall Thursday evening, touching on topics from illegal immigration to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Davidson started off by saying it has been a “tough time” for the country due to political divisions. He suggested part of the reason was due to the news being “heavily filtered.”
“I think it’s frustrating right now,” Davidson said.
Davidson, who represents Miami, Clark, Darke, Butler, and Preble counties, as well as parts of Mercer County, took questions from community members of those areas, starting off with a question about illegal immigration and their medical care.
“Are they going to be allowed free medical?” the caller asked.
“Our border is far less secure,” Davidson said. He said the social safety nets in the U.S. are designed for U.S. citizens, adding, “We do provide emergency medical care.”
He touched on illegal immigrants who give birth in the U.S., explaining those children would be considered U.S. citizens due to being born in the U.S. He said he supported a policy of citizenship where people born here are citizens if their parents are citizens. “That’s not the law right now,” he said.
Davidson said the consequences for illegal immigration impact population and the Census, which determines the number of representatives states have in Congress.
“Ohio is losing a congressional seat,” Davidson said.
In regard to election integrity, Davidson stated his opposition to H.R. 1, a bill titled the For the People Act, and H.R. 4, a bill titled the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019.
He expressed support for Ohio’s voter I.D. laws, and his opposition to “federalized election law.”
Later on, he touched on the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as his own legislation he has introduced to prohibit COVID-19 vaccination passports, which provide proof of vaccination. A caller expressed concern about being mandated to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to being a federal employee, explaining her husband and she have already recovered from COVID-19 and have natural immunity.
Davidson said that in other countries like Israel, citizens qualify for its vaccine pass if they are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19.
“Natural immunity not only provides immunity to COVID-19, it is showing, in a lot of data, that it is more resistant than the vaccines,” Davidson said.
He also stated that receiving a vaccine would provide a lower risk to the individual than getting the virus, but noted some people are not able to get the vaccine due to health conditions or other reasons.
“For most people, they’re safer to take the vaccine,” Davidson said.
Davidson supports firing Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president.
“We do need doctors that people trust,” Davidson said. “These doctors are dividing America.”
Davidson has also introduced a “vaccine passport prohibition” act, with exceptions for the U.S. Department of Defense and active service members. A poll conducted during the telephone town hall showed that 75 percent of those listening in on Thursday disagreed with vaccine passports and 25 percent of the listeners agreed with vaccine passports.
Davidson also touched on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans given out last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating the thinking behind the loans were that “it would be better to keep the people on payroll and keep their benefits” versus having to receive unemployment benefits. In the 8th congressional district, Davidson said, “Over 100,000 people stayed on payroll because of this program.”
Toward the end of the town hall, he expressed his opposition to critical race theory.
”It’s intended to divide our country,” Davidson said.
Davidson stated schools should “more comprehensively teach our history.”
”We haven’t really comprehensively covered aspects of history,” Davidson said.
For more information about Davidson, visit davidson.house.gov.
