What Will Bethany Fight For?
Keep Our Constituent Services Office Open to the Public
For over a year and a half, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky’s constituent services office has remained closed to the public without appointment. While she has long enjoyed popularity in our district, this lack of accessibility is simply unacceptable.
One of the most essential duties of a U.S. Representative is to ensure that constituents have direct support with federal agencies—whether it's resolving issues with disability benefits, Social Security, veterans' services, or immigration matters. A local office that is "appointment only" fails to meet that obligation and does a disservice to the people of this district.
As your Representative, I would make constituent services a top priority. I will ensure that our local office is open, accessible, and staffed primarily by skilled social workers—professionals uniquely equipped to assist people in crisis or navigating complex systems. We will also include at least one attorney to support constituents with legal issues related to federal programs, and we’ll seek to bring on law student interns from local universities to extend our capacity even further.
The community deserves better. And I am committed to delivering it.
Real Consequences for These Fascist Republicans in Washington and Their Foot Soldiers in ICE
Federal Law Enforcement Officers who have worn or will wear face coverings while performing their duties need to be fired. They need to lose all benefits of their so called “service” to this country including their pensions.
And it’s not just the officers on the ground. The people who designed, built, funded, and maintained detention centers like “Alligator Auschwitz” must be removed from the federal government entirely. No more contracts, no more quiet retirements, no more hiding behind bureaucracy. They enabled and profited from cruelty—and they must be held accountable.
When Democrats hold power again we must hold investigations, we must know who these people were, they must be shamed publicly, and they must face legal consequences for their horrific actionsLess Money for the Military and More Money for Schools and Hospitals
We need to make sure our Veterans get what we promised them, but we also need to reduce the military budget and put that money into schools and hospitals. Our country has an enormous military war machine. However, we seem to be told time and time again that there is no money for healthcare or for Universal Pre-K. That has got to change if we want to build a country that works for everyone and cares for everyone.
End the Genocide in Gaza and Stop Weapons Sales and Shipments to Israel
Israel has a right to exist and should exist. However, the Palestinian people deserve to be able to live their lives in peace as well. I will be a loud voice for the people of Palestine. This cannot continue in our names. The senseless murder of children should have been an immediate wake up call to our leaders in Washington, but it is clear that the money made by defense contractors and the ghoulish hatred of the Palestinian people has become the focus of so many - nearly all of the Republican Party and also many in the Democratic Party. It must stop.
More Money for Medicaid and Medicare. And a Real Fight for Universal Healthcare
Bethany grew up wearing welfare glasses, and not being able to go to the doctor. Even now with health insurance, she and her husband struggle with the cost of healthcare. She has friends who rely on Medicaid for home healthcare who she assists in their day to day lives. She knows how hard it is, and she knows it has to change. She will fight to stop members of Congress from having Federally Funded Health Insurance for the remainder of their lives. Congress doesn’t fight for healthcare for America, but members of Congress don’t have to worry about it themselves. That has to change. If America doesn’t have Universal Healthcare, Members of Congress shouldn’t either.
We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich
This is a hard fight because of the amount of money in politics and the overwrought influence that the wealthy have on our lawmakers. Bethany was raised to call working men and women “Mr. and Mrs.” and the wealthy by their first name. People don’t deserve extra attention or respect because they have wealth. They do have an extra responsibility to fund the government and infrastructure of this country that gave them the opportunity to become wealthy.
Stop Using Illinois to Fund Red States
States like Illinois are footing the bill for states like Alabama and Missouri, and it needs to stop. Red states continue to pass harmful, backward policies, yet they rely on federal programs that are disproportionately funded by taxpayers in states like Illinois. We’re sending our money to places that actively work against equality, inclusion, and basic competence, and we’re getting nothing in return.
Illinois deserves to keep its fair share. That money should be used to rebuild our own infrastructure, support our own schools, and take care of our own communities, not to prop up states like Arkansas that can’t seem to tie their own shoes.
As Bethany’s father used to say, “Tough titty, said the kitty, but the milk’s run dry.”
Legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were designed to ensure that federal dollars don’t support discrimination. The intention behind the Equality Act is to continue that work and bring those protections into the 21st century. But with the courts gutting key protections, like in Shelby County v. Holder, which opened the door for voter suppression, and with Republican lawmakers blocking the Equality Act at every turn, Democrats in Washington need to flip the script.
We’re currently funding injustice at the federal level. It’s time to stop that the old-fashioned way, by demanding that Illinois keep our dollars here, where they’ll actually be used to help people, not hurt them.
Let’s be the change we want to see, with our voices, our votes, and yes, with our wallets.
Stop Hurting Queer People or You Catch These (Legislative) Hands
Bethany played full contact women’s roller derby in early 2010’s as an open trans woman. Nobody cared. Bethany often used the girl’s bathroom in high school while she was bulimic in the 90’s. Nobody cared. Well, nobody but those kids who beat the crap out of her. Republicans have found a group to drum up hate around. And when you send Bethany to the House of Representatives, she will turn the other cheek if Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert attack her in a bathroom. But after that cheek turn she will take no more abuse. People need a fighter, and that’s Bethany. Furthermore - Mace, Greene, and Boebert should not be allowed to use the restrooms on Capitol Hill after their repeated threats to attack trans women without cause.