U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen is questioning some of the latest actions of President Donald Trump in the public and behind closed airplane doors.
Sorensen, who represents parts of Bloomington-Normal and Peoria, was in Bloomington on Thursday to announce a funding request for the Central Illinois Regional Airport.
The Democrat from Rockford called for skepticism of the president’s recent attempt to change vaccine requirements and recommendations from the federal government, according to NPR.
“I think we need to make sure that we are getting our advice from professionals, from medical professionals, and so I would encourage every mom and dad to seek the advice of their own medical provider,” said Sorensen.
He said they are the ones to provide the best directives for parents, not the president or Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. RFK has criticized the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
The executive order signed by Trump lowers the number of vaccines recommended from 17 to 11 and also notably breaks up the schedule of when certain ones should be given.
The MMR vaccine, which treats measles, mumps and rubella, would be given as separate shots over multiple visits instead of a single shot in a single visit.
Sorensen said that can be hard for moms and dads.
“Some moms and dads are working two, three jobs, so if you ... were to say that now your children can only get once vaccine at a time, it means that it’s going to be that much more difficult, if not impossible, for parents to vaccinate their children,” he said.
“That’s what I think is at the crux of this, and so I believe and I hope that everyone will seek out the advice of their medical professionals, those nurses, those doctors…”
Sorensen said politicians in Washington are not to decide what is best for children and their vaccines.
The order is likely to be challenged in court.
Threats to Air Force One
After a NATO summit in Turkey last month, U.S. Secret Service identified a credible Iranian assassination threat to the president. In response, Trump secretly departed Air Force One and was actually taken to a smaller military plane.
That’s what initial reporting said, though NPR News has yet to independently confirm it.
Sorensen questioned the secrecy and lack of transparency given by the White House regarding the ruse.
“If there really was a credible threat against the president and Air Force One, why they allowed Air Force One to take off anyway, why they allowed so many diplomats that were on that plane, so many journalists who were on that plane, there were members of his Cabinet on that plane,” Sorensen said.
He said those people should have understood the risk they were undertaking by being on an apparent decoy plane.
“I think that’s terrible, and we need to make sure that all levels of government, whether that’s from a county board all the way up to the White House, are telling the truth to the American public at every turn, because the American public deserves to know.”
The threat comes amid everchanging updates in the war with Iran. While one day a peace deal may be promised, the next might be met with a different story.
Sorensen still stands opposed to the actions of the Trump administration.
“First things first: Nobody's asked for the war in Iran. I don't hear that from anyone. 0%, zero individuals, zero constituents in [Illinois’ 17th Congressional District] have asked for this,” he said.
“Instead, we are paying the price for Donald Trump's war in Iran. We're paying for it, even though the cost of food has gone up, the cost of healthcare has gone up, the cost of housing has gone up, and it just shows it's another instance where this administration is continuing to fail.”
E15 amendment stalled
Earlier this summer, the U.S. House passed a resolution that would approve year-round sale of 15% ethanol gasoline, or E15. It was previously encouraged by Gov. JB Pritzker.
However, it stalled in the Senate amid debate around a farm bill and has yet to pass.
Sorensen said he still supports the bill to help keep money in people’s pockets.
“It is about lowering the cost of gas at the gas pump, but it’s also about supporting our farmers, making sure that there is another market across the country for those growers to have,” he said.
He blames Republicans for the bill not passing the Senate.
“So, I was able to fight in the agriculture committee to make sure that my amendment was placed into the farm bill, that wasn't able to happen because of partisanship,” said Sorensen. “But, OK, if it’s not my name on the amendment, I’m OK if there’s a Republican’s name on the amendment, so long as we get it done.”
He said he is hopeful the amendment will pass in the farm bill, as Sen. Dick Durbin has spoken in strong support of it. He also hopes it happens before some members of Congress become lame ducks.
“And so, I'm hopeful that cooler heads will prevail, that we can make sure that we get a bill that is able to be voted on in a bipartisan way, and then we can get that relief back to the people at the pump,” he said.
