U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) has some high hopes for the new Congress. (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)

By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) was happy President Barack Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address he wants to hire more veterans. Particularly because the first bill which passed through Congress this year was Davis' own Hire More Heroes Act.

"(It) passed unanimously, with all Republicans and Democrats voting for it," said Davis. "It's a way to change the president's health care law to make it easier for small businesses to hire more of our heroes. That's a good, common sense solution that the president and those of us in Washington ought to continue to put forth."

According to Davis, Obama threatened to veto nearly every idea Republicans have had since the new Congress was sworn in. Davis hoped that was just the president putting on a show.

"I hope he's willing to take some of his ideas on tax reform, his vision for higher taxes for many Americans, and make that his starting point. It's clearly not my starting point," he said.

Davis believed if Congress and Obama work together they should be able to find a common sense solution for what Davis called a "broken" tax code.

Davis added he believed the previous Congress drew a lot of "unfair criticism." He pointed to the House of Representatives which passed more than 380 bills.

"Most of them bipartisan, including my Hire More Heroes Act," said Davis. "They were held up in the Senate, run by Harry Reid and Dick Durbin."

Davis said now that Republicans control both the House and Senate, they will be able to push those bipartisan bills through to the president's desk.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].