When Artur Davis was campaigning to represent Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, one of the supposed knocks against him was that he had no seniority and would be able to accomplish little or nothing even if he were elected.

His opponent, Earl Hilliard, was a five-term member of Congress who was in line to sit on a number of important congressional committees.

In something of an upset, Davis showed his political mettle by easily besting Hilliard in the Democratic Primary in June and going on to win the general election in November.

Now the freshman congressman is serving notice that he also has a natural ability to make things happen.

Davis is co-sponsor of a bill known as The Working Families Child Tax Credit Restoration Act of 2003. The bill would raise the child tax credit from $600 to $1,000 and increase the number of eligible families by lowering the qualifying income level from $10,500 to $7,500.

That’s important because in the 7th Congressional District there are a lot of families who don’t make a lot of money. A report commissioned by Davis estimates that roughly 47,000 families would receive more than $20 million under the proposed bill.

If the bill is passed &045;&045; President Bush has already indicated he will sign the bill into law &045;&045; those families could be getting checks before the summer is out.

That’s $20 million in the hands of the people who need it the most.

While there are those who would debate the merits of a tax cut at this time, this much seems certain: Davis is doing what he was elected to do &045;&045; representing the people of the 7th Congressional District.

And the freshman congressman is displaying an admirable ability to get things done in the process.