Mark Kirk page @ RemoveRINOs - conservative republicans and independents replacing RINOs with Constitutional conservatives

Mark Kirk

Voted FOR Cap and Trade in 2009

For info on the faulty science behind the legislation, please see the following piece by Jonah Goldberg
and Kim Strassel: "The Shrinking Consensus."

For info on the even faultier economics behind the legislation, please see the following piece by Guy Benson from National Review Online: "Cap and Trade Doesn't Work."

Voted AGAINST the surge: Had Kirk gotten his way, we would have surrendered to Al Qaeda, granting them victory in their most clearly defined battlefield against us.

For an inside look at the importance of Iraq to Al Qaeda, please read the following report from the field, courtesy of
Michael Totten and Colonel Mike Silverman: "Al Qaeda Lost"

For a poignant reminder of the hands into which Kirk voted to leave the Iraqi people, please read the following post by Victor Davis Hanson: "Thyestean Feast." .

Voted AGAINST the right of workers to a secret ballot when voting on whether to unionize (ACU-6).

Voted AGAINST a 2009 amendment to withhold tax-payer dollars from Planned Parenthood (ACU-17).

Voted AGAINST a bill protecting property owners from eminent domain abuses The bill would guarantee access to the federal court so that citizens could sue to stop the government from taking their property (ACU-2).

Voted AGAINST Earmark Reform aimed to cut runaway spending (ACU-6).

Voted AGAINST off-shore drilling in 06 (ACU-4)

Voted AGAINST withholding tax-payer dollars from Planned Parenthood (ACU-6) Read what Kathryn Jean Lopez has to say about Planned Parenthood: "Planned".

Voted AGAINST easing McCain/Feingold restrictions on political speech in the weeks before an election (1 of only
10 in the GOP)

Voted FOR Pelosi's "light-bulb ban" that, as the ACU explains, regulates "lights and appliances (including a ban on the incandescent light bulb), creating new programs for alternative energy sources, imposing more regulations
on energy companies and mandating vastly increased use of ‘renewable’ energy” (ACU 6).

Voted FOR the 2007 Energy Policy that, according to the ACU, mandated reliance on biofuels while not allowing oil supplies to increase. The policy also stiffened regulations and raised taxes $2 billion (ACU-6).

Voted FOR applying McCain/Feingold to grassroots organizations (ACU-4) NOTE: Undoubtedly, in this instance, the Dems were the good guys. This was GOP-sponsored and nearly ALL Republicans voted for it. However, we at RemoveRinos believe there is no excuse for voting against the 1st Amendment no matter how many Republicans do so and no matter how reprehensible George Soros’ 527s are. And if John McCain were to jump off a bridge…..??
Voted AGAINST a 2006 conservative budget alternative that would have extended Bush’s tax cuts while trimming more than 300 billion dollars of discretionary spending, done away with close to 150 programs, and increased funds for the military and for veterans. It also would have opened ANWR for drilling (ACU-4) .

Voted AGAINST banning taxpayer dollars from going to the U.N. to renovate, or build anew, their headquarters in
the United States (ACU 4).

Voted FOR raising minimum wage after the Dems rejected tax cuts that would have protected entry-level workers and small businesses (ACU-6) . For insights into the harmful effects the measure, in its House form, would have meant to workers and small businesses, National Review Online consulted with four leading economists. All four economists agreed that only politicians stood to gain from the measure : "At Minimum…Should Republicans fight back against a minimum-wage increase?"

Voted AGAINST an amendment to cut discretionary spending by 2% while protecting the Bush tax cuts (ACU 2).

Voted FOR raising CAFE standards (ACU-2) For a look at the link between higher CAFE standards and increased traffic fatalities, as well as the folly of the economic justifications for higher standards, see what Dennis Kneale has to say: "New CAFE" (CNBC-1)

Voted AGAINST drilling in ANWR in 2005 (ACU 2).

Voted AGAINST drilling in ANWR in 2006 (ACU-4) .

Voted AGAINST a 2008 motion that would have encouraged drilling in ANWR, the Outer-continental Shelf, and other
territories in the West (ACU-8).

Voted AGAINST allowing an Indiana courthouse to display the Ten Commandments (ACU 2).

Voted FOR banning 50-caliber rifle exports (ACU 2). According to the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA 1), this bill, which was sponsored "by notoriously anti-gun Representative James Moran," outlawed exports of .50-
caliber rifles, and it marked the first congressional vote on any kind of .50-caliber ban.

Voted FOR funding the U.N. Population Fund (ACU 2).

Voted FOR spending an additional $100 million on Public Broadcasting (ACU-2).

Voted AGAINST a ban on federal eminent-domain seizures that force property out of the hands of private citizens and into the hands of private developers (ACU-2)

Voted AGAINST reforming the Endangered Species Act (ACU 2). to reimburse property owners for losses suffered from not being able to develop their land. It also clarified species designations, better protecting the species in need of protection and better targeting the properties in need of oversight (Marano and Lieberman).

Voted AGAINST a bill to protect gun-makers from lawsuits that hold manufacturers responsible for violence committed by criminals. One of only four GOP representatives to vote against the bill (ACU-2).

Voted AGAINST the Online Freedom of Speech bill, which would have prevented e-mail and blogs from being regulated by the Federal Election Commission (ACU-2). In essence, this bill's defeat leaves open the possibility that
McCain/Feingold could reach its way dramatically into the Internet (Hayward).

Voted AGAINST an amendment that would keep government funds from being used to enforce trigger-lock regulations (ACU-4). Critics argue these regulations have little value in promoting gun safety and are primarily punitive in design, adding cost and red tape to gun ownership. Still worse, these trigger locks would hamper, if not
outright nullify, a gun-owner's ability to use the weapon in self-defense. This suggests another Machiavellian gun-
control strategy: if you can't make a gun illegal, do the next best thing - make it useless.

Voted AGAINST an International Criminal Court amendment that, according to the ACU, denies "assistance to the
government of any country that is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) unless that country pledges not to surrender U.S. nationals to the ICC" (ACU-1).

Voted FOR a 700% increase in funding for the HOPE VI Public Housing Program, even as $2 billion remained in the coffers, unspent. This was a program that Bush had marked for elimination (ACU-8).

Voted AGAINST the 2008 Republican budget resolution that, according to the ACU, "would have made the Bush tax
cuts permanent, capped discretionary spending at $973 billion, reduced mandatory spending by $12 billion over five years, and imposed a moratorium on pork barrel 'earmarks'” (ACU-8).

Voted FOR the Democrat's Mortgage Bailout (Round One). Introduced in May 08, this bill set the tone for the bailout fever that would soon infect Washington. Under threat of Bush veto, Kirk voted for the bill, which sought to further distort the marketplace by increasing the Federal Housing Authority's influence, guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Simultaneously, it provided a multi-billion dollar trust fund available to parties of questionable relevance and repute, such as ACORN (ACU-8). - For background into the bill's tie-in to our current bailout woes, see the following prescient NRO editorial: "Do Nothing, Congress."

Voted FOR the AMT "Relief" Bill, which raised taxes on U.S. energy producers. At a time of record high energy prices when some legislators were calling for a tax holiday at the gas pump, Kirk was voting to raise taxes on the energy sector (ACU-8).

Read what Representative Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), says about those "Democrats in Congress" who voted for this bill: "Be Pro-Choice: The AMT really has a hold on the middle class."

Voted AGAINST allowing D.C. residents to own firearms (ACU-8).

Voted TO OVERRIDE Bush’s 2007 veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion (ACU-6). This program was created in 1997 only to provide insurance to children from uninsured families who were narrowly above poverty. But 10 years later, the Dems moved to expand the program--and, as always, the devil was in the
details. By joining forces with the Dems, Kirk chose to do the following:

Re-define "children" to mean "21-year-old adults."

Re-define "just above poverty" to mean "$80,000 income."

Let some taxpayers pay for other taxpayers' insurance (even if the former make less than the latter and purchase their own insurance).

Give incentives for states to “recruit” new enrollees and thus make this big program even bigger. (Carney-1).

Voted FOR a 2009 bill to double SCHIP spending (ACU-17).   This insurance entitlement provides free coverage for enrollees whose incomes can be as high as triple the poverty level—and the vote was viewed as an important step
toward the kind of nationalized health care that was passed in March 2010. Also notable, the CBO estimated that
nearly 80% of the children who were given free insurance under SCHIP already had private policies (Carter - NRO). To pay for the swelling program, Kirk’s vote included a tax hike.