Fred Upton page @ RemoveRINOs - conservative republicans and independents replacing RINOs with Constitutional conservatives

Fred Upton

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.

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 the 2009 omnibus bill that meant an additional 8% increase in spending, on top of the stimulus (ACU-17)

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

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

Voted FOR (indeed, he co-sponsored) "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 Cash for Clunkers (ACU-17).

Voted FOR Barney Frank’s Housing Trust Fund of 2007 (ACU-5), which Speaker Pelosi boasted as “the largest expansion in federal housing programs in decades” (Pelosi 1) and which the Bush administration opposed as “a duplicate program” that “would create an undue and counterproductive reliance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” (Woolley & Gerhard 1) .

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

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

Voted FOR bailing out the auto industry (ACU-8).Four months later, our president was firing CEOs. Either Upton favors nationalizing industry, or he's too short-sighted to deserve our trust. Either way, he's bad for the G.O.P.

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 FOR spending an additional $100 million on Public Broadcasting (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 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 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 FOR permanently raising taxes on businesses while temporarily extending tax credits on “green” initiatives. This was presented to the American people as "tax relief" (a deed that the ACU appropriately describes as "legislative sleight-of-hand") (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 AGAINST strengthening missile defense in 2008 (ACU-8).

Voted FOR the economic stimulus bill of September 2008 (ACU-8).