Kirk is complete Washington insider
The government mailed me a nice surprise this week: a $250 check for reaching the ‘doughnut hole' in my Medicare drug insurance. This is the hole in which I must pay 100 percent of my prescription costs since I've exhausted my drug insurance benefit payments for this year. The above check is from “Obamacare,” the health care reform act passed by the Democratic majority in Congress.
Mark Kirk voted no, along with his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate, and wants to repeal the legislation. Giannoulias strongly supported the health care legislation. Actually, Kirk fibs when he calls himself an independent moderate, as he does in his TV ads; he is a complete Washington insider, a veteran of many years in the House, 10 as a Republican representative, and previously a staff employee for a Republican rep.
Kirk votes with his fellow Republicans more than 80 percent of the time, according to the Congressional Quarterly. This means Kirk voted for Republican sponsored corporate tax breaks for oil companies, for loopholes rewarding American companies for shipping jobs overseas, for borrowing money to fund two wars, effectively establishing large future deficits. He's even voted twice, in ‘09 and in 2010, against re-establishing pay-as-you-go budgeting in the House.
The final “nail” in Kirk's reputed moderate-ism? During his 10 congressional years, he voted to raise his own salary six times.
My choice for Illinois's new senator is easy: I'm voting for Alexi Giannoulias.
Judy Heyman
Highland Park