House Jobs Bill: Representatives From Chicago Area Line Up Against HIRE Act

When running for U.S. Senate, every political move counts. So it's no surprise that Rep. Mark Kirk, the Republican candidate for Roland Burris' Senate seat, has made the news with his opposition of the HIRE Act, a jobs bill that passed the House Thursday in a largely party-line vote of 217-201.

But Kirk was joined by nine other Chicagoland legislators -- including five Democrats -- in opposing the bill.

Of the eight Congressmen who represent Chicagoans (seven Democrats and Republican Peter Roskam), only four voted for the bill.

Melissa Bean, a Democrat from the North Suburbs, did not attend the vote after being "unavoidably detained" at the White House, but she submitted her opposition to the bill to the record.

"I haven't met a single employer that would hire a new person based on a payroll tax reduction. That provision's cost of $13 billion is untenable," Rep. Bean said in a statement. Bean is a moderate third-term Democrat from a swing district in northern Illinois, one that President Bush and President Obama both won by double-digits. Her district scores an R+1 on the Cook PVI, indicating a slight lean to the right.

But the bill was even opposed in solidly Democratic quarters. Bobby Rush represents Illinois' 1st, a majority-black district on the South Side that has given more than 80 percent of its votes to Democratic candidates since Hubert H. Humphrey. Rush voted against the HIRE Act, saying it "fails to do the heavy lifting" to help the unemployed.

"At a time when the African American community's unemployment rate hovers in the range of 17 percent, I cannot go back to them, look them in the eye and tell them 'I got big business a tax cut today' and simply walk away in the hopes that they'll be hired," Rush said.

"How many tax cuts do they need before they'll hire?"

Rush was joined by Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Danny K. Davis, both Chicago Democrats, and 20 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus in voting against the bill, forming a majority of the 40-member block. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), chairwoman of the Caucus, released a statement reiterating her stance: "As I said last week when this legislation passed the Senate, 'this is not the jobs bill' and we shouldn't confuse the millions of Americans who are struggling to find work. We should stop calling it a jobs bill, and instead acknowledge this is about business tax cuts." She echoed Rep. Rush's concerns about the bill's failure to address the high unemployment rates among people of color.

While Democrats worried that the bill wouldn't do enough to encourage job growth, Republicans painted the bill as another case of big government spending. In a statement, Kirk described the HIRE Act as a "second Stimulus bill," and said, "The American people need jobs -- not gimmicks."

But he seemed to agree with Democrats that the bill wouldn't create enough jobs. "Very few small businesses will spend $40,000 creating one new job just to get a $1,000 tax credit in return," Kirk said.

The bill returns to the Senate for deliberations on new provisions inserted in the House. In addition to a small business tax credit, the HIRE Act also extends the Highway Trust Fund and gives small businesses increased tax write-offs.

Comments

[longshanks]

11:08 AM on 03/08/2010

Kirk voted against bringing the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (SCHIP) to the floor. Republicans voted against 175-0. Had Kirk and the Republicans prevailed, the bill would have been killed. But wait: Democrats voted 244-3 in favor of bringing it to a vote, and when it came to the floor, Kirk flip-flopped and voted in favor of the same bill he had just voted to kill. He can thus truthfully tell opponents of the program that he tried to stop it, and he can tell supporters of the program that he voted for it.

[longshanks]

11:08 AM on 03/08/2010

Kirk toes the Republican line. Since being re-elected in November 2008, Kirk has supported the Republican position on key issues 100% of the time. Says who? Says Kirk for Senate. In the previous Congress, Kirk voted Republican only 8 of 10 times but he voted with the Republicans on 24 of the 25 closest votes. In the Congress before that, Kirk voted Republican 9 of 10 times.

Kirk voted against equal pay for women. He voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Republicans voted against equal pay for women 166-3. But Democrats voted 244-5 in favor, so it passed the House, and President Obama signed it into law.

Kirk voted for federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. He voted for the Terri Schiavo Restoration Act, which required the federal government to forcibly insert a feeding tube into a woman who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years, against the wishes of her husband. Democrats said at the time that "Michael Schiavo is faced with a devastating decision, but having been through the proper legal process, the decision for his wife's care belongs to him and to God." But Republican leadership thought the decision belonged to the government, so Kirk jetted back to Washington to vote for federal intervention in this family decisionRepublicans voted 156-5 in favor, and Kirk went along (of the Democrats who voted, most voted against).

[longshanks]

11:05 AM on 03/08/2010

Kirk reversed himself on Cap and Trade. After voting for Cap and Trade because, according to Kirk, national security required it, Kirk announced that he was only voting the narrow interests of my district and that hed vote against it the next time.

Kirk reversed himself on Gitmo. After voting to allow the Obama administration to move foreign terrorist suspects from the Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States mainland, Kirk criticized a proposal to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States mainland (Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois). Kirk told President Obama that "If your administration brings al-Qaida terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization. Kirk was criticized by the Sun-Times and the Tribune for his inflammatory and inaccurate statements.

Kirk reversed himself on earmarks. Kirk criticized earmarks in recent spending bills after procuring millions of dollars of earmarks for his supporters.

[longshanks]

10:58 AM on 03/08/2010

Kirk reversed himself on Gitmo. After voting to allow the Obama administration to move foreign terrorist suspects from the Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States mainland, Kirk criticized a proposal to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States mainland (Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois). Kirk told President Obama that "If your administration brings al-Qaida terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization. Kirk was criticized by the Sun-Times and the Tribune for his inflammatory and inaccurate statements.

Kirk reversed himself on earmarks. Kirk criticized earmarks in recent spending bills after procuring millions of dollars of earmarks for his supporters.

Kirk reversed himself on Sarah Palin: After supporting the selection of Sarah Palin for Vice President, Kirk received letters from constituents objecting to Palins extreme right-wing views. Kirk then said that he would not have picked her for Vice President. But in November 2009, Kirk sought Palins support.

[longshanks]

10:57 AM on 03/08/2010

Then on November 7, 2009 Kirk voted in favor of the Stupak Amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act. This amendment bars any insurance plan that is purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions, and with Kirks help, it passed. As a result, NARAL Pro-Choice America now opposes his candidacy and Planned Parenthood has endorsed Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate. Kirk will claim that he supports choice but hes just against federal funding. But the right to choose is meaningless without the means to choose, and denying health coverage to women who choose abortionsas opposed to other medical procedures--amounts to discrimination based upon religious beliefs, which is why NARAL and Planned Parenthood came down so hard on him.

Kirk reversed himself on gay rights. After leading people to believe that he supported gay rights, Kirk came out against gay marriage, in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, and in favor of the militarys dont ask dont tell policy.

Kirk reversed himself on Cap and Trade. After voting for Cap and Trade because, according to Kirk, national security required it, Kirk announced that he was only voting the narrow interests of my district and that hed vote against it the next time.

[unionave]

10:33 AM on 03/07/2010

The area Bobby Rush represents has the highest unemployment , auto , property . and life insurance rates in the nation . He is one representative that never brings home the bacon . Trying to figure out why an area with the highest unemployment would have the highest insurance rates . That could only happen with Bobby Rush as a Representative . Kirk could never top that .

[Bude]

12:13 AM on 03/07/2010

If only there was a half-million patronage jobs in Chicago.

[poomplet]

04:33 PM on 03/05/2010

BUT...BUT...BUT....this means Mark Kirk's no-vote can't be used against him anymore, that maybe he and all these Dems voted against it because it's a bad bill.

What is the reflexive "I'll vote for Don Giablagstrogurris just because he's not a Bush-loyalist (even though I can't come up with a single good thing to say about him)" crowd going to do now?

Because I PROVED Kirk was NOT a Bush-loyalist...that he voted with him only 63% of the time (168 of 181 GOP house members had higher percentages).

Now this!!

[mamala4]

09:33 PM on 03/05/2010

Even if 63% is correct, even if, 63% of the time is 63% too many....

[longshanks]

10:57 AM on 03/08/2010

Kirk reversed himself on reproductive rights: After narrowly winning re-election by misleading his constituents into believing he was pro-choice, Kirk stated on September 30, 2009 that I strongly support the current U.S. law, sometimes called the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funds from being used to subsidize abortions. On July 7, 2009, Kirk voted in favor of an amendment that would extend the prohibition on the use of federal funds for abortion so that it would apply to the District of Columbia. Fortunately, the amendment was rejected in committee.