UPDATE: To see the chart about the over 800 bills Barack Obama sponsored while in the Illinois State Senate click here.
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I just found a good article by CBS News that summarizes much of the work done by Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate. Looks pretty daggone good to me. Shows a concern for workers, civil rights, health care, and other bread-and-butter issues.
The article reports:
Obama’s state senate votes on some key issues:
BUDGET & TAXES
Voted to raise the minimum wage in Illinois from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour over two years. (2003)
Helped pass a 5 percent earned-income tax credit for low-income working families in 2000; made the credit permanent in 2003.
Voted to end $300 million worth of tax breaks for businesses. (2004)
Voted against making permanent the repeal of the state’s 5 percent sales tax on gasoline. (2000)
HEALTH CARE
Voted for having Illinois endorse embryonic stem cell research. (2004)
Successfully sponsored the Health Care Justice Act, a study of ways to implement a universal health care system statewide. (2004)
Voted against restrictions on public funding of abortion. (2000)
Successfully co-sponsored a prescription drug discount buying club program for seniors and the disabled. (2003)
CRIME & GUN CONTROL
Voted against letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home. (2004)
Voted to let retired police and military police carry concealed weapons. (2004)
Successfully sponsored requirement that law enforcement videotape interrogations of suspects in some serious crimes. (2003)
Successfully sponsored law enforcement study of the race of people pulled over for traffic tickets. (2003)
Helped pass an overhaul of the state’s troubled death penalty system. (2003)
Unsuccessfully sponsored measure to expunge some criminal records and create an employment grant program for ex-criminals. (2002)
Unsuccessfully sponsored limit of one handgun purchase per month. (2000)
Voted against making gang members eligible for the death penalty if they kill someone to help their gang. (2001)
MISCELLANEOUS
Unsuccessfully co-sponsored ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure became law after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. (2003)
Successfully sponsored move to shield Illinois workers from federal rules that threatened overtime pay for some employees.
Successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform called the Gift Ban Act. (1998)
Voted against giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private school. (1999)
Read more.
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Also See Related Articles:
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June 16, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I am Discusted by the fact that your page and so many other s like it Have choosen to not include DR.Ron Paul in your catergories,while you list 6 Rudy Giuliani topics 11 Mccain and even 3 by MICHAEL MOORE?Dr. Paul is a better candidate than ANY OF THE OTHERS AND YOU KNOW IT.I am not sure IF ANYONE WILL READ THIS BUT I WILL BE WORKING TO GET DR.PAUL ELECTED DAY AND NIGHT WITHOUT YOU! THANK YOU FOR SHOWING WHAT YOU REALLY ARE UNFAIR UNBALENCED AND UNAMERICAN!!!
June 18, 2007 at 2:36 am
[...] someone, especially an African American candidate, let it be because you disagree with them on the issues. Do not let it be because of what you think is possible or not. Once African Americans have lost [...]
October 3, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Mr. Breed,
First off, “discusted” is spelling disgusted, there is even a spell check in this text box.
Secondly, it is completely up to the author of a website to include, or not include, whomever they please; simply because your favorite candidate is not discussed here doesn’t conclude that the author is invalid in his choice of topics or candidates.
Third, to say that a candidate is “better…than any of the others and you know it,” is just plain stupid. If everyone knew that one candidate was absolutely better than any of the others, I don’t believe websites that focus on compare and contrast would exist.
Fourth, I am glad that you will be politically active for a candidate, I wish more people were as enthusiastic as you are.
Fifth, to call someone unfair, unbalanced, and not American for proposing their ideas and beliefs through a public medium is in itself contradictory to the core values of being an American. People have mature and organized disagreements all the time without resulting to sophomoric verbal attacks. You have proved that you lack the maturity and overall understanding of organized debate which is one of the most beautiful things that our society embraces.
In the future, present an argument in an organized and calm manner, without attacking your defender personally and I guarantee that you will receive much more respect than I’m positive anyone who reads your statement is giving you now.
- William Ross
November 27, 2007 at 10:22 am
[...] Successfully co-sponsors drug buy-out club for seniors and and the disabled [...]
December 17, 2007 at 10:29 am
Searching for a “true leader”?
Within the current pack of potential presidential candidates I do not see anyone including Mr. Obama who is capable of putting their personal principals and morals before their political party. Contrary to current political correctness this is a serious flaw for someone in the executive branch.
Why do I say this? It’s not because of what the New York Times, CNN, Fox News or any of the mainstream media tells me. It is something central to the core of good leadership, it is the capability to stand up and do the “right thing” even though it might destroy you. Our founding fathers had this trait as did many of our famous presidents and civil rights leaders however over the last 19 years I have seen this all but disappear.
So how do I know Mr. Obama is not a true leader among men? I think I can say with confidence that if he found a newborn infant in trash dumpster clinging to life he would do everything within his power to ensure that baby survives.
With that said, then why as a state legislator in Illinois did he fight against legislation that would require health care workers to give proper medical treatment to third term abortions when the baby survives the procedure? Why does he currently support the repeal of the 2002 Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (H.R. 2175)?
It’s simple; all you have to do is listen to his response when defending his voting record. He says he is against such legislation because it could lead to further legislation limiting a women’s right to choose, pro choice.
Back to my statement about leadership, I know Mr. Obama could not stand and watch a baby born of a late term abortion just be laid on a linen cart to die of exposure. So, then why does he support efforts to repeal the current law protecting infants?
The answer, he puts his political party and platform first, even if it means supporting something that goes against his core beliefs. For me if a man can rationalize his principles to that point then he is a danger to our country and not a true leader.
How far can you compromise your core beliefs?
Ernest Terry
December 17, 2007 at 11:43 am
Mr. Terry,
Nobody’s a perfect leader–not Obama or even the founding fathers you hold up as the standard. All of them go/went to the bathroom and do/did #1 and #2 just like everybody else.
If you remember, the founding fathers were writing and speaking about rights, equality, and freedom while they disenfranchised and marginalized women and minorities.
I think the key issue for voters is not whether or not Obama is perfect but who is the best candidate/leader available. He is the best candidate/leader of those running. If there is another candidate you’d like to offer up who you believe compares better please let us know and I’m happy to walk through the comparison with you.
December 18, 2007 at 11:07 am
Sagereader,
My post said nothing about searching for the “perfect leader” nor do I expect Mr. Obama to be one in order to vote for him. I was stating what I see as a serious character flaw for a potential President of the United States and something a voter can’t simply set aside like views on global warming or the war in Iraq.
The issue I bring up goes beyond party politics and into the “content of one’s character”.
This is not an argument of “pro-choice” versus “pro-life”, I fully understand that Senator Obama values the right of a woman to choose an abortion for any reason and that he values that right over the life of a child in the womb.
Keep in mind; the current laws have determined that once a child leaves the womb and is breathing on its own it has the same rights as you and me. Moreover, in some states when a pregnant woman is murdered the accused can also be charged with murder of the unborn child as in the case of Laci Peterson.
Yet Mr. Obama doesn’t agree with these laws if the cause for that baby’s birth was a late term abortion.
No matter what we do to rationalize it, “it is what it is, infanticide” the homicide of an infant and Mr. Obama says he is against laws which require healthcare workers to give medical treatment to infants born and living from a failed late term abortion.
It is what it is, and in my humble opinion a compromise of one’s soul.
December 19, 2007 at 4:25 am
In legislative terms, when a state legislator sponsors or co-sponsors a bill, he or she is stating for the record his or her agreement with the measure’s contents and / or intent. The legislator who actually introduces the measure is the bill’s author.
Therefore, I’d like to know what measures actually introduced by Sen. Obama eventually passed and became state law.
December 19, 2007 at 7:19 am
Hey Donald,
For healthcare legislation he got signed into law, I put together a list with measures introduced and those signed into law:
http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/barack-obamas-health-care-record-the-making-of-the-health-care-president/
I haven’t had time to pull one together on other issues yet.
He has gotten bills signed into law though on racial profiling, the death penalty, and other issues. For example, during his first year in the Illinois Senate he passed and got signed into law one of the toughest ethics reforms bills in IL in 25 years.
His state senate records are publicly available for you to do the research yourself. I think you asked a very good question though and I will I see if I can get time to pull together a list of bills aside from health care that he got signed into law.
December 21, 2007 at 9:18 am
You can see a chart highlighting the over 800 bills Barack Obama sponsored while in the Illinois State Senate here.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html
January 5, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Does anyone have information or a link on every vote that he made in the Illinois legislature? That would be more important to me than a graphic that seems slanted to make him look good.
January 6, 2008 at 7:28 am
Sharon, just to clarify. The graphic above is not a chart of votes Obama took. That is a chart summarizing the over 800+ bills he *sponsored.* By definition, it’s going to make him look good because he introduced all of them.
As an aside: I challenge anyone to produce a similar chart of such legislative accomplishment for either Clinton or Edwards.
Transcripts of votes from the Illinois legislature during the period when Obama served are available here: http://www.ilga.gov/previousga.asp
January 28, 2008 at 4:49 pm
[...] year track record in the Illinois State Legislature of actually ACTING on some of these proposals (http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/obamas-voting-record-in-the-illinois-state-senate…). One of the problems that Obama faces from the Black community is that he does not preface his [...]
March 7, 2008 at 9:45 pm
[...] There are many many more. [...]
May 25, 2008 at 3:43 pm
[...] I’ve Googled Obamas Illinois record and can’t find anything solid… the most I could find is this link Voted against letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons [...]
July 25, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I am waiting for someone in the media to ask Mr.Obbama about his accomplishments as a Community Organizer in Chicago or as a Senator in Illinois. Chicago has more murders in a week than are occuring in Iraq now- what has he ever accomplished as a Community Organizer. Chicago has a woeful record for out of weedlock births, school drop out rate, etc. What has he ever accomplished during his “career” as a Community Organmizer or State Senator? Is this the qualifications to be President of the United States? Also, has anyone ve5r asked Mr. Obasma why he never served in the US Military? His reesume is far too thin to qualify him to be POresident. I hope the American people can get past the preacher like speeches and see him for what he is.
September 13, 2008 at 9:17 am
[...] Obamas Voting Record in the Illinois State Senate Think On These Things CRIME & GUN CONTROL Voted against letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home. (2004) Voted to let retired police and military police carry concealed weapons. (2004) Successfully sponsored requirement that law enforcement videotape interrogations of suspects in some serious crimes. (2003) Successfully sponsored law enforcement study of the race of people pulled over for traffic tickets. (2003) Helped pass an overhaul of the states troubled death penalty system. (2003) Unsuccessfully sponsored measure to expunge some criminal records and create an employment grant program for ex-criminals. (2002) Unsuccessfully sponsored limit of one handgun purchase per month. (2000) Voted against making gang members eligible for the death penalty if they kill someone to help their gang. (2001) That came from a Pro Obama site at the link on top. Here is another link with issues info. Barack Obama on the Issues Click here for 11 full quotes on Gun Control OR other candidates on Gun Control OR background on Gun Control. Ok for states & cities to determine local gun laws. (Apr 2008) [...]
September 25, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I would like to have *accurate* info regarding an email I received (pasted below). This is from a very right-wing associate of mine, and I’d like to have help in replying to him re the efficacy of these claims. I’ve not found anything info that addresses these specific claims:
Some of Obama’s constituent friendly votes in Illinois:
- Voted AGAINST a bill letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home in self-defense.
- Unsuccessfully sponsored measure to expunge some criminal records and create an employment grant program for ex-criminals.
- Voted AGAINST making gang members eligible for the death penalty if they kill someone to help their gang.
- Voted AGAINST giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private school.
- Voted NO on a bill to give no offer of “good time” for sex offenders sentenced to the County Jail –
Obama was the only vote against the bill.
- Voted “Present”on a bill to restrict the location of buildings with adult uses (you know porn shop, strip clubs, etc…) within 1,000 feet of any public or private elementary or secondary school, public park, place of worship, preschool, day-car facility, or residential area.
- Voted NO on a bill, requiring school boards to install software on public computers accessible to minors that blocked sexually explicit material.
- Voted YES on a bill that allowed the purchase of 10 hyperdemic needles from a pharmacy without a prescription.
- Voted “Present” on a bill which established a zero-tolerance drug-testing policy for Dep’t. of Corrections Employees.
- Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.
October 7, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Dear S Taylor, thank you for asking..this is where things get difficult, if not, muddled…When you see a vote as ya, nay, or present it can be for the part of the bill that the voter agrees with or just happened to have read and supports…there can be ten or twenty other parts of that bill that gat thrown in by a member from another state that wants their agenda to be approved…i.e. the pork belly non-sense that was passed in the bail out. The votes that you have posted may have had MANY other points to them, and, Senator Obama and others, as well, may have voted for the points that concerned their constituents. You would really have to have the exact bill in order to comment on what was actually in the whole bill. as the bill would have been, of course, much longer and very conveluted, with many factors. Ask your friend what actual bill was voted on, and, how, and, you may see that there were other factors that happened to be very favorable. I will use one example…..the McCain campaign said that “Obama voted for sex education for kindergartners”. The bill had many factors for protecting children from predators and the education was for teaching very young children the langauge to be able to tell how they were abused, i.e. improper touching. Everything is much more than it seems. Also, google any of the Senators voting records, and, you will get the full results. Go for It, it is worth it. A friend of mine, Republican, tried to tell me Senator Obama did NOT vote at all in 2007…Rush Limbaugh told her that……..took about three seconds to prove that wrong. Also, make sure that you look at Senator McCains voting record. It is actually pretty good. A female journalist said last week that McCain voted twice in 2008. LIES!!!!!! He actually works sometimes for his salary. Bless your Heart from Atanta.