Obama Senate Records

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)