Posts from — January 2008

Peter Roskam continued his self-declared war on “wasteful spending” and “misguided policies” by voting yet again today against the expansion of SCHIP (HR 3963, Children’s Health Insurance Program Extension and Improvement).

The vote was to override the President’s veto of the bill in December. Today’s vote failed to achieve enough votes thanks to the intransigence of Roskam and many of his Roadblock Republican colleagues. Yes, the same Roskam who has enjoyed complaining about excessive partisanship while voting a straight party line in an attempt to obstruct progress by the Democrats in Congress.

This bill, if enacted, would provide health care to 10 million currently uninusred children. Uninsured children are not among Roskam’s legislative priorities. In Roskam’s view, the money needs to be saved to provide aid programs for big business and big tax cuts for his wealthy neighbors.

Like a campaign? Like some concrete positions on issues?

Jill Morgenthaler is not Peter Roskam and that’s a good thing. There is nothing I want more than to see Roskam replaced. (Well, maybe to see Bush and Cheney indicted.) But it’s not enough. February is getting awfully close and Morgenthaler hasn’t yet shared anything that gives me a basis for voting for her in the Democratic Primary. All I have to go on is a moldy press release from October, a couple of endorsements based on I don’t know what and the insubstantial robo call message I got today that consisted mostly of buzz words like “change” and “experience”.

Morgenthaler, the presumptive nominee, may turn out to be a great candidate, but I have no way of knowing at present. And it’s not that I’m looking for an ideal progressive candidate. I understand the nature of the district and the need for compromise. I’m just looking for someone who will take the needs of her constituents seriously and use her office to provide a “rubber stamp” to corporate interests and a corrupt and malevolent administration as Roskam has done.

But, so far, Morgenthaler has not not demonstrated that she takes the interests of her prospective constituents seriously. She hasn’t deigned to share with us anything of subtance regarding how she would vote and what her legislative priorities would be.

We know how Roskam has voted and what his priorities are (making the rich richer and smoothing the road for big corporations). You need to tell us, Jill, quite specifically, how you would have voted differently and how you will use your office.

Until, that happens, you haven’t earned my vote.

Peter Roskam posted an Op-Ed on his House web site crying that “it is time for Congress to get its priorities straight”.

What should be Congress’s priorities, you may ask?

• Ending the war against Iraq?
• Ending the Bush Administration’s practice of torture?
• Providing health care for America’s children?
• Providing services for disabled veterans of Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
• Helping middle class parents with the cost of college tuition?
• Taking action to slow global climate change?
• Preventing Bush from provoking a new war against Iran?

No, none of these.

As we have seen in a previous post, Peter Roskam is pretty much in the pocket of the National Association of Manufacturers, a prominent big business special interest group. So much so that he has voted NAM’s position on key votes 100% of the time during his first year in office, ignoring the needs and desires of the constituents who sent him to Washington to be their representative.

Now, as Roskam examines Congressional priorities, he can find nothing more important for Congress to do than to increase the amount of taxpayer dollars being given to manufacturers under the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a program which “provides companies with services and access to public and private resources that enhance growth, improve productivity, and expand capacity”. So using taxpayer dollars to help businesses become better at business. The program is a pet project of NAM.

So disabled vets and children needing health care should fend for themselves (Roskam has repeatedly voted against spending for both) but manufacturers need a boost from the taxpayer?

This just shows how phony Roskam’s pretensions about conservatism are. Spending tax money is just fine as long as it is spent to help big business. But God forbid you should spend a buck to help a child or a vet.

I used to think Roskam was worthy of respect, despite our political differences. Now, not so much.

Peter Roskam wants you to believe that he is your voice in Congress, that he represents your interests as a resident of the 6th Congressional District. That is not, generally speaking, true. If you are very wealthy, live in Glen Ellyn or Wheaton and have “CEO” after your name, perhaps. But not if you are a working person living in Bensenville or in Wood Dale or in West Chicago.

Peter Roskam was elected by voters in the 6th, but he is not representing them. Instead he is serving the interests of large corporations and he has worked hand in hand with George Bush during his first year in office to see that they are well-served indeed.

How closely Roskam is aligned with corporate interests can be seen by looking at the evaluation of his voting record by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). According to that NAM’s evaluation, Roskam has voted NAM’s position 100 percent of the time during his first year in office. He has done so even when NAM’s position conflicted with the interests of his constituents as it frequently does. Roskam has been a perfect rubber stamp for NAM.

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