Back in September, US Rep Mark Kirk from the Fightin' 10th in Illinois, was one of 17 Republicans to break ranks and vote in favor of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.
At the time, Mark was running against Alexi Gainnoulias for the about-to-be-vacated seat held by Roland Burris, who of course took over for Barack Obama.
Kirk's TV ads were almost constant (as were Alexi's) and in the last couple of weeks before the election he was actually referring to himself as "Mr. Independent." Never afraid to vote his conscience. All about doing the "right thing."
Well, Mr. Independent won the Senate race, and because of Blago's hijinx, Kirk was allowed to take the Burris seat back in late November rather than waiting for the end of the lame duck session.
When the James Zadronga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 was about to come up for a test vote in the Senate last week, Chuck Schumer was begging, begging!, two Republicans to step forward and do the right thing.
The Zadronga Act would provide $3.2billion to track and treat illnesses suffered by 9/11 responders, and another $4.2billion to re-open old claims for people who are still suffering as well as the families of those who died.Most of the $6billion originally earmarked for these people ran out back in 2003, long before many of the responders became ill.
One such guy, Kevin Czartoryski, a 46 year old NYPD detective, died last week after battling a lung disease.
Anyway, back to Schumer's plea to the Republican party to put aside political differences and do the right thing for these 9/11 victims.
Great time for Mark Kirk to show me that he wasn't lying.
Great time for Mark Kirk to do the right thing and break ranks.
No such luck.
In short, the test vote failed 57-42, with Mr. Independent Mark Kirk, my new junior senator, following his party and voting against providing medical care for these people, same thing he voted for back in September when he was a US Rep., simply because the Dems wouldn't compromise on tax cuts for the wealthy.
All 42 no votes were cast by Republicans, which in my mind makes them all scumbags. I don't care what this fucker Kirk does for the rest of his career now. This one vote tells me all I'll ever need to know about this gutless turd.
Shame on all 42 of these Senators.
