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Congress
PI Original
by Adam Doster
9:23am
Mon Mar 30, 2009

Kirk Reaches For GOP Standby: The Estate Tax

Let's be clear: Rep. Mark Kirk has never been a moderate on economic policy. After all, it was Kirk who in the past month blasted President Obama's budget for running up short-term deficits and slightly reducing the home-mortgage-interest deduction (an extremely regressive ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
1:58pm
Sun Mar 29, 2009

Consumer Groups Blast Gutierrez' Payday Loan Reform Bill

Earlier this month, we questioned whether Rep. Luis Gutierrez really had consumers' best interest in mind when he introduced the Payday Loan Reform Act of 2009.
Although the Chicago Democrat penned a similarly-named bill two years
prior that consumer advocates praised, some ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
6:12pm
Fri Mar 27, 2009

Shimkus: Capping C02 Emissions Will "Take Away Plant Food"

We've repeatedly documented Rep. John Shimkus' ridiculous positions on climate change. During a House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing earlier this week, the downstate Republican was in rare form. Speaking to British global warming denier Lord Christopher ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
12:29pm
Fri Mar 27, 2009

Durbin, Burris Join Webb's Efforts To Reform The Criminal Justice System

If there's one issue of great economic and social importance that
never gets debated seriosuly at the national level, it's criminal
justice reform. Thanks to the 2006 implosion of then-Sen. George Allen
(R-VA), that might change.

Sen. Jim Webb, who upended Allen is a ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
4:55pm
Thu Mar 26, 2009

Durbin Renews The DREAM

About this time each spring, college acceptance letters start
hitting mailboxes across the country. But through no fault of their
own, higher education isn't an option for approximately 65,000 high school seniors every year. This is because, despite growing up in the U.S., ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
2:31pm
Thu Mar 26, 2009

Try Listening Next Time, Don

Take a look at this footage from Tuesday's U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, in which Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke "break[s] with traditional comity" to call Rep. Don Manzullo's (R-IL) question "poorly posed&quot...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
4:14pm
Wed Mar 25, 2009

Hare Talks EFCA On Fox

If you're looking for unbiased commentary on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), FOX Business Channel is probably not the best cable network to watch. This afternoon, Illinois' own Rep. Phil Hare had the unenviable task of debating the merits of the bill with one of the ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
1:59pm
Tue Mar 24, 2009

Illinois Stories (With Your Host Dick Durbin)

Speaking in support of President Obama's budget proposal on the U.S. Senate floor today, Dick Durbin emphasized the need for action by highlighting a few stories of struggling Illinoisans.  First, he recounted the exorbitant health insurance burden shouldered by a Springfield ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
10:54am
Tue Mar 24, 2009

Durbin Demands "Fair Elections Now"

Dick Durbin and a bipartisan group of lawmakers will introduce legislation this week to create an ambitious voluntary public campaign financing system for congressional elections.