Progress Illinois

Earlier in the year, Rep. Peter Roskam signed on as a co-sponsor of the Military Honor and Decency Act, which restricts the sale of movies or printed materials featuring any nudity on Army bases worldwide. Today, the Sun-Times' Abdon Pallasch printed a response from Roskam's Democratic opponent, retired Col. Jill Morgenthaler:

"I find it offensive, having served with the young men and women in Iraq," said Morgenthaler, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. "Every day we trust them to make decisions. This bill says we don't trust them to choose their own magazines or movies."

Blogger Steve Benen expressed similar sentiments last April:

Let me get this straight. U.S. troops are fighting two wars, neither of which are going well, and Republicans believe we should spend time and energy considering what kind of magazines U.S. troops can purchase on base? Here’s a radical idea: maybe those who wear the uniform and put their lives on the line for their country should be able to read whatever they want. 

Peter Roskam says vets in his district know he supports them. If that's the case, why did he vote against the House version of the revamped G.I. Bill last month? The bill assists veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that have served three years or more by covering the cost of four years at a state college and helping with housing and books. Speaking to NBC5's Mary Ann Ahern yesterday, Roskam said it was all a matter of dollars and cents:

“I’m a co-sponsor of underlying bill, but as with many things in Congress, you don’t get an up-and-down vote on simply that bill alone. So unfortunately, it was loaded up with a whole lot of other spending and it was loaded up with $51 billion dollars in new taxes. Nobody sent me to Washington D.C. to raise their taxes.”

Roskam left out a tiny detail about those "new taxes." To fund the 10-year benefit package, Democrats proposed a half-percent tax surcharge on individuals earning over $500,000 and couples earning over $1 million a year. But that wasn't good enough for the Illinois congressman, who was apparently more interested in protecting the economic interests of his district's wealthiest residents than the educational interests of the 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hoping to better their lives at home.

Tomorrow, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will run a radio ad criticizing Rep. Mark Kirk for his decision to vote "present" last week on the House's version of the Iraq war funding bill. The bill included an amendment that modernized the G.I. Bill by expanding education benefits for military veterans and offset the cost with a tax hike on individuals making over $500,000 annually and couples earning more than $1 million. The bill also mandated President Bush to being drawing down the number of troops in Iraq with 30 days of its enactment.

Over 130 Republicans joined Kirk in voting "present" on the bill, including almost all of Illinois' GOP congressional delegation: Reps. Judy Biggert, Peter Roskam, John Shimkus, Don Manzullo, and Jerry Weller.

With the ad-buy, the DCCC is making clear how serious they are about targeting Kirk this time around. After all, it's six months until Election Day and Chicago is one of the country's more expensive media markets.

You can here the DCCC's ad here.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has released its list of targeted congressional races for 2008 and there are six in Illinois:

- IL-6: Incumbent Peter Roskam is one of the DCCC's "Targeted Republicans"

- IL-8: Incumbent Melissa Bean is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-10: Incumbent Mark Kirk is a "Targeted Republican." Meanwhile, challenger Dan Seals is part of the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program.

- IL-11: Democratic candidate and State Sen. Debbie Halvorson is also on the "Red to Blue" list.

- IL-14: Bill Foster, who is filling out the rest of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's term after winning a March 8 special election, is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-18: The DCCC describes this as a "competitive open seat" (current Rep. Ray Lahood is retiring). The Democratic candidate is Colleen Callahan.