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Kirk:
The Values of Main Street Must Govern The Business of Wall Street
Congressman Kirk voted to toughen criminal laws to prosecute
corporate criminals who threaten stock values in America's companies.
The new law requires corporate officers to accurately report their
finances or face tough criminal penalties if they lie. The penalties
include jail time, with ill-gotten gains refunded to defrauded
investors. "The Congress must
do everything possible to protect the retirement savings of hard
working Americans. The new law is designed to prevent the kind
of scandals that have eroded the public's trust in the stock market,"
said Kirk.
Keeping Our Doctors Practicing Medicine
"No medical relationship
is more important than the one between you and your doctor."
"To keep doctors practicing
medicine in Illinois, I am working to enact protections for doctors
amidst skyrocketing insurance costs caused by frivolous lawsuits
and outrageous jury awards," said Congressman Kirk
during a meeting of his Health Care Advisory Board. The American
Medical Association placed Illinois on its National Warning List
due to the exodus of good doctors from our state. Obstetricians,
neurologists and emergency room physicians - most of whom have
never been sued - are being forced to leave their patients due
to the threat of needless multi-million dollar lawsuits and the
risk of an outrageous jury award. Congressman Kirk is an original
cosponsor of bipartisan federal legislation to protect all doctors
in America by allowing full payments of actual damages along with
responsible limits for multi-million dollar non-economic damages.
Without such legislation, more Illinois doctors will leave our
state, threatening access of patients to the health care they
need.
Saving the North
Chicago Veterans Hospital
"My service in the Congress
has been guided by several basic principles, among them fulfilling
a sacred commitment to those who have served our nation at the
highest level. I have stood for the simple principle that veterans
health care should be provided where veterans live."
Congressman Kirk pioneered combining our North Chicago VA Hospital
with a new naval hospital to be built at Great Lakes Naval Training
Center. With approval from Congress, this new facility will ensure
that our VA will never close and will be updated with state-of-the-art
equipment. Under the plan Kirk helped push through Congress, the
Navy will build a new $170 million extension to the North Chicago
VA, offering medical care for veterans and active duty personnel.
"I am proud to help save the North Chicago VA Medical Center,
twice threatened with closure and now a model in achieving the
President's goal of combining veterans and active duty military
health care services," said Kirk.
Protecting
Social Security
Congressman Kirk supported legislation in the House of Representatives
that strengthens oversight of the Social Security system, bars
disbursement of Social Security benefits to fugitives, streamlines
the claims process, and closes loopholes that allow some retirees
to collect more than their fair share of Social Security benefits.
Permanent Repeal
of Death Tax and End Marriage Tax Penalty
As an original cosponsor of two pieces of legislation in the
House of Representatives, one to permanently repeal the Death
Tax and the second to end the Marriage Tax penalty, Congressman
Kirk is leading the way toward eliminating these two unfair taxes.
Pension Legislation
Increases IRA Contributions
Congressman Kirk voted to pass landmark pension legislation that
allows workers to increase their 401(k) and IRA savings limits.
Americans are now able to contribute up to $3,000 per year to
their IRAs and contributions can each as high as $5,000 by 2008.
Other key reforms include; "catch up" retirement contributions
for older workers and working women, pension portability through
reduced vesting, removal of rollover barriers, and incentives
for small business pensions.
Increasing
Biomedical Research Funding
Could we be in our last decade of diabetes? Scientists believe
so. Spurred by funding increases for the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), federal researchers cracked the code of the human
genome and are advancing groundbreaking treatments for diabetes,
Alzheimers, heart disease, Parkinson's, and cancer. Over the past
five years, Congress has doubled the budget of the NIH and Congressmen
Kirk is working to ensure increased funding and renewed hope for
millions of sick Americans.
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