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“Obama talks like Martin Luther King but votes like Bush.”- Matt Gonzalez
OBAMA’S VOTING RECORD

1/06/05: Obama voted for Bush’s Ohio electors. Roll Call 1

1/26/05: Obama voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State.
Roll call 2

2/01/05: Obama was part of a unanimous consent agreement not to
filibuster the nomination of lawless torturer Alberto Gonzales as chief
law enforcement officer of the United States (U.S. Attorney General). No
roll call is available to view but the unanimous consent is noted in
Thomas.loc.gov

2/10/05: Obama voted for an act known as The Class Action Extreme
UnFairness Act of 2005 (S 5) that makes it much more difficult, if not
impossible, for victims to seek and obtain damages in class action suits
filed against wrongdoers who have harmed multiple victims. Roll call 9

2/15/05: Obama voted to confirm Michael Chertoff, a proponent of
water-board torture, an individual connected to the financing of 9/11
and the man behind the round-up of thousands of people of Middle-Eastern
descent following 9/11. By confirming him, Obama, in effect, endorsed
terrorist attacks on America, water-board torture and racism. One
consequence of Obama’s’ vote to confirm Chertoff was the Katrina
disaster. Roll call 10. (In May, 2005, Obama voted to give Chertoff the
authority to waive all laws with no judicial review and no relief. See
below.)

4/21/05: Obama voted to make John “Death Squad” Negroponte the National
Intelligence Director. In Central America, John Negroponte was connected
to death squads that murdered nuns and children in sizable quantities.
He is suspected of instigating death squads while in Iraq, resulting in
the current insurgency. Instead of calling for Negroponte’s prosecution,
Obama rewarded him by making him National Intelligence Director. On
4/17/05, the California Democratic Party unanimously passed a resolution
discussing the death squads and calling on Senators to reject the
nomination of John Negroponte. Roll call 107

4/21/05: Obama voted for HR 1268, war appropriations in the amount of
approximately $81 billion. Much of this funding went to Blackwater USA
and Halliburton and disappeared. Roll call 109

5/10/05: Obama voted to give the Secretary of Homeland Security the
power to waive all laws (inclusive of murder, kidnapping and rape and
all other heinous crimes) with no judicial review and no relief, and to
essentially eliminate the ability of refugees to seek political asylum
in the United States. This bill was was a combination of two bills
(HR1268/HR418), both of which were harmful to life and freedom. HR 1268
was an appropriations bill which gave profits to contractors who
benefitted from wars. HR 418 presumed to override Articles I,II and III
of the U.S. Constitution. This bill allowed Chertoff to legally commit
any crime he wanted to commit in New Orleans, and elsewhere, with the
result being the Katrina disaster. It also set up the basis for a
national ID Card, similar to the ones issued by Hitler’s regime. Obama
voted for all this in Roll Call 117.

5/24/05: Obama voted for cloture on Priscilla Owen for the 5th Circuit.
Torture-proponent Alberto Gonzales even called Owen extreme in her
right-wing stances. Her record shows that she is anti-environment,
anti-labor, anti-civil rights, anti-human rights, pro-discrimination and
pro-polluter. Activists tried to stop cloture as the confirmation vote
was a sure thing once the Senate voted for cloture. Roll call 127

6/14/05: Obama further stabbed the women’s movement in the back by
voting to confirm Thomas B. Griffith to a lifetime appointment as a
justice on the DC Circuit, a court often used as a stepping stone for
the U.S. Supreme Court. Griffith, who is not licensed to practice law in
Utah (his home state), believes that equal opportunity for women
violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In February,
2007, thanks to Obama’s backing of Griffith, the DC circuit has now
ruled that Guantanamo detainees have no right to habeas corpus. Roll
call 136

6/23/05: Obama voted for cloture on HR 6, considered by environmental
groups to be a sellout of the environment to the nuclear, coal and
automotive industries. It provides for rewards for unsafe,
pollution-ridden fuel sources and car makers who wanted to continue
making inefficient cars. It also gave Bush the power to destroy the
Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. Roll call 152

6/28/05: Obama voted to pass HR 6, the sellout of the environment to the
nuclear, coal-burning and automotive industries discussed above. Roll
call 158

7/01/05: Obama voted for H.R. 2419, termed “The Nuclear Bill” by
environmental and peace groups. It provided billions for nuclear weapons
activities, including nuclear bunker buster bombs. It contains full
funding for Yucca Mountain, a threat to food and water in California,
Nevada, Arizona and states across America. Roll call 172

7/20/05: Obama voted to punish countries opposed to the death penalty.
Under Roll Call 196, funds and assistance would no longer be made
available to any country which refused to extradite individuals to the
United States because of a moral objection to the use, by the United
States, of the death penalty. The United States is essentially alone
among Western nations in its use of the death penalty. S. Amdt 1271 to
HR 3057.

7/29/05: Obama voted for the conference report on the Energy Bill (HR
6), which was a boon to Halliburton and subjected Americans to the risk
of exposure to lethal levels of radiation and mercury poisoning. Roll
call 213

9/15/05: Obama voted to allow the use of low-cost foreign labor, in
violation of labor laws, in New Orleans following Katrina. He opposed
the Dorgan Amendment to the appropriations for science, state, justice
and commerce. The amendment attempted to stop the use of appropriated
funding for low-cost foreign labor in violation of labor laws to rebuild
New Orleans. Obama’s vote stabbed American workers in the back and
further damaged laborers hurt by the loss of their homes and businesses
in New Orleans. Obama’s vote resulted in the importation of under-paid
foreign laborers to displace American workers. Roll call 232. S Amdt
1665 to HR 2862.

9/26/05 & 9/28/05: Obama refused to place a hold on the nomination of
John Roberts, a supporter of permanent detention of Americans without
trial, and of torture and military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees.
John Roberts’s wife worked for Operation Rescue, an organization that
uses extreme measures (including violence) to oppose women’s doctors.
John Roberts has questioned the constitutionality of the Violence
Against Women Act and of the Endangered Species Act. He has also
expressed opposition to equal pay for women. Roberts was responsible for
a plan to disenfranchise tens of thousands of African-Americans in
Florida in 2000. In his confirmation hearings, Roberts refused to say
whether he would uphold legislation that overrode a presidential veto. A
unanimous consent agreement was necessary to take Roberts’s nomination
to the floor, and Obama could have placed a hold on the nomination but
would not do so despite the opposition of over 80% of the American
public to the Roberts nomination.

10/07/05: Obama voted for HR2863, which appropriated $50 billion in new
money for war. Roll call 2

10/27/05: Obama voted to confirm Susan Blake Neilson for the Sixth
Circuit. She had a history of being a judicial activist against
plaintiffs in civil rights, employment, personal injury and government
negligence cases and a tendency to dismiss claims that present triable
issues of fact. Both of her state Senators felt she was so extreme that
they blue-slipped her. Roll call 277

10/27/05: Obama voted to slash funding for health care, education and
other programs, such as those to help the uninsured by backing cloture
on HR 3010 and then voted for the bill . Roll calls 275 and 281

11/14/05: Obama voted again for “The Nuclear Bill” in Roll Call 321.
This was the vote on the Conference Report on the Nuclear Bill (HR
2419). As the House had already approved the Conference Report, this was
the last opportunity for anyone in Congress to say “no” to this
disastrous bill which threatened California’s water and food supply and
provides billions of dollars for the kind of nuclear weapons activities
violative of international law.

11/15/05: Obama voted for continued war, again. Roll call 326 was the
vote on the Defense Authorization Act (S1042) which kept the war and war
profiteering alive, restricted the right of habeas corpus and encouraged
terrorist.

12/21/05: Obama confirmed his support for war by voting for the
Conference Report on the Defense Appropriations Act (HR 2863), Roll call
366, which provided more funding to Halliburton and Blackwater.

2/2/06: Obama voted to extend the USA-PATRIOT’s attack on the
Constitution for five weeks to allow Congress time to put together the
support to adopt the renewal of USA-PATRIOT act. Roll call 11

2/16/06: Obama voted for cloture on “USA PATRIOT Additional
Reauthorizing Amendments Act of 2006,” S2271. The USA PATRIOT Act The
act still contained the most objectionable provisions from 2001 and had
a new provision allowing the government to collect lists of people and
kids suffering from colds and allergies. The renewal still allowed the
government to do all the other really bad stuff it had been doing under
the PATRIOT Act, and it could still obtain library records (even though
the public was misled into believing otherwise). Those voting on the
bill knew that it was worse than the original but worked to deceive the
public about how much more freedom had been taken away. This cloture
vote guaranteed passage. Roll call 22

3/1/06: Obama voted to pass S2271, the USA PATRIOT Act. Reauthorizing
Amendments Act of 2006, which strengthened and made worse the original
USA-PATRIOT Act. Roll call 25

3/1/06: Obama voted for cloture on the USA-PATRIOT Act (HR 3199),
Conference Report. This was the last real chance to stop the Act. It was
known that there would not be enough votes to stop the act and so
stopping cloture was the most important issue. Obama voted NOT to stop
cloture. Roll call 28

3/2/06: Obama voted for the conference report on USA-PATRIOT, itself,
made worse than the original by changes that removed more freedom from
the American people and gave more power to agencies trying to deprive
Americans of their Constitutional Rights and making most of the most
intrusive provisions permanent. This was the last chance to stop
USA-PATRIOT. Roll call 29.

3/27/06: Obama voted to confirm pro-nuclear war profiteer Dennis
Spurgeon as Assistant Secretary of Energy. Spurgeon’s appointment will
likely lead to Chernobyls in the U.S. and to more wars. Roll call 76.

5/2/06: Obama voted for money for more war by voting for cloture on HR
4939, the emergency funding to Halliburton, Blackwater and other war
profiteers. Roll call 103

5/4/06: Obama, again, voted to adopt HR4939 the emergency funding to war
profiteers. Roll call 112.

5/8/06: Obama didn’t care enough about the sick to show up to vote on
the cloture vote on S. 22, AKA the Legalize Medical Murder by Capping
the Malpractice Damages Bill. Roll call 115

5/16/06: Obama voted to confirm Milan D. Smith to the 9th Circuit. The
appointment was part of Bush’s effort to turn the 9th Circuit (West
Coast) from moderate to extreme right wing by adding justices to the
Circuit who would support the Bush Agenda. Roll call 120

5/25/06: Obama voted against immigrants by backing S 2611, the
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which was less fair to
immigrants than the previous system or no bill at all. Roll call 157.

5/25/06: Obama voted for cloture on the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh
to be a justice on the D.C.Circuit, placing him in line for a future
Supreme Court nomination. The trouble is that he is another right-wing
extremist who will undercut human rights on the cases he judges. A
result of his confirmation is the recent decision to deny Guantanamo
detainees the right of habeas corpus. Roll call 158

5/26/06: Obama, again, opposed environmentalists in voting for the
cloture on anti-environmentalist Dirk Kempthorne, who was nominated for
Secretary of the Interior. Roll Call 161

6/13/06: Obama voted to commend the armed services for a bombing that
killed innocent people and children and reportedly resulted in the death
of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a person unlikely ever to have existed and who
was reported killed three times previously. Michael Berg, whose son was
reportedly killed by al-Zarqawi, condemned the attack and expressed
sorrow over the innocent people and children killed in the bombing that
Obama commended. Roll call 168

6/15/06: Obama voted for the conference report on HR4939, a bill that
gave warmongers more money to continue the killing and massacre of
innocent people in Iraq and allows profiteers to collect more money for
scamming the people of New Orleans. Roll Call 171

6/15/06: Obama, again, opposed withdrawal of the troops, by voting to
table a motion to table a proposed amendment would have required the
withdrawal of US. Armed Forces from Iraq and would have urged the
convening of an Iraq summit (S Amdt 4269 to S. Amdt 4265 to S2766). Roll
Call 174

6/19/06: Obama voted to confirm Sandra Segal Ikutu, another opponent of
human rights, to the 9th Circuit. This was part of Bush’s stacking of
the 9th Circuit in a seeming effort to turn the 9th circuit from
moderate to right-wing. Roll call 175

6/22/06: Obama voted against withdrawing the troops by opposing the
Kerry Amendment (S. Amdt 4442 to S 2766) to the National Defense
Authorization Act. The amendment, which was rejected, would have brought
our troops home, ended the fighting and forced the Iraqi people to take
charge of their security. Roll Call 181

6/22/06: Obama voted for cloture (the last effective chance to stop) on
the National Defense Authorization Act (S 2766), which provided massive
amounts of funding to defense contractors to continue the killing in
Iraq. Roll Call 183

6/22/06: Obama again voted for continued war by voting to pass the
National Defense Authorization Act (S 2766) continued war funding. Roll
Call 186

6/29/06: Obama voted to adopt the United States - Oman Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act (S. 3569), which gave American jobs to
foreign child slave laborers and eliminated environmental requirements
for industries. Roll call 190

8/2/06: Obama voted to use $1.8 billion to build a fence along the
Mexican border to satisfy an anti-immigrant group. Roll call 220

8/3/06: Obama voted to gut pensions of American workers in voting for
HR4, AKA the Pension Destruction Act. Roll Call 230

9/7/06: Obama voted to give more money to profiteers for more war (H..R.
5631). Roll Call 239

9/19/06: Voted for United States-Oman Cut Jobs for American Workers and
Send them to India Trade Implementation Act (H. R. 5684). This and
similar bills perpetuate the use of child slave labor and undercutting
the environment while sending US jobs to foreign low-cost labor. Roll
Call 250

9/29/06: Obama voted for the conference report on more funding for war,
HR 5631. Roll Call 261

11/16/06: Obama voted for nuclear proliferation in voting to pass HR
5682, a bill to exempt the United States-India Nuclear Proliferation Act
from requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Roll Call 270

12/06/06: Obama voted to confirm pro-war Robert M. Gates to be Secretary
of Defense. Gates is a supporter of Bush’s policies of pre-emptive war
and conquest of foreign countries. Roll Call 272

12/07/06: Obama voted for cloture and confirmation of the confirmation
of Andrew Von Eschenbach to be Commissioner of the FDA. Eschenbach
favors unlabeled use of genetically-modified and cloned food products,
Obama voted for cloture and confirmation (Roll Call 274). Roll Call 273
and 274.

12/8/06: In Roll Calls 275 and 276, Obama voted for cloture and
confirmation of another of Bush’s right wing Circuit Court nominees,
Kent A. Jordan (A note about cloture: often, with the Republicans in a
majority in 2005 and 2006, the only way to stop nominees or bills was
through opposing cloture. This frequently made Obama’s votes FOR cloture
worse than his vote for the bill itself. Sometimes, there was no role
call on cloture and only the roll call to confirm or adopt the bill or
nominee is available. Opposing cloture allows a minority party to stop a
bill.)

Obama’s voting record in 2007 establishes that he continues to be
pro-war. On March 28, 2007 and March 29th, 2007, he voted for cloture
and passage of a bill designed to give Bush over $120 billion to
continue the occupation for years to come (with a suspendable time
table) and inclusive of funding that could be used to launch a war with
Iran. Roll calls 117 and 126.