Randy Hultgrenâs voting record not kind to animals
If youâre planning to vote for Randy Hultgren in November and you also care about animals, you might want to reconsider.
Many residents in Illinoisâ 14th Congressional District have no idea that their Congressman is the only elected official in Illinois who currently has a ZERO rating from The Humane Society (113 Humane Scorecard) for consistently taking anti-animal positions.
The most offensive of these positions is Hultgrenâs support for the notorious King Amendment. Although ultimately defeated in Congress by those more compassionate, Hultgren nevertheless voted twice in support of this cruel and overreaching amendment. While painful to describe, voters need to understand just how sweeping and potentially destructive the King amendment is. In one fell swoop, this amendment would have eliminated laws that protect farm animals from spending their ENTIRE lives in containers (âcruel cagesâ) only slightly larger than their bodies. So small, these animals are unable to turn around or lie down. It threatened protection of puppies and dogs in puppy mills. It would have upended numerous state bans forbidding the sale of horses for slaughter for human consumption. You get the idea.
Sadly characteristic for Rep. Hultgren and far too many other politicians, support for the King Amendment was a nod to âBig Ag.â
Wouldnât it be great if the people we elect to represent us not compromise our values? Values which for many of us include protecting animals from cruelty, enjoying an environment not contaminated with deadly pesticides, and ensuring that farm workers arenât turned into modern-day slaves.
How a person treats animals is a window into their true character. Are you really willing to vote for someone who voted for cruel cages? If Rep. Hultgren turned his back on animals before, would he do it again?
Politicians rarely change their character and Hultgrenâs voting record clearly demonstrates his priorities are with the lobbyists.
Jess Chipkin
Substantive Changes in Congress
To Mr. David Williams, who presented a tidy set of pre-packaged campaign talking points instead of addressing reality and substance, letâs get serious and factual about real issues.
On the tax code, Representative Randy Hultgren has been a champion for local communities by defending municipal finance and the municipal bond exemption in the tax code. He worked across the aisle with a Democrat Congressman from Maryland and together they signed up 70 Democrats and 70 Republicans to defend this crucial lifeline for towns like Huntley to rebuild their crumbling infrastructure.
Rep. Hultgren has said repeatedly that he would support passing unemployment benefits if they were actually paid for, not piled onto our mounting debt that weâre passing on to our grandkids. Whatâs more important is actually working toward creating jobs so that people donât have to be on unemployment and don’t get stuck trying to support families with minimum-wage jobs. There are more than 40 jobs bills sitting on Harry Reidâs desk, many of which Randy voted for. Why wonât Harry Reid do anything with them? Thatâs where real change is needed.
A key bill of Randyâs, the Regulatory Sunset and Review Act, targets regulations that cost our economy millions each year and aims to eliminate them. Our small and large businesses don’t need more Washington mandates.
Randy Hultgren supported H.R. 803, the SKILLS Act, which âremoves roadblocks for workers to access job training immediately, eliminates ineffective programs and instead creates a single source of support for workers, employers and job-seekers.â (Chicago Sun-Times, June 17, 2014). His op-ed talks about why Illinois is hurting and how we can get it back on track with real ideas, not just liberal talking points.
And he stands up for seniors. His original campaign pledge when running for Congress was to make sure there would not be any changes to Social Security or Medicare benefits to anyone over 55, and heâs kept that promise. Protecting these programs for generations to come and tackling this crisis head-on is what a leader in Congress does.
What he will not do is raid Medicare Advantage for the sake of Obamacare, a flawed law that has actually led to higher premiums, canceled plans, and less choice for Illinois health consumers. Taking from some to give to others is the Democrat way, but Republicans stand for property rights and keeping what you earn.
Randy Hultgren stands for individuals, middle class families, and the community. We have seen countless times how the federal government has expanded itself before our eyes – time and time again sticking its hands into your pocket and mine and given back little in return. Randy is fighting for something better in Washington. I know Randy Hultgren. He is someone I trust; he’s earned our vote.
Jim Nelson
Sun City resident
