In February 2009, Stupak wrote a letter to Obama suggesting moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to Camp Manistique, a shuttered minimum-security prison in his district. The administration plans to send the detainees to a prison in Illinois.

In 2005, Stupak penned an amendment to an energy authorization bill that would permanently prohibit drilling for oil and gas in the Great Lakes.

Health-Care Reform

In November 2009, Stupak cosponsored an amendment with Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) attached to the House Democrats' health-care reform bill that prohibited use of federal funds for most cases of abortion. The measure passed 240 to 194 and was credited with luring the support of conservative Democrats.

In January 2010, Stupak said he and 10 or 11 Democrats would vote against a final package if it didn't have explicit abortion restrictions. But in March 2010 when the House voted on the Senate version of reform, which had murkier abortion restrictions, the Stupak bloc threatened to oppose it. The Michigan Democrat said that he would either "vote against the bill and watch it become law with no further protections for life or reach an agreement that prevents federal funding for abortions."

In a deal with Stupak, President Obama promised to sign an executive order reinforcing the language of the 1976 Hyde Amendment, extending its federal funding restrictions to abortions to the new health insurance exchanges.

Social Issues

Stupak's social conservatism goes beyond his anti-abortion stance. After President Obama's March 2009 executive order reversing a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, Stupak said in a statement, "I do not agree with President Obama's decision to turn living members of the human species into raw material for research."

Before the 1996 Democratic National Convention, Stupak led a group of about 40 anti-abortion Democrats in a meeting with the Democratic House leadership seeking to soften the party's abortion rights language in its platform. "We'd like to see friendlier language on pro-life issues," Stupak said. "We're realistic enough to know that we're not going to get a reversal of the party's position."

Gun Rights

Stupak has generally been a supporter of gun rights, a stance that plays well in his hunting-heavy district. He has received the NRA's endorsement and funding in several election cycles.

Stupak has on occasion voted for firearms controls. Following the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., Stupak voted to require background checks of up to three days for gun-show purchases. Stupak acknowledged the votes were politically risky and the NRA backed Republican Chuck Yob in the 2000 race. During that race, Stupak ran ads saying he "never voted to take away a single gun."

Since then, Stupak has regained favor with the NRA, earning an "A" rating from the organization as well as its 2008 endorsement. He has introduced the Second Amendment Restoration Act multiple times, seeking to restore gun rights to people after being convicted of minor, non-violent crimes.

Commerce Oversight and Investigations

From his position as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, Stupak has repeatedly introduced introduced legislation seeking to require almost all derivatives to be brought under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

After the 2008 presidential election, Stupak appealed to the Obama administration to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration's top leadership, which the congressman felt was "too close with the industries they regulate."

Stupak has also sought to curb alleged price gouging on fuels. A 2008 Stupak bill that would have defined price gouging and authorized the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and punish offenders fell six votes shy of the necessary two-thirds majority.

The Michigan congressman also sponsored a bill enacted in 2008 that created rules banning the sale of prescription drugs online without valid prescriptions.

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