Hot Temper

Stark has raised a number of eyebrows on both sides of the aisle during his congressional career. His temper and sometimes bizarre behavior may imperil any shot he has at becoming Ways and Means Committee chairman.

During an interview in July 2009 with the Office of Congressional Ethics, which Stark appaerently videotaped, he was "extremely belligerent and frequently insulted the OCE staff members interviewing him," according to an OCE staffer.

The OCE, an independent body without any formal disciplinary power, was probing why Stark claimed a homestead tax exemption for his Maryland residence when he is formally a California resident.

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in 1995, he called then-Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) a "whore for the insurance industry" and said that she learned about health- care through "pillow talk" with her doctor husband.

At another hearing in 2003, Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) told him to "zip it." Stark replied "Come over here and make me. I dare you. You little fruitcake." Security officers were called in to keep order.

In June 2005, while then-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) was under investigation for alleged bribery by a defense industry lobbyist, Stark paid for an ad in National Journal's Congress Daily titled, "Attention Powerful Lobbyists! House for Sale by Influential Member of Congress."

In October 2007, during a debate to override now-former President George W. Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, Stark said that Bush was refusing to allocate dollars to children's health and was instead "going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a formal statement calling her California colleague's words "inappropriate," and Stark issued an apology on the House floor.

Even President Obama sometimes attracts harsh words from Stark. Assessing the president's decision to permit the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to continue to fund religious organizations that engage in religious hiring discrimination, he said, "Look at all the stuff he is trying to do in the White House. I mean, come on. I think that is probably not constitutional."

Health-Care Reform

Stark has been at the forefront of efforts to make quality health care available to all Americans.

In May 2005, he authored a bill to offer full Medicare benefits to all individuals ages 55 to 64 who were not already covered under a federal insurance plan or a group plan. He also introduced a July 2005 amendment to guarantee comprehensive health coverage for all children born after 2006.

In July 2006, Stark introduced a bill to establish an AmeriCare program that would enroll anyone not already covered under a group health insurance plan with comparable coverage limits. He introduced an April 2008 bill to establish a paid family and medical-leave insurance program that would be mandatory for certain categories of employers.

He also introduced a September 2008 bill to heighten federal oversight of nursing-home facilities and impose harsher penalties on facility violations. He was co-sponsor of a January 2009 reauthorization and funding increase for the federally-administered Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and one of three sponsors of a June 2009 bill to expand support services for mentally-troubled youth and adolescents.

In early 2009, House Democratic leaders began drafting legislation to universalize health-care coverage for all Americans through a combination of private and public health-insurance options. Stark co-sponsored the resulting reform bill.

House Democrats differ on the funding mechanisms for the program; some favor more taxes while others want independent bodies to review national health-care costs and lower them. Stark is squarely in the former camp, having called in June 2009 for a 2 % income tax surcharge on wealthy Americans to pay for the added costs. In fact, his expectations of government funding exceed those of most of his party's leadership, and he admits he will have to compromise.

"This is not going to be the bill I'd write," he said.

The Economy and Taxes

Stark has a distinctly pro-tax record, even for a Democrat. In May 2006, when the House voted to repeal the 3 percent telephone excise tax, a tax on long-distancce phone calls that Congress had instated in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American war. Stark was one of only two members-the other being the late Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.)-to oppose the repeal. He also authored a March 2006 amendment to repeal the tax exemptions on income that corporations and individuals earn outside the U.S.

Following a ruling by the World Trade Organization Appellate Body in February 2006 that U.S. corporate tax laws violate WTO rules, Stark introduced a bill to repeal a multitude of corporate tax breaks and thereby bring U.S. tax law in compliance with those rules.

His record is also pro-tax-reform. In April 2006, the California Democrat introduced taxpayer-privacy legislation that prohibited tax-return preparers from selling or distributing taxpayers' financial information, or from sending tax returns overseas to be processed. The bill was a response to an IRS proposal in December 2005 that would have allowed taxpayers to sell their clients' information to any interested third parties, including salespeople and data brokers.

Stark is a steadfast defender of the minimum wage. He co-sponsored an August 2001 bill to require day-laborer service agencies to disclose their wage rates; a February 2001 bill to increase the federal minimum wage by $1.50 over three years; and a January 2007 increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, up from $5.15 an hour.

He voted against the fall 2008 Wall Street bailout and for the January 2009 economic stimulus act.

Foreign Policy

In March 2003, Stark turned heads when he labeled the U.S. invasion of Iraq "an act of extreme terrorism." He has been a vocal opponent of the war ever since. He co-sponsored with House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) a January 2003 proposal to reinstate the military draft, and was one of only two House members-the other being Murtha-to vote for it.

In January 2005 and November 2005, Stark cosponsored resolutions calling on President Bush to withdraw or redeploy U.S. troops, and a June 2005 resolution demanding that Bush not establish permanent military bases in Iraq.

After the April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate concluded that the Iraq war had spawned a new generation of Islamic terrorists and increased the overall threat of terrorism, Stark co-sponsored a September 2006 bill resolution that called on the Bush administration to promptly release not only the April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate report, but also any other pending reports on Iraq.

A lifelong opponent of nuclear non-proliferation, Stark cosponsored a July 2005 resolution that called on Bush to initiate and conclude multilateral negotiations for the abolition of nuclear weapons. In July 2006, he voted against an agreement for cooperation between the U.S. and India on development of nuclear energy facilities.

Stark opposes preemptive military action against Iran. He co-sponsored an April 2006 resolution urging the president not to initiate an attack against Iran without first obtaining Congressional authorization. He also drafted a June 2006 request to the Bush administration to release information relating to any strategies or plans for regime change or the use of military force in Iran. Additionally in June 2006, Stark wrote a letter to Bush in which he cautioned against launching a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran.

Human Rights

Stark has lent support to a plethora of human-rights-related causes. In March 2005, he co-sponsored a bill to suspend operations of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S. training school for military, police and government personnel throughout the Western hemisphere. Many of its Latin American cadet graduates had been later implicated in the use of torture, abductions, and other human-rights abuses.

In June 2005, Stark co-sponsored House resolutions urging both the U.S. and the Turkish government to recognize the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey) in World War I as genocide.

In July 2006, he wrote to Colombia President Alvaro Uribe encouraging him to request funds for economic development and anti-poverty programs, rather than for military fumigation of coca fields.

He co-sponsored a June 2005 bill that imposed sanctions on the perpetrators of present-day genocide in Sudan and pledged support for international peace efforts there. He also proposed a September 2006 bill to prohibit the U.S. government from entering into contracts with companies that conduct business in Sudan.

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