Peter Roskam (R-Ill.)

The Economy

Roskam believes that state intervention in the marketplace hurts the private sector, and with it the economy as a whole. As such, he champions an undistorted free market with few regulations, low government spending and a flatter tax rate.

In 2007, he was one of 82 House Republicans to vote against an increase to the minimum wage, fearful that it would cost jobs. In 2008, he opposed the farm bill, which reauthorized federal agricultural subsidies, and he twice voted against the fall 2008 financial bailout plan. In 2009, he was one of only 69 Republicans to oppose stricter rules for credit-card companies, for instance restrictions on rate hikes.

This economic vision has made him a staunch opponent of government programs. He has urged the creation of a commission with the authority to eliminate those that are deemed unnecessary, repeatedly opposed expanding the State's Children Health Insurance Program and expressed concern that a government-run heath care plan would kill private insurance. He has proposed a one percent across-the-board cut in government spending.

Roskam has developed a reputation as an anti-tax purist since his first term in the Illinois state House. In 1994, one of the chamber's Republican leaders faulted him for painting himself "into an ideological corner" on this issue. Since then, Roskam has advocated legislation making President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, further cuts to the top income tax rate and in long-term capital gains taxes, as well as a permanent repeal of the estate tax.

Social Issues

An outspoken social conservative, Roskam argues for the need to protect U.S. traditions and religious heritage. He worries that we "ought not scrub clean our history of" its faith-based roots and he has spoken favorably of home schooling.

Roskam opposes abortion except to save the mother's life. In 1997, while in the state House, he took the lead in championing a ban on late-term abortions, which he called an "abhorrent procedure." He has also opposed federal funding for stem-cell research.

Roskam supports a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage. Both as a state aenator in 2004 and as a U.S. representative in 2007, he opposed legislation banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, warning that such a measure was part of a "bigger agenda," paving the way towards legalizing gay marriage.

Death Penalty

In 2000, Gov. George Ryan (R) issued a moratorium on executions in Illinois. Then a state Senator, Roskam wanted capital punishment to be reinstated. To ensure that abolitionists not get traction and to pressure the governor into lifting the moratorium, he championed reforms to the death penalty system - including allowing defendants access to the state's DNA database and banning the execution of people who are mentally ill. Death penalty critics, including then-state Senator Barack Obama, criticized the bill as insufficient.

Energy

During his congressional tenure, Roskam has focused on energy policy. Along with Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), he has sponsored the Energy VISION Act, legislation meant to "plac[e] us on a path to independence." Roskam House web site The bill advocates replacing conventional fuel with more efficient energy sources, extending offshore drilling and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other swaths of land to oil exploration.

While Roskam has said that global warming is an "issue worthy of the attention of policy makers," he has argued that agreements like the Kyoto Protocol would put American businesses at a competitive disadvantage vis--vis their global competitors.

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