Paul E. Kanjorski - Political Positions

Political Positions

Like many Pennsylvania Democrats from outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Kanjorski opposes gun control. He is also moderately conservative on abortion. However, he is strongly pro-labor, and has spoken out against the Iraq War. He has served on the Financial Services Committee since he entered Congress in 1985 and was the second-ranking Democrat on that committee at the time of his departure. He usually played behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district. He is popularly known as "Kanjo."

On May 10, 2007, the usually moderate Kanjorski voted with fellow Democrats to begin the redeployment of all forces from Iraq, however the bill was defeated. As of the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001, Kanjorski's position on the war in Iraq appeared to be that he would vote for redeployment, but not as a condition of continued funding for the war until and unless the expected presidential veto of such a bill would be overridden.

After the August 1, 2007 collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kanjorski said he believed the $250,000,000 bill passed by Congress to rebuild the bridge was a ripoff because it exceeded the normal $100,000,000 limit for emergency relief projects. He added in saying that Minnesotans "discovered they were going to get all the money from the federal government and they were taking all they could get" and that they took the opportunity "to screw us." In March 2010, Kanjorski supported and voted for the federal health care reform legislation. Later that year, Kanjorski was instrumental in the crafting of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, helping draft a considerable portion of this legislation. When the bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama in July 2010, Kanjorski appeared with fellow legislators by Obama's side as the President signed the legislation.

One of Kanjorski's final votes in Congress, merely weeks before his final term ended, was a vote against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, legislation signed into law by President Obama in December 2010. Kanjorski's vote in opposition to the bill stemmed from his disenchantment with the fact that the legislation extended President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.