Legislative Lunch featuring Mark Kirk

U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk will address the business community at a multi-chamber luncheon. Currently in his fifth term, Rep. Kirk represents the 10th District of Illinois, which stretches along Lake Michigan, from Waukegan to Wilmette and includes nearly 700,000 constituents. Kirk is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and is co-chairman of the Tuesday Group, a caucus of mainstream Republicans working to advance a suburban agenda. He is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in the 2010 election in Illinois.

Congressman Kirk is the author of a number of provisions which are now law, including funding for commuter rail, improving veterans health care, and boosting aviation security. As part of his efforts to improve the state’s economic climate for small businesses, Kirk has proposed a small business "Bill of Rights" to help highlight the important role small businesses play in the nation’s economic recovery. The Bill contains a provision to improve credit for small businesses, exempting them from the capital gains tax for 10 years.

Kirk has voted to permanently repeal the "death tax," double the child tax credit, end the Alternative Minimum Tax and eliminate the marriage penalty. He has also supported transportation initiatives to improve the state’s economy. These include support for the O’Hare modernization plan, Metra’s STAR line and other vital infrastructure improvements in order to attract companies to locate in the Chicago region.

Kirk has supported legislation to ban earmarks, and recently proposed legislation to restore public integrity and end the hidden corruption taxes in Northern Illinois.

Some of the topics he is expected to address include the impact of the recently passed health care legislation, the effect of the oil spill in the Gulf, the implications of the recent Census on the North Shore Congressional districts, and his views on a proposed second stimulus spending bill.

Kirk is a 21-year intelligence officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves with the rank of commander. In the past 2 years, he has served active reserve duty twice in Afghanistan. He also serves regular weekend duty as a commander in the intelligence division of the Pentagon’s "War Room."

Kirk is a graduate of New Trier East High School and graduated cum laude from Cornell University. He holds a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics and earned a law degree from Georgetown University. He resides in Highland Park.