Senate Report Card: George Voinovich R-OH

Senator George Voinovich is the senior Republican United States Senator from the state of Ohio. He came to office in 1999. He previously served as Governor of Ohio and Mayor of Cleveland.

Voinoch's committee assignments are the Environment and Public Works, Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Oversight of Governmental Management, Federal Workforce, the District of Columbia Committees and the powerful Foreign Relations Committee.

The senator broke with his party with regards to lowering tax rates, siding with Democrats. He is in favor of normal taxation and responsible spending by the government. He supports gun control. On the Foreign Relations Committee he was opposed to President Bush's nomination of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations, but has since praised Bolton's job at the United Nations.

Amid the Jack Abramoff scandal, Voinovich has expressed opposition to the creation of an independent Public Integrity office to police members of Congress because he believes that the Senate Ethics Committee already handles those issues.

He has expressed concern over the environmental problems of the Great Lakes and has called on the senate to act before environmental catastrophes.

Widely known for his emotional attachment to bills and issues in the senate, Voinovich has teared up and become choked up with emotion with regards to a variety of issues. Most recently in an interview with Sean Hannity on immigration measure befor the senate, the senator became flustered and angry at the host and hung up.

Voinovich was a supporter of the bipartisan comprohensive immigration measure put forth by President Bush. He offered an amendment to the immigration bill that required illegal aliens to return to their nation of origin before getting on a path for a green card.

Although a supporter of the War in Iraq, Voinovich, along with other moderate Republicans, has broken with the White House. Senator Voinovich requested to Bush in a five-page letter that the United States begin pulling troops from Iraq and asking that the Iraqis start taking care of their own territory, calling for a comprehensive plan for the country's gradual military disengagement from Iraq. He remains increasingly pessimistic of the troop surges capability at quelling violence in Iraq and believes that a political, not military, solution must be found.

This is Senator George Voinovich's first term in the senate. He has expressed interest in running for reelection, and his term will end in 2011.