Senate Report Card: John Kerry D-MA

Senator John Kerry is the junior Democratic United States Senator from the state of Massachusetts. Senator Kerry assumed office in 1985. He was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, but was defeated by President Bush.

Senator Kerry serves on the Foreign Relations, Finance and Commerce, Science and Transportation Committees. He is also the chairman of the Near East South and Central Asian Affairs, Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, Technology, Innovation, and Competitiveness and Long-term Growth and Debt Reduction Subcommittees.

Kerry opposes President Bush's attempts at privatizing Social Security. He supports abortion rights for adult women and minors. He supports civil unions for same-sex couples but opposes same-sex marriages. Kerry opposes capital punishment except for terrorists. He has voted in suppor of most gun control laws, and is generally a supporter of trade agreements.

Kerry supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and Most Favored Nation status for China, but opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Senator Kerry initially opposed the immediate use of military force during the first Gulf War to expel Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. He argued that United Nations had imposed sanctions on Iraq, and that the sanctions then in place should be given more time to work.

His priority concerns have addressed small business concerns, education, terrorism, veterans' and POW-MIA issues, marine resource protection. He has become a leading voice on the danger of climate change and global warming. He authored a book that addressed the concerns and gave solid solutions that everyone can participate in.

Kerry has fought to expand opportunities in jobs, education, and health care benefits. He supports resources and reforms for schools to meet high expectations. He is in favorof strongly enforcing America's civil rights laws, affirmative action to reduce discrimination and expand opportunity, and strongly enforcing equal justice for all victims of hate violence.

In the time leading up to the vote to authorize military force in Iraq in 2002, Kerry said, "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." He has since argued that he voted for the war, but later voted against funding and authorization of the war. He criticized President Bush for misleading the country and Congress in the build up to the war, as no weapons of mass destruction were found and now the United States is bogged down in an unpopular war.

Senator John Kerry is up for reelection in 2012.