Highland Park, IL – Rep. Mark Kirk voted yesterday against H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act. The bill would have funded our troops in the field while establishing a timeline for responsibly winding down our involvement in Iraq. “Yet again, Mark Kirk voted in lockstep with President Bush and against the interests of the people of Illinois,” said Jay Footlik, Democratic congressional candidate for Illinois’ 10th District. “Giving the President a blank check to pursue his directionless war in Iraq undermines our national security, doesn’t serve our foreign policy, doesn’t serve our men and women in uniform, and definitely doesn’t serve the folks of the 10th district. Kirk has demonstrated once again just how badly we need a change of leadership and a change of priorities in Washington.” Jay Footlik is the only candidate in the Democratic primary for Illinois’ 10th District with extensive foreign policy expertise, especially as it relates to the Middle East. Because of his experience working in the Clinton White House, Jay understands that American leadership abroad requires not only steps to enhance American security at home and overseas, but also active diplomacy. Jay has been an outspoken critic of Bush Administration foreign policy failures and has proposed alternative policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and the war on terror. “If Mark Kirk won’t hold the President accountable for mismanaging this war, the voters will hold him accountable at the ballot box,” Footlik said. “I am running to bring common sense back to our foreign policy and to get this country back on the right track.”