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Kendrick Meek

Representative of Florida's 17th District
Term of office: January 7, 2003 - present
Political party:	Democrat Image File history File links Vote. ... An election is a decision making process where people vote for preferred political candidates or parties to act as representatives in government. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1704x2242, 707 KB)A picture of Congressman Kendrick B. Meek. ... The House of Representatives is the larger of two houses that make up the U.S. Congress, the other being the United States Senate. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Floridas Seventeenth Congressional District is a U.S. congressional district in Florida. ... January 7, 2003 Jon Johansen was acquitted of all charges in the Norwegian DeCSS trial, in an important test case for copyright law. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ...
Preceded by:	Carrie Meek
Succeeded by:	Incumbent
Born:	September 6, 1966 Miami, Florida
Spouse:	Leslie Dixon

Kendrick Brett Meek (born September 6, 1966) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 17th District of Florida (map). OnTheIssues has labeled Meek a liberal-leaning populist^[1]. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 5, 2002^[2], succeeding his mother, Congresswoman Carrie Meek, who retired from the seat.^[3] Carrie P. Meek (born April 29, American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. ... September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Nickname: The Magic City, Location in Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida. ... Leslie Dixon is an American screenwriter. ... September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives (or simply the House) is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the... November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Carrie P. Meek (born April 29, American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. ...

He was born in Miami, Florida. Meek graduated from Florida A&M University with a BS in Criminal Justice in 1989. He was a Representative in the Florida House of Representatives from 1995-1998 and a Senator in the Florida Senate from 1999-2002.^[2] He is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the 30 Something Working Group, a House caucus that consists of Democratic members in their 30s.^[4] Nickname: The Magic City, Location in Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida. ... Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, commonly known as Florida A&M or FAMU (Pronounced fam-you), is a historically black university located in Tallahassee, Florida and is one of eleven institutions in Floridas State University System. ... Criminal justice refers to the system used by government to maintain social control, enforce laws, and administer justice. ... The Florida House of Representatives, one of the two Chambers of the Florida Legislature, is composed of 120 members, each representing a district. ... The Florida Senate is part of the Legislative branch of government for the state of Florida. ... The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing African American members of the Congress of the United States. ...

Meek serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Homeland Security.^[2] The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress. ... The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress. ...

Policies

Meek does not support the Federal Marriage Amendment.^[5] The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would define marriage in the United States as a union of one man and one woman. ...

Meek supports an increase in minimum wage.^[5] The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...

Federal Marriage Amendment

Meek voted against H.J. Res. 88, a proposed amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, which failed to pass by a vote of 236 to 187.^[5] Same-sex marriage is the union of two people who are of the same biological sex, or gender. ...

Meek said in a statement in the Congressional Record, "Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my strong opposition to H.J. Res. 88, a proposed Constitutional amendment that would prohibit same sex marriages. This proposed amendment is not directed at any real problem, other than the apparent need of the Republican leadership to gin up political support for their candidates. It is sad that the Republican leadership is not as interested as they say they are in ‘protecting’ the institution of marriage as they are in waging a campaign to divide and distract the American people from the real issues that need to be addressed. The nation is at war in Iraq; we face crises in Iran, North Korea and Lebanon; the federal deficit is soaring out of control as more and more U.S. debt is controlled by countries like China; energy costs continue to rise and Americans wait for Congress to act to increase the minimum wage. The Republican response: wasting hours of debate on an unnecessary Constitutional amendment that had already been defeated in the Senate."^[5] There have been three conflicts in the late 20th century and early 21st century called Gulf War, all of which refer to conflicts in the Persian Gulf region: Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) (aka First Gulf War). ... This article is about Irans nuclear power program. ... The United States public debt, commonly called the national debt, gross federal debt or U.S. government debt, is the amount of money owed by the United States federal government to creditors who hold US Debt Instruments. ... For other uses, see Debt (disambiguation). ...

Voting record

Representative Meek's voting record is as follows:^[1]

Abortion

• Voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005)
• Voted NO on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. (April 2005)
• Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (February 2004)
• Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (October 2003)
• Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction and medical research. (February 2003)
  • Meek was given a 100% approval rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America in December 2003.

Embryos (and one tadpole) of the wrinkled frog (Rana rugosa). ... Mouse embryonic stem cells. ... The term minor (from Latin smaller, lesser) has several meanings: Minor is a legal term for a young person, see Minor (law). ... Fetus at eight weeks For other uses, see Fetus (disambiguation). ... Partial-birth abortion (PBA) is a non-medical term used to refer to some late-term abortion procedures. ... Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of an existing, or previously existing, human being or growing cloned tissue from that individual. ... Medical research (or experimental medicine) is basic research and applied research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine. ... NARAL Pro-Choice America (pronounced Nay-ral) is a United States group that favors reproductive rights, including the right to legal abortion, and engages in political action to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion. ...

Budget and economy

• Voted YES on restricting bankruptcy rules. (January 2004)
• Voted NO on replacing illegal export tax breaks with $140B in new breaks. (June 2004)
• Voted NO on end offshore tax havens and promote small business. (October 2004)
• Voted YES on providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers. (Jun 2006)
• Voted NO on promoting work and marriage among TANF recipients. (Feb 2003)
• Meek was given an 87% approval rating by the AFL-CIO and a 47% approval rating by the US COC in December 2003.

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is Americas largest federation of unions, made up of 53 national and international (including Canadian) unions, together representing over 9 million workers. ...

Civil rights

• Voted NO on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. (December 2005)
• Voted NO on protecting the Pledge of Allegiance. (September 2004)
• Voted YES on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (June 2003)

This article needs cleanup. ... Dorothea Lange photograph of Japanese-American students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a War Relocation Authority education facility. ... The Flag Desecration Amendment, often referred to as the flag burning amendment, is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would allow the United States Congress to statutorily proscribe the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. ...

Education and social security

• Voted YES on $84 million in grants for African-American and Hispanic-American colleges. (March 2006)
• Meek was given a 100% approval rating by the National Education Association and a 90% approval rating by ARA in December 2003.

An African American (also Afro-American, Black American) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Hispanic, as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize US citizens, permanent residents and temporary immigrants, whose background hail either from the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America or relating to a Spanish-speaking culture. ... The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States, representing many of the countrys teachers along with other school personnel. ...

Energy

• Voted NO on scheduling permitting for new oil refineries. (June 2006)
• Voted NO on authorizing construction of new oil refineries. (October 2005)
• Voted NO on passage of the Bush administration national energy policy. (June 2004)
• Voted YES on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (November 2003)

View of the Shell/Valero Martinez oil refinery An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into useful petroleum products. ... The Bush administration includes President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Bushs Cabinet, and other select officials and advisors. ...

Environment

• Voted YES on increasing AMTRAK funding by adding $214M to $900M. (June 2006)
• Voted NO on barring website promoting Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. (May 2006)
• Voted NO on deauthorizing "critical habitat" for endangered species. (September 2005)
• Voted NO on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects. (November 2003)
• Meek was given an 85% approval rating by the League of Conservation Voters in December 2003.

Acela Express in West Windsor, NJ Amtrak Cascades service with tilting Talgo trainsets in Seattle, Washington Amtrak train in downtown Orlando, Florida For other uses, see Amtrak (disambiguation). ... Yucca Mountain Yucca Mountain is a ridge-line in Nye County, Nevada, composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano. ... An endangered species is a species whose population is so small that it is in danger of becoming extinct. ... The League of Conservation Voters is an American environmentalist lobby. ...

Foreign policy

• Voted NO on deterring foreign arms transfers to China. (July 2005)
• Voted NO on reforming the United Nations by restricting U.S. funding. (June 2005)
• Voted NO on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. (June 2006)
• Voted NO on approving removal of Saddam Hussein. (March 2004)

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The war on terrorism or war on terror (abbreviated in U.S. policy circles as GWOT for Global War on Terror) is an effort by the governments of the United States and its principal allies to destroy groups deemed to be terrorist (primarily radical Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: , [1]; born April 28, 1937[2]), was the President of Iraq from July 16, 1979 until April 9, 2003, when he was deposed in the United States-led invasion of Iraq. ...

Free trade

• Voted NO on implementing Central American Free Trade Agreement. (July 2005)
• Voted YES on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. (July 2004)
• Voted YES on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement. (July 2003)
• Voted YES on implementing free trade agreement with Chile. (July 2003)

The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is a free trade agreement between the United States and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and Canada, and Mexico. ...

Governmental and tax reform

• Voted NO on restricting independent grassroots political committees. (April 2006)
• Voted YES on prohibiting lawsuits about obesity against food providers. (October 2005)
• Voted NO on limiting attorney's fees in class action lawsuits. (February 2005)
• Voted NO on restricting frivolous lawsuits. (September 2004)
• Voted NO on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. (December 2005)
• Voted YES on providing tax relief and simplification. (September 2004)
• Voted NO on making permanent an increase in the child tax credit. (May 2004)
• Voted YES on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty. (April 2004)
• Meek was given a 22% approval rating by the National Taxpayers Union in December 2003.

Grassroots is a political movement for individual constituents of a community to voice their ideas and opinions. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ... In law, a class action is an equitable procedural device used in litigation for determining the rights of and remedies, if any, for large numbers of people whose cases involve common questions of law and fact. ... In finance, a capital gain is profit that is realized from the sale of an asset that was previously purchased at a lower price. ... A dividend is the distribution of profits to a companys shareholders. ... A child tax credit is a tax credit based on the number of dependent children in a family. ... National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is an pro-taxpayers advocacy organization in the United States, founded in 1969 by James Dale Davidson. ...

Gun control

• Voted NO on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers. (October 2005)
• Voted NO on prohibiting suing gunmakers and sellers for gun misuse. (April 2003)

Health care

• Voted NO on denying non-emergency treatment for lack of Medicare co-pay. (February 2006)
• Voted NO on limiting medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000 damages. (May 2004)
• Voted NO on limited prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients. (November 2003)
• Voted NO on allowing reimportation of prescription drugs. (July 2003)
• Voted YES on small business associations for buying health insurance. (June 2003)
• Voted NO on capping damages & setting time limits in medical lawsuits. (March 2003)
• Meek was given an 89% approval rating by the American Public Health Association in December 2003.

Medicare is a health insurance program for the elderly and disabled in the USA. It was first passed on July 30, 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to Social Security legislation. ... The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a professional organization for public health professionals in the United States. ...

Homeland Security

• Voted NO on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight. (April 2006)
• Voted NO on federalizing rules for driver licenses to hinder terrorists. (February 2005)
• Voted YES on continuing military recruitment on college campuses. (February 2005)
• Voted YES on supporting new position of Director of National Intelligence. (December 2004)
• Voted YES on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan. (April 2003)
• Meek was given a 100% approval rating by Peace Action in December 2003.

SANE redirects here. ...

Immigration

• Voted NO on preventing tipping off Mexicans about Minuteman Project. (June 2006)
• Voted NO on reporting illegal aliens who receive hospital treatment. (May 2004)
• Meek was given a 0% approval rating by Federation for American Immigration Reform in December 2003.

The Minuteman Project Civil Defense Corps was started in April 2005 by a group of American citizens to deter illegal crossings of the United States–Mexico border. ... An illegal immigrant is a person who either enters a country illegally, or who enters legally but subsequently violates the terms of their visa, permanent resident permit or refugee permit. ... A physician visiting the sick in a hospital. ... The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is an immigration reduction organization in the United States, founded in 1979 by John Tanton. ...

Technology

• Voted YES on establishing "network neutrality" (non-tiered Internet). (June 2006)
• Voted YES on increasing fines for indecent broadcasting. (February 2005)
• Voted YES on promoting commercial human space flight industry. (November 2004)
• Voted YES on banning Internet gambling by credit card. (June 2003)

Online gambling is a general term for gambling using the Internet. ...

The One-Florida Sit In

As a state Representative in the Florida House, Meek along with fellow Florida Black Caucus member Rep. Tony Hill, also a member of Omega Psi Phi, staged a sit-in protest in Governor Jeb Bush's office in January 2000^[6] that lasted for 25 hours, with the center issue being the newly-implemented "One Florida" plan to end official race/gender preferences in state government.^[7] Meek said he and Hill staged the sit-in after they tried, but were unable to get "a meeting with the governor-- two members of the Florida legislature. Then the governor came in and was barking at us as though we were children, saying that if we expect for him to rescind his executive order, then we might as well order some blankets and get comfortable, which we did." According to Tom Bearden, Hill and Meek tried to meet with the Governor, "tempers flared."^[8] The Florida House of Representatives, one of the two Chambers of the Florida Legislature, is composed of 120 members, each representing a district. ... The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing African American members of the Congress of the United States. ... John Ellis Jeb Bush (born February 11, 1953), a Republican, is the forty-third and current Governor of Florida. ... An executive order is an edict issued by a member of the executive branch of a government, usually the head of that branch. ... On March 26 2002, Tom Bearden announced the arrival of the MEG technology (Motionless Electrical Generator). ...

In February of 2000, Meek said lawsuits might be filed to challenge university regents' authority to use the One Florida Inititative. "I thank God for using you to bring us to this point."^[7]

The two lawmakers and Bush signed a statement outlining an agreement they reached after meeting with Bush about his One Florida plan to replace affirmative action, according to an AP report on the sit-in in 2000.^{[citation needed]} Meek and Hill issued a press release on June 23, 2003, applauding the Supreme Court for upholding the legality of affirmative action and criticizing Bush for his One Florida Initiative, calling for an end to the initiative in light of the Supreme Court's ruling, because the initiative has "only served to divide Florida along racial lines."^[6] Governor Bush pointed to the .3% increase in minority enrollment in Florida public-universities between 2002 and 2003 as evidence that the One Florida Initiative was working. Meek responded by accusing Bush of throwing out numbers to 'fake out' Floridians, telling Bush he had "better check those numbers two or three times. It's been a struggle for students of African-American descent. That's where the historical discrimination has been." Florida Atlantic University is the only school that had an increase in African-American freshmen, from 17.2% of freshman in 2002 to 18.9% in 2003.^[9] June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... The word discrimination comes from the Latin discriminare, which means to distinguish between. To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit. ... Florida Atlantic University, also commonly referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a state university located in Boca Raton, Florida, USA. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. ...

References

External links

• Board Member | Haiti Innovation
• House website
• Campaign website
• House district map
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post