Washington, D.C. - While on Capitol Hill today, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney personally called for liberal Democratic Senator John Kerry's resignation. Interviewed after his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee (as part of a hearing on "Preserving Traditional Marriage: A View from the States"), Romney noted that Kerry has missed 87% of all 2004 votes. Romney pointed out that Kerry's lack of attention to state matters was having real impact on Massachusetts tax payers. One example Romney cited was the Senate's failure to extend unemployment benefits by one vote. Kerry was only senator absent: he was busy campaigning in Kentucky. The election-year effort to extend the benefits, which came in the form of an amendment to a corporate tax bill, required 60 votes to surpass a budget enforcement hurdle, but the amendment's backers failed, garnering only 59 "ayes." That one act, asserted Romney, cost Massachusetts $75 million (in lost federal subsidies).
