I apologize I missed the Ted Kennedy reference.
Given his position on not voting for deficit budgets it would be suprising if he would vote yes on DoD appropriations or almost anything else. I was all for Afghanistan and personally thought we ought to nail Saudi Arabia as well considering the amount of Saudi money and aid that goes to Wahabist groups. Iraq not so much. I never bought into the WMD arguement and if the Iraqis were okay enough with Saddam to not revolt I saw no reason to waste our nations blood and treasure on freeing them.
He voted yes to 3 of the seven gun bills according to the link.
I have listed the three gun bills he voted yes on
H Amdt 1156 to HR 5672: An amendment that prohibits funds in the bill from being used to enforce a trigger lock on guns provision in law.
HR 5092: To modernize and reform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to pass a bill that amends the federal criminal code regarding firearms and explosives, changes the civil penalties for violating firearm regulations and directs the Attorney General to establish guidelines for investigations.
Highlights:
- Modifies existing law from allowing the Attorney General to immediately revoke firearm licenses, after proper notification to the licensee, to a system of fines based upon the severity of the violation and the prior record of the firearm's licensee (Sec. 2)
-Authorizes the Attorney General to make preliminary decisions to approve or deny a federal firearms license application and gives applicants the right to a hearing for license denials (Sec. 3)
-Requires the Attorney General to create specific guidelines for investigations, inspections and examinations made by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (Sec. 5)
-Instructs the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to review the operations of gun show enforcement programs on residency checks of firearm purchasers; the Inspector General shall report these findings within one year to the Judiciary Committees of both the House and Senate (Sec 6.)
-Sets limits on who can have access to the information gathered from individual firearm licenses (Sec. 7)
H.AMDT.215: Amendment defines what constitutes a sale at a gun show; requires background checks at gun shows to be completed within 24 hours; allows dealers to deal at gun shows face-to-face; and increases the penalty for those who use guns with a large-capacity magazine during the commission of crimes.
Not too anti gun in my opinion.
A huge issue for me. Primarily the drug stance of the party.
I am a recovering drunk and addict and I see no upside to our current drug laws. They do nothing positive and a great many negatives come out of them. A couple examples the militarization of our police, asset forfiture laws, the fact we have more people locked up than Russia, a majority of them for drug crimes. Add to that the cash that I need to give uncle sam to pay for something that doesn't work and I see little reason not to try something cheaper like legalization.
Things he has done from the wiki article:
"By successfully amending other legislation, he has also barred International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the U.S. military (2002), American participation in any U.N. "global tax" (2005), and surveillance on peaceful First Amendment activities by citizens (2006).[72]
Paul said that between 2001 and early 2004 he had voted against more than 700 bills intended to expand government.[81]
Paul introduced "Sunlight Rule" legislation, which would not allow votes on legislation to occur until ten days after its introduction, with the intent of giving lawmakers enough time to read bills before voting on them. The bill requires allotting 72 hours for House members and staff to examine the contents of amendments.[82]
On October 15, 2007, Paul introduced the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007, which would "bar the use of evidence obtained through torture; require that federal intelligence gathering is conducted in accordance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); create a mechanism for challenging presidential signing statements; repeal the Military Commissions Act, which, among other things, denies habeas corpus to certain detainees; prohibit kidnapping, detentions, and torture abroad; protect journalists who publish information received from the executive branch; and ensure that secret evidence is not used to designate individuals or organizations with a presence in the U.S. as foreign terrorists."[88]
Paul was on a bipartisan coalition of 17 members of Congress that sued President Bill Clinton in 1999 over his conduct of the Kosovo war. They accused Clinton of failing to inform Congress of the action's status within 48 hours as required by WPR, and of failing to obtain Congressional declaration of war as specifically required in the Constitution. Congress had voted 427–2 against a declaration of war with Yugoslavia, and had voted to deny support for the air campaign in Kosovo.
There is a ton more info outlining what he has done in congress and his beliefs.
.