Mark Begich
| Mark Begich | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| U.S. Senator from Alaska From: January 3, 2009 – Present | |||
| Predecessor | Ted Stevens | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Democrat | ||
| Spouse(s) | Deborah Bonito | ||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||
Mark P. Begich (born March 30, 1962) is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously he served as Mayor of Anchorage since 2003, where he left office with a $17 million budget shortfall. [1] Begich serves on the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. He has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 93.1% of the time during the current Congress. [2]
Begich defeated incumbent Republican Ted Stevens in 2008 after he was falsely indicted by a federal grand jury for failing to report gifts received from the VECO Corporation. All charges against Stevens were dismissed after prosecutorial misconduct.
Budget reconciliation to pass Obamacare
On March 6, 2010, it was reported Bergich became the 50th Senator agreeable to using the highly questionable budget reconciliation process as a means to circumvent ordinary Senate rules to force President Obama's healthcare reform package into law.[3] Opinion polls show a majority of Americans oppose the radical measures in the president's healthcare package.[4]
