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GOP Wants to Bar Votes By Lame Ducks on Hot Issues
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois House Republicans want to limit what a lame duck state legislator can vote on.

Charleston Republican state Rep. Chapin Rose tells the Belleville News-Democrat he's crafting a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit lame-duck votes on issues such as tax hikes. Greenville GOP Rep. Ron Stephens says representatives shouldn't vote on major issues after they've lost re-election.

A 66 percent income tax increase was approved earlier this week by the General Assembly. New legislators were sworn in Wednesday for the start of the 97th General Assembly.

According to Rose, the representatives who voted for the tax increase included 12 lame ducks, all of them Democrats.

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, says lame ducks are entitled to vote because that's what they're supposed to do.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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