Kirk provided Democrats a needed 60th vote to increase the debt limit and to reimpose statutory pay-as-you-go rules for spending, and, though his vote wasn't needed for passage, he voted to confirm Ben Bernanke to a second term as Fed chairman, SusanAnne Hiller points out at Big Government.
Before and after Brown's election, discussion centered on whether Kirk would cast the 60th vote on a modified health care bill; the next day, President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured the nation that he wouldn't and that Democrats wouldn't "force" a massive health care overhaul through the upper chamber without letting Brown have his say. But Kirk's overall voting status was less of a focus; turns out he's still legislating away.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/01/kirk-is-still-voting/35000/
