Roy Blunt
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- This article is about the Congressman. For the similarly named writer and humorist, see Roy Blount, Jr.
After House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down due to a criminal indictment in Texas, Blunt served as interim majority leader from September 29, 2005 to February 2, 2006, when John Boehner of Ohio was elected as DeLay's permanent replacement.
Blunt is also the honorary chairman of the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund.
Personal life
Blunt earned a B.A. in History from Southwest Baptist University in 1970. Two years later, he earned a M.A. in History from Southwest Missouri State University.Blunt has been married twice. He married Roseann in May 1967, and with her had three children: Matt (the current governor of Missouri), Amy and Andrew. Amy and Andrew are lawyers and lobbyists. After divorcing Roseann, he married Abigail Perlman, a Phillip Morris lobbyist on October 18, 2003. In April, 2006, he and Abigail adopted an 18-month old baby boy from Russia, whom they named Alexander Charles Blunt.
He has five grandchildren: Davis Mosby, Eva Mosby, Ben Blunt, William Branch Blunt, and Allyson Blunt.
Political career
Blunt entered politics in 1972, when he was elected county clerk and chief election official of Greene County, Missouri (where Springfield is located). Blunt was the Republican nominee for Missouri lieutenant governor in 1980, but lost to Democrat Ken Rothman. He served as Greene County clerk until 1984, when he was elected Missouri Secretary of State — the first Republican to hold that post in 50 years.He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Missouri in 1992, losing the Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster.
From 1993 to 1996, Blunt was president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater.
Blunt was first elected to Congress in 1996, when incumbent Congressman Mel Hancock honored his pledge to serve only four terms. Blunt's district, one of the most Republican districts in the country, is located in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri, a district which includes Springfield and Joplin.
Upon entering the House, Blunt served on the International Relations Committee.
After only one term, Blunt was appointed as Chief Deputy Whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican Caucus. In that capacity, he served as the Republicans' chief vote-counter. When Dick Armey retired and fellow Texan DeLay was elected to succeed him, Blunt was elected to succeed DeLay as majority whip.
On January 8, 2006, one day after DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain his position, Blunt announced he would run to permanently replace DeLay. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/08/house.majorityleader/index.html On January 14, 2006, he issued a release claiming that the majority of the Republican caucus had endorsed him as DeLay's successor. http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/01/blunt_claims_vi.html However, when the election was held by secret ballot on February 2, 2005, Boehner emerged as the victor on the second ballot, with 122 votes to 109 for Blunt. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/politics/02cnd-cong.html?hp&ex=1138942800&en=5b186f41a14ac954&ei=5094
Since he was first elected in 1996, Blunt has been reelected four times without significant opposition. In 2004, he received 70.4% of the vote http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=131&oid=32757&arc=1.
Positions and interest group ratings
Blunt has a very conservative voting record. He is generally rated highly by conservative interest groups and receives correspondingly low ratings from liberal groups.Social issues
Although Missouri Right to Life endorsed Webster over Blunt in the 1992 Republican gubernatorial primary, Blunt has voted pro-life in Congress and has a conservative record on most other social issues. He has voted to ban partial-birth abortions, and to make it more difficult for minors to get an abortion. http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Abortion.htm He also voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment which bans same-sex marriages and has voted against same-sex adoptions. He received 94% lifetime and 96% 2004 ratings from the American Conservative Union, a 14% rating from the American Civil Liberties Union http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Civil_Rights.htm#1998-133, and a 92% rating from the conservative Christian Coalition. http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Families_+_Children.htmEducation
Blunt has voted in favor of school prayer and supported the No Child Left Behind Act. He has voted in favor of school vouchers within the District of Columbia but has voted against broader legislation allowing states to use federal money to issue vouchers for private or religious schools. He has received a 17% rating from the National Education Association. http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Education.htmGuns
Blunt has voted to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers if the guns they manufacture or sell are later used in a crime. He has also voted to reduce the waiting period for purchasing a gun from 72 hours to 24 hours. He has received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association. http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Gun_Control.htmBusiness
Blunt received a 97% rating from the US Chamber of Commerce indicating a pro-business voting record. He supported banking industry-backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bankruptcy laws, requiring consumers who seek bankruptcy protection to repay more of their debts. http://www.issues2000.org/House/Roy_Blunt_Corporations.htmControversies
Ties to tobacco industry
In 2002, Blunt attempted to insert a provision, in support of tobacco corporations, into the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security. The "rider" would have made tobacco sales over the Internet more difficult, allowing tobacco companies to control distribution. At the time, Blunt was dating Altria lobbyist Abigail Perlman, whom he later married. In contrast to House tradition, the rider had not been cleared by the House leadership. It was removed from the final bill. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a64ZIkmVPv_w&refer=usTies to Tom DeLay
On November 16, 2005, Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle subpoenaed documents that purportedly show communication between DeLay's political action committee and that of Roy Blunt. The subpoenaed documents were bank records of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC, which gave $75,000 to start the Texans for a Republican Majority. Federal Election Commission records show that Blunt's PAC also paid roughly $88,000 in fees since 2003 to a consultant facing indictment in Texas in the same case as DeLay.DeLay said of Blunt: "Roy Blunt has done a tremendous job. . . . His leadership is vital to our cause." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/16/AR2005051601334_pf.html
References
External links
- [Blunt's official website] at the U.S. House of Representatives
- [Blunt for Congress]
- [Criticisms of Blunt], from a website owned by left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
- [Blunt's positions on major issues], from issues2000.org, a website owned by speakout.com
- [record maintained by the Washington Post]
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| Missouri Congressional Delegation currently serving in the United States Congress | |
|---|---|
| Senators : | Christopher Bond (R), James Talent (R) |
| Representative(s) : | William Lacy Clay, Jr. (D), W. Todd Akin (R), Russ Carnahan (D), Ike Skelton (D), Emanuel Cleaver (D), Sam Graves (R), Roy Blunt (R), Jo Ann Emerson (R), Kenny Hulshof (R) |
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