John Berlinger Breaux (born March 1, 1944) was a member of the United States Senate from Louisiana from 1987 to 2005. He was also a member of the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987. He considered one of the more conservative national legislators of the Democratic Party. Breaux is a member of the New Democratic Coalition. After his congressional tenure, he became a lobbyist, founder of the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group. The company was later acquired by law firm and lobby Patton Boggs, now Squire Patton Boggs.
Video John Breaux
Early life and career
Breaux was born in Crowley, Louisiana, on March 1, 1944. He graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now called the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in Lafayette in 1964 and from Louisiana State University Law School in Baton Rouge in 1967. After graduation , he practiced law, and later served as assistant to US Representative Edwin Edwards. He is also a member of the Brotherhood of Lambda Chi Alpha.
Maps John Breaux
Breaux in Congress
Breaux was elected Democrat to the 92nd US Congress in a special election on September 30, 1972, to fill the void created by Edwards' resignation to become governor. The Breaux campaign manager is Ron Faucheux, a recent Georgetown University graduate and then a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and a nationally renowned political consultant and intellectual from New Orleans. At the age of twenty-eight, Breaux is the youngest member of the US House of Representatives. Breaux was re-elected easily to the next seven Congresses and served until January 3, 1987.
He was not a candidate for re-election to the House in 1986, but instead was elected Democrat to the United States Senate. In the 1986 primary primer, Breaux finished second (447,328 or 37.3 percent) to Congressional Conglican District Six W. Henson Moore, III, of Baton Rouge (529.433 or 44.2 percent). State Senator Samuel B. Nunez surveyed 73,504 other votes (6.7 percent). In the election, Breaux changed the table to Moore: 723,586 (52.8 percent) to 646,311 (47.2 percent), margin of 77,275 ballots. After that, Moore took a sub-Cabinet position with George H. W. Bush's government, and Breaux took the Senate seat he would hold for eighteen years. Breaux was not seriously challenged in the 1992 and 1998 elections. In the last contest, current state insurance commissioner Jim Donelon opposed Breaux, as did the LD candidate. Knox of Winnsboro, who in 1979 officially changed his name to Knox's "Nothing At The Top" to highlight support for the "None Above" option on the ballot.
On October 15, 1991, Breaux was one of seven South Democrats who voted to confirm the candidacy of Clarence Thomas to the US Supreme Court in 52 to 48 votes, the narrowest approval margin in more than a century.
Breaux is seen as a centric in the Senate divided by partisan lines, and is often sought by Republican leaders to castrate some Democrats when they need him; on the contrary he also often served as Democratic envoy in an attempt to gather some moderate Republics to win votes over their proposals. He is pro-life and a supporter of the Second Amendment right, though he gradually moderates his position on gun control. He is more conservative in terms of taxes than most in his party and challenges a lot of environmental protection. He chose to support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), welfare reform, balanced budget amendments, and tighter bankruptcy laws. He is a key Democrat supporter of the Republican effort to abolish the land tax and in 2001 was among the Democratic minority to support Bush's tax cuts and oppose almost all attempts by Democrats to change it. However Breaux has voted to the Democratic majority who supported the 1993 Budget. In 2003 he submitted an amendment to reduce tax cuts to $ 350 billion. In 1995, he specifically voted for twice as many liberal elements of his party against widely acknowledged legal reform measures, the Sense of Product Liability and the Law Reform Act as well as the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Both acts were vetoed by President Bill Clinton, though a second act was passed from his veto.
On June 22, 2004, Breaux cast its own vote on the amendment, S.A. 3464, which will increase the maximum fine from $ 27,500 to $ 275,000 when the FCC determines the guilty announcer for "obscene, indecent or indecent language." Breaux also opposes loosening FCC rules that would allow cross-media platforms in the same community to fall under one owner.
In 1993, Breaux was elected by the Democratic Senate as Deputy Majority Deputy, a position he held until his retirement. He also holds a number of important positions in the Senate. A senior member of the Finance Committee, Senator Breaux serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. From his position on the Financial Committee, he helped build a coalition that passed welfare reform and health insurance reform bill in 1996. He also encourages the reduction of capital gains tax and for tax breaks for college tuition fees. In 1998, Breaux was elected by the White House and the House of Representatives and the Senate leader to lead the Bipartisan National Commission on the Future of Medicare. Also in 1998, Senator Breaux chaired the National Commission for Pensions Policy, which resulted in legislation to assist Social Security reform.
Breaux is the principal architect of the Recommended Drugs Modernization Act for $ 400 billion.
Breaux is the founder of the Senate Senate Bipartisan Senate Coalition and serves as chair of the Democratic Leadership Council.
Country director and press secretary Breaux is journalist Robert "Bob" Mann, who holds the Chair of Douglas Manship Journalism at Louisiana State University.
In the 2003 Louisiana gubernatorial campaign, after seducing briefly with the possibility of running himself, Breaux campaigned fiercely for a successful Democratic candidate, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette. In the same year, Breaux was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and the Hall of Fame at Winnfield.
He announced that he would not run for re-election in 2004; by most accounts he is so popular that he will swing into the fourth round if he chooses to run again. He succeeded in the Senate by Republican David Vitter of the suburbs of New Orleans. Although Breaux is considered a popular politician in Louisiana, he can not dictate his successor in the Senate, as did Russell Long and J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. He supports the losing Democrat candidate, Chris John, MP from the Breaux District Seventh who was previously represented.
Since the Senate
In February 2005, Breaux took a position as Distinguished Professor at the Douglas Manship Mass Communication School at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Since 2005, Breaux has been a lobbyist for Washington, DC, the Squire Patton Boggs company, specializing in issues of health care and energy law.
Since leaving the office, Breaux has pioneered his own national campaign, "The Truce on Healthcare: Finding Common Places for the Uninsured." Breaux creates the campaign name as a play on the CNN Crossfire TV program, which he shows has been canceled. Breaux has organized several events with prominent members from both sides to form a dialogue that will lead to real health care reforms. Breaux developed the joint campaign of the University of America's Congressional and Presidency Study Center.
Beginning in February 2007, there was much speculation among Louisiana political commentators whether Breaux would announce his candidacy in the 2007 Louisiana gubernatorial election. Breaux, arguably the most popular Democratic politician in Louisiana, was considering entering the race, if Blanco would be willing to step aside for Breaux. On March 20, 2007, Blanco announced that he would not run for re-election as governor. On March 29, 2007, John Breaux made his first public appearance in Louisiana since speculation began regarding the potential of his nomination. Breaux said that he intended to run, and would announce his candidacy as soon as Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, a Democrat, gave a formal legal opinion on whether Breaux was eligible to run. It is alleged that he will not meet the residency requirement to run for governor as he is registered to vote, and has registered his primary address in Maryland since 2005. On issue is a clause in the Louisiana constitution stating that a candidate for governor should be a 'citizen' State Louisiana; what constitutes a citizen is not defined.
On 13 April 2007, Breaux released a statement that he would not run for governor. Attorney General Foti refused to express his opinion on Breaux's worthiness, stating that it was a matter for the court to decide. Breaux stated that he does not want the feasibility issues to overshadow his campaign, because the court challenge will not happen until September.
Breaux also serves on the Board of Directors for CSX Transportation.
References
External links
- Biography at Directory of Congressional Biographies of the United States
- The Bio of the Armistice on the Health Care website
- Appearance in C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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