Bill Young
| Bill Young | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 13th district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2013 |
|
| Preceded by | Vern Buchanan |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 10th district |
|
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2013 |
|
| Preceded by | Andy Ireland |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Webster |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 8th district |
|
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993 |
|
| Preceded by | Andy Ireland |
| Succeeded by | Bill McCollum |
| In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973 |
|
| Preceded by | William Cramer |
| Succeeded by | James Haley |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 6th district |
|
| In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983 |
|
| Preceded by | Sam Gibbons |
| Succeeded by | Buddy MacKay |
| Member of the Florida Senate | |
| In office 1960–1970 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles William Young December 16, 1930 Harmarville, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Beverly Angello (1985 – ) |
| Children | Billy, Patrick (Beverly) |
| Residence | Woodbridge, Virginia Indian Shores, Florida |
| Profession | Insurance executive |
| Religion | Methodism |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Army National Guard[1] |
| Years of service | 1948–1957[1] |
| Rank |  Master Sergeant[1] |
Charles William "Bill" Young (born December 16, 1930) is the U.S. Representative for Florida's 13th congressional district, serving in Congress since 1971. He is a member of the Republican Party, and is currently the longest-serving Republican member of Congress. He was Chairman of Appropriations from 1999 to 2005 and still retains a seat on that committee.
Contents |
Early life, education, and early career[edit]
Young was born in Harmarville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in 1930.[2] He grew up in a Pennsylvania coal town in a shotgun shack.[2] His father abandoned the family and a flood washed away their home at age 6. An uncle had a hunting camp in Florida, so the family moved there when he was 16. Young dropped out of St. Petersburg High School to support his ill mother[2] and was wounded in a hunting accident.[3] When he was 18, he joined the Army National Guard and served from 1948 to 1957.[4] After finishing his service at age 25, he applied for a job as an insurance salesman and ultimately ran an insurance agency.[2]
Florida Senate[edit]
In 1960 Young was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served from 1961 to 1970, and was minority leader in that chamber from 1966 to 1970.[4]
From 1962 through 1964, Young served on the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, commonly known as the Johns Committee, a legislative panel that investigated the activities of homosexuals, communists and others thought to be subversive. In 1964, the committee released a pamphlet entitled Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida, which drew criticism at the time for its use of explicit photographs of homosexual acts.[5] At the time, Young said of homosexuality: "Our report tried to show it in its true light – it's a very repulsive subject."[6][7] Responding to reports that reprints of the pamphlet were being sold as pornography for a gay audience, Young said: "This indicates how bold the homosexual is becoming and further proves the necessity of state government taking the lead in responsibility for preventing these confirmed homosexuals from preying on the youth of the state."[6] In 1993, Young was asked about his involvement with the report by the St. Petersburg Times and said: "I am not supportive of homosexuality, but that's the decision of the people who are involved in it. If someone wants to engage in that sort of behavior, that's their choice." Young also stated that the committee was largely inactive during his tenure due to the illness of its chair, Charley Eugene Johns, and that he was not involved enough in the committee to be either proud or regretful of its work.[6]
U.S. House of Representatives[edit]
Elections[edit]
Young was elected to Congress in 1970 from what was then the 8th District and has been reelected 20 times. The district, which has changed numbers three times during Young's tenure (it was the 8th District from 1971 to 1973, the 6th District from 1971 to 1983, the 8th District again from 1983 to 1993 and has been the 10th since 1993) was once considered a Republican stronghold. Young has mostly coasted to reelection, only twice receiving less than 60% of the vote, in 1992 and 2012.
Tenure[edit]
In 2005, Young received 3,570 earmark requests from members of Congress, because of his position on the appropriations committee. He believes that requests for earmarks should not be publicly disclosed. In March 2006, Young spokesman Harry Glenn said "This has been the policy of the committee for years. It's internal correspondence from one member to another."[8] From 2007 – 2008, $167,000,000 in earmarked funds came to the Tampa Bay Area.[9]
On September 29, 2008, Young voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008[10]
- Earmarks to his children's employers
Young has supported over $70 million in combined earmarks to two companies which employ his sons, both before and after they were employees. Young's son, Patrick, was employed by defense contractor SAIC when the company reportedly benefited from earmarks. The situation is not illegal.[11]
- T-shirt
At the State of the Union address on January 31, 2006, authorities expressly prohibited the display of political ideology on clothing in the Capitol building. Young's wife was asked to leave shortly after anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was ejected for wearing an anti-war T-shirt. Beverly Young's T-shirt stated: "Support the Troops — Defending Our Freedom." She argued with Capitol Hill police in the hallway outside the House chamber. "They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, 'Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, 'We consider that a protest.' I said, 'Then you are an idiot.'"
Young was angry about the way his wife was treated. "Because she had on a shirt that someone didn't like that said support our troops, she was kicked out of this gallery," Young said on the House floor the following day, holding up the gray shirt. "Shame, shame," he said.[12]
Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer apologized in a statement late that same day.[13] Young said he was not necessarily satisfied. "My wife was humiliated," he told reporters. He suggested that "sensitivity training" might be in order for the Capitol Police.[14]
- Humvee
In 2011, Young resisted a request by the Pentagon to transfer $863 million in funds from Humvee production to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the conflict in Afghanistan. AM General, which makes the Humvee, has been a contributor to Young's campaigns.[15][16][17] Young denied that his actions "put American lives at risk", pointing to an urgent Marine Corps request to improve crew protection on existing Humvees as reason enough to preserve some funding for additional vehicles beyond armed forces requirements.[18] Nonetheless, Young's committee approved $613 million of the Humvee funds to buy equipment for Afghanistan.[18]
- Experiences
In a 1999 New York Times interview, Young stated, "In my short life I've been shot, I've been hit by a truck, survived an airplane crash, I've had my chest opened and my heart rebuilt. And it's sort of hard to get me flustered after all that."[3]
Committee assignments[edit]
Young received a term limit waiver to retain his chairmanship of the Appropriations Subcommittee for the 113th Congress. House Republicans limit committee chairmen to a six-year term, but Young has received two consecutive waivers extending this limit.[19]
Caucus memberships[edit]
- Army Caucus
- Congressional Diabetes Caucus
- Congressional Fire Services Caucus
- Congressional Human Rights Caucus
- Congressional Social Security Caucus (Co-Chair)
- Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus
- International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
Electoral history[edit]
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | C. W. Bill Young | 120,466 | 67.2% | Ted Bailey | 58,904 | 32.8% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | C. W. Bill Young | 156,150 | 76% | Michael O. Plunkett | 49,399 | 24% | |||
| 1974 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 109,302 | 75.8% | Mickey Monrose | 34,886 | 24.2% | |||
| 1976 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 151,371 | 65.2% | Gabriel Cazares | 80,821 | 34.8% | |||
| 1978 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 150,694 | 78.8% | Jim Christison | 40,654 | 21.2% | |||
| 1980 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | C. W. Bill Young | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||
| 1984 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 184,553 | 80.3% | Robert Kent | 45,393 | 19.7% | |||
| 1986 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||
| 1988 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 169,165 | 73% | C. Bette Wimbish | 62,539 | 27% | |||
| 1990 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Third Party | Votes | Pct | Third Party | Votes | Pct | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | C. W. Bill Young | 149,606 | 56.6% | Karen Moffitt | 114,809 | 43.4% | |||||||||||
| 1994 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 114,443 | 66.6% | Henry Green | 57,375 | 33.4% | |||||||||||
| 1998 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| 2000 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 146,799 | 75.7% | Josette Green (Natural Law) | 26,908 | 13.9% | Randy Heine (independent) | 20,296 | 10.5% | ||||||||
| 2002 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 207,175 | 69.3% | Robert D. Derry | 91,658 | 30.7% | |||||||||||
| 2006 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 131,488 | 65.9% | Samm Simpson | 67,950 | 34.1% | |||||||||||
| 2008 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 182,781 | 60.7% | Bob Hackworth | 118,430 | 39.3% | |||||||||||
| 2010 | C. W. Bill Young (inc.) | 137,943 | 65.9% | Charlie Justice | 71,313 | 34.1% |
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | C. W. Bill Young | 189,605 | 57.6% | Jessica Ehrlich | 139,742 | 42.4% |
Other activities[edit]
Young served as a member of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission from 1965 to 1967. He was also a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1984.[4]
Personal life[edit]
In 1985, Young divorced his first wife, with whom he had three children, and married his current wife, Beverly. They have had two children together, Billy, and Patrick, and the couple raised Beverly's son, Robbie, from her first marriage.[22][23]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Once a Soldier... Always a Soldier". Legislative Agenda. Association of the United States Army. 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Rep. Bill Young (R)". NationalJournal. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ a b Weiner, Tim (August 5, 1999). "Struggles in His Past, Burdens in His Present". New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c ""Young, Charles W. (Bill)" in ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'', access 14 July 2011". Bioguide.congress.gov. December 16, 1930.
- ^ "Homosexuality and citizenship in Florida". University of Florida Digital Collections. January 1964. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ^ a b c Barstow, David (July 2, 1993). "Congressman says little about involvement". St. Petersburg Times. pp. 6A.
- ^ "Congessman says little about involvement (online abstract of article)". St. Petersburg Times. July 2, 1993. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Allison, Wes and Bill Adair. ''St.Petersburg Times.'' "Neither party can resist pork's allure." Front Page. February 14, 2008. Online." (PDF).
- ^ "Bailout Roll Call". September 29, 2008. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
- ^ "Rep. Young's earmarks help his children's employers". St. Petersburg Times. April 9, 2008. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ "Police apologize, drop charge against Sheehan (Posted 2/1/2006 6:14 pm)". USA Today. February 1, 2006.
- ^ "US Capitol Police – Press Release (February 1, 2006)". Uscapitolpolice.gov. February 1, 2006.
- ^ Updated 68 minutes ago 10/21/2012 11:41:57 am +00:00 (February 2, 2006). "Charges against Sheehan dropped – Politics- msnbc.com:(updated 8:18 p.m. ET February 1, 2006)". MSNBC.
- ^ Bennett, John T. (March 2, 2011). "Gates, lawmaker clash on Humvee program". Thehill.com.
- ^ Adam Weinstein (March 2, 2011). "Are GOPers Playing Politics With Military Gear?". Motherjones.com.
- ^ Pincus, Walter. "A successor to Gates is a quandary for Obama." The Washington Post, March 8, 2011.
- ^ a b Bennett, John T. "Veteran appropriator scolds Gates, mostly approves funding shift." The Hill, March 9, 2011.
- ^ Herb, Jeremy (31 December 2012). "Rep. Young gets waiver to remain Defense Appropriations chairman". The Hill. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
- ^ "November 6, 2012 General Election -- Official Results". Florida Department of State. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
- ^ "Biography on Representative C. W. (Bill) Young of Congressional District number 10 of Florida". Young.house.gov.
- ^ Adair, Bill (December 19, 2005). "Capitol Hill wife who just won't sit still". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bill Young |
- U.S. Congressman C.W. Bill Young official U.S. House site
- Bill Young for U.S. Congressman official campaign site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography at Ballotpedia
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance (federal office) at LegiStorm.com
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Voting record at The Washington Post
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
- C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program DoD Bone Marrow Donor website
|
|||||||
