John Carter (Texas)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Carter
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 31st district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2003
Preceded by	None (District Created After 2000 Census)
Born	November 6, 1941 (1941-11-06) (age 67) Houston, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Erika Carter
Residence	Round Rock, Texas
Alma mater	Texas Tech, University of Texas
Occupation	attorney, judge
Religion	Lutheran

John Rice Carter (born November 6, 1941) is the Republican United States Congressional Representative from Texas's 31st congressional district (map). Carter was elected Secretary of the House Republican Conference by his colleagues on November 17, 2006.

Carter was born in Houston, but has spent most of his life in central Texas. Since 1971, he has lived in Round Rock, just north of Austin. He has been married to Erika Carter for almost 40 years, and they have four grown children.

Carter graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in history in 1964, and earned a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969. After graduating from law school, Carter served as the first general counsel to the Texas House of Representatives’ Agriculture Committee. Carter later began a successful private law practice in Round Rock.

In 1981, Carter was appointed as judge of the 277th District Court of Williamson County. He was elected to the post a year later — the first Republican elected to a countywide position in Williamson County. He was reelected four times, usually with 60% of the vote.

Carter retired from the bench in 2001 in order to run for Congress in the newly created 31st District. After finishing second in the primary, he defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff — which was tantamount to election in this heavily Republican district. He has been reelected twice without facing serious opposition.

Carter originally represented a district that stretched from the suburbs of Austin to the fringes of the Houston suburbs, and also included College Station, home of Texas A&M University. As a result of the 2003 Texas redistricting, however, Carter now represents a district stretching from the fringes of the Metroplex through more rural portions of Central Texas. The 31st District now includes Ft. Hood, home of the US Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Cavalry Division.

Carter is best known as the author of a law that made it easier to prove identity theft and provides stiff penalties for the offense. It was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2004.

A staunch fiscal and social conservative, Carter prides himself on having raised a family built on what he calls "Texas Values."

[edit] 110th Congress

In the 110th Congress, Congressman Carter has sponsored and co-sponsored a number of bills including the Military Spouse Residencey Relief Act, the Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 2008, and a bill condemning the vandalism of the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall. On the Appropriations Committee, Congressman Carter introduced an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to provide $12 million in funding to the section 287(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA) which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement allowing them to investigate, detain and arrest criminal aliens. However, this amendment was defeated in committee.

Also, when Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives recessed in August 2008 for five weeks, Congressman Carter was one of many Republicans who stayed in Washington. This was part of a GOP protest, in which they claimed that Congress should not have recessed for five weeks without addressing the energy crisis many Americans were facing. The Sunlight Foundation pointed out that as of 2008 among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Carter had the second-highest amount of investment in oil stocks.^[1]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

[edit] Party leadership

• Republican Steering Committee
• House Republican Conference (Secretary)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman John Carter official House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia