Rob Bishop

The Honorable Rob Bishop
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	James Hansen
Member of the Utah House of Representatives from the 2nd district
In office 1982–1994
Preceded by	Stephen Holbrook
Succeeded by	Peter C. Knudson
Member of the Utah House of Representatives from the 61st district
In office 1978–1982
Preceded by	Willis L. Hansen
Succeeded by	Richard Ellertson
Personal details
Born	July 13, 1951 (1951-07-13) Kaysville, Utah
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jeralynn Hansen Bishop
Children	5
Residence	Brigham City, Utah
Alma mater	University of Utah
Occupation	High School Teacher
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)

Robert William "Rob" Bishop (born July 13, 1951) is the U.S. Representative for Utah's 1st congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus.

Early life, education, and early career

Bishop was born in Kaysville, Utah and graduated from Davis High School. He served as a Mormon missionary in Germany from 1970 until 1972. Bishop received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1974. He taught civics classes at Brigham City's Box Elder High School from 1974 to 1980; he next taught German in Ogden, Utah at Ben Lomond High School; then he returned to teaching government and history classes at Box Elder High School until his retirement from teaching in 2002. [1]

Early political career

Bishop was a member of the Utah State House of Representatives from 1979 until 1995. He was House Majority Leader and later served as Speaker of the House from 1992 until 1994. In 1997 he was elected chairman of the Utah Republican Party, and served for two terms in this position. He has also worked as a legislative lobbyist in Washington. After his retirement from the state legislature, Bishop returned to Box Elder High School and taught advanced placement courses while chairing the history department.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In 2002, he was elected with 61% of the vote. He has won re-election 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 with even larger margins.

Tenure

As a teacher, he has made education related issues his top priority, advocating local control of schools. He voted against No Child Left Behind and supports school vouchers. He was also a co-sponsor of a proposed amendment to guarantee a balanced federal budget.

From 2008-2010 Rob Bishop served as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, where he advocated for multiple use of public lands and the need for fewer restrictions and mandates that limit use.

In May 2010 Rob Bishop joined with other conservative House members to launch the 10th Amendment Task Force. The Task Force aims to educate Congress and the public about the concept of federalism.

As a member of Congress, Rob Bishop has introduced many pieces of legislation aimed at increasing domestic energy production in the United States, such as the 3-D energy bill. He leveraged his position as Chairman of the Subcommittee over National Parks, Forests and Public Lands to stop the Department of Interior from designating areas as new defacto wilderness areas known as Wild Lands.

In February 2011, Bishop introduced an amendment during the debate on a continuing budget resolution for fiscal year 2011 that would have prohibited the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from spending federal funds on the National Landscape Conservation System. After coming under fire for introducing this amendment, Bishop withdrew it before the continuing budget resolution was voted on.

When later asked the same question, Bishop conceded that oil companies do receive a drilling tax break, seemingly unaware of the dozen other tax breaks offered to the oil and gas industry. When urged by a taxpayers’ watchdog group to end all oil and gas industry tax breaks to help the federal deficit Bishop stated that he believed "Raising taxes on American energy producers and consumers will do nothing to bring down gas prices and will only further hinder job creation," and refused.

In early 2011 Bishop was criticized by local hunting groups and wildlife professionals for his support of a plan that completely defunded the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), and the Land and Water Conservation fund (LWCF). Through NAWCA, Utah has received $3.6 million in federal funding which has been used to stimulate more than $10.4 million in private donations.

In mid 2011, after touring of the U.S. Mexico border, Rob Bishop led the charge on introducing a border security bill, H.R. 1505 the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act. This bill gives the U.S. Border Patrol the authority to override specific environmental laws in order to allow the U.S. Border Patrol greater access to some of the most highly trafficked areas along the border. U.S. Border Patrol agents have cited that their efforts to address rampant criminal activity along the border have been hampered by environmental laws. The bill passed the House Natural Resources Committee and has not yet been brought before the full U.S. House of Representatives for a vote.

Similarly Congressman Bishop co-sponsored a bill put forth by House Majority whip Kevin McCarthy to remove regulations from 43 million acres (170,000 km²) of Forest Service Roadless Areas and Wilderness Study Areas to multiple use purposes.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Rules
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands (Chairman)
• House Armed Services Committee (on temporary leave of absence to serve on powerful House Rules Committee)

Caucus memberships

• Tenth Amendment Task Force (Co-Founder)
• House GOP Policy Committee (Vice Chair)
• Co-founder of the Western States Coalition
• former Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus
• Tea Party Caucus
• Republican Study Committee

Bishop is the co-founder of the Western State Coalition, a states' rights organization.

Electoral history

Utah's 1st congressional district: Results 2002–2008

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
2002		Dave Thomas	66,104	37%		Rob Bishop	109,265	61%		Craig Axford	Green	4,027	2%	*
2004		Steven Thompson	85,630	29%		Rob Bishop	199,615	68%		Charles Johnston	Constitution	4,510	2%		Richard W. Soderberg	Personal Choice	4,206	1%
2006		Steven Olsen	57,922	32%		Rob Bishop	112,546	63%		Mark Hudson	Constitution	5,539	3%		Lynn Badler	Libertarian	2,467	1%
2008		Morgan Bowen	87,139	30.4%		Rob Bishop	186,031	65.0%		Kirk D. Pearson	Constitution	6,861	2.4%		Joseph G. Buchman	Libertarian	6,287	2.2%

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, Cody Judy received 8 votes; Charles Johnston received 7 votes; and Susan Howard received 1 votes.

Personal life

Bishop is married to Jeralynn Hansen, a former Miss Peach Queen for Brigham City, Utah. They have five children — four sons and one daughter.

External links

• U.S. Congressman Rob Bishop official U.S. House site
• Congressman Rob Bishop official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Report on 3-D energy bill Utah Policy
• Block Wild Lands legislation Official U.S. House Site
• Bishop promotes oil shale exploration
• Subsidy Gusher Report Taxpayers for Common Sense
• Bishop Denies Tax Breaks for Oil Companies
• Bishop Backtracks on subsidies quesiton
• Bishop presented with pledge to end tax breaks to big oil The Standard Examiner
• Bishop receives criticism from hunting groups ‘’Standard Examiner’’
• Bishop criticized by wildlife professionals ‘’Standard Examiner’’
• Bishop supports cutting conservation programs ‘’Deseret News’’
• Bishop Criticized for not Supporting conservation programs ‘’Deseret News’’
• Bishops amendment to defund LWCF ‘’Standard Examiner’’

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by James V. Hansen	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah's 1st congressional district 2003–present	Succeeded by Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Rodney Alexander R-Louisiana	United States Representatives by seniority 196th	Succeeded by Tim Bishop D-New York