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	five
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.

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 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.

His support of tax breaks for oil companies has frequently come under scrutiny. When asked by constituents about tax breaks designed specifically for oil and gas companies Bishop denied that any such tax breaks exist.

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 was heavily criticized for being over reaching, and merely a ruse using border security concerns to distract the public from the fact that the bill would override 36 environmental laws within 100 miles (160 km) of the any U.S. border or coastline. This bill give the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to override any or all of these environmental laws and potentially impact 54 units of the national park system, 228 national wildlife refuges, 122 units of the National Wilderness Preservation System, and 87 units of BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, resulting in damage to sensitive natural and cultural resources, including endangered species and wilderness. Because of the overreaching and one-size-fits-all nature of the bill, it is not expected to move beyond the House Natural Resources Committee.

Similarly Congressman Bishop co-sponsored a bill put forth by House Majority whip Kevin McCarthy to remove protections from 43 million acres (170,000 km²) of Forest Service Roadless Areas and Wilderness Study Areas to multiple use purposes. That bill also faces opposition and has been dubbed by opponents “the Great Outdoors Giveaway” as it would threaten the thriving outdoor recreation and tourism industry, especially in Bishop’s home state of Utah.

Bishop was one of only six House Republicans to vote against all three 2011 trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Rules
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands (Chairman)

Caucus membership

• House GOP Policy Committee (Vice Chair)
• Co-founder of the Western States Coalition
• Chair 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