Phil Gramm

William Philip Gramm
United States Senator from Texas
In office January 3 1985 – November 30 2002
Preceded by	John Tower
Succeeded by	John Cornyn
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 6th district
In office day, 1978 – January 3, 1985
Preceded by	Olin E. Teague
Succeeded by	Joe Barton
Personal details
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic (1978–1981) Republican (1981–present)
Spouse	Wendy Lee Gramm

William Philip "Phil" Gramm (born July 8 1942, in Fort Benning, Georgia, USA) is an American politician who served as a Democratic Congressman (1978–1983), a Republican Congressman (1983–1985) and a Republican Senator from Texas (1985–2002).

Early Life & University career

Gramm often noted in his political campaigns that he had repeated three grades in school but had overcome his academic deficiencies by hard work. In 1967, Gramm received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Georgia. While at UGA, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society. After earning his Ph.D., Gramm taught economics for 12 years at Texas A&M University (1967–1978). In addition to teaching, Gramm served as a partner in the economic consulting firm Gramm & Associates (1971–1978).

Works :

• Gramm, William P. "Laissez-Faire and the Optimum Quantity of Money." Economic Inquiry 12 (March 1974): 125-133.

Democratic politician

In 1976, Gramm unsuccessfully challenged Texas Democratic Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, in the party's senatorial primary. Nine years later, Gramm and Bentsen would begin what became an 8-year relationship as senatorial colleagues from Texas. During their Senate tenures, both attempted to run for President, but neither made a serious showing.

In 1978, Gramm successfully ran as a Democrat for Representative from Texas's 6th congressional district. He continued his service in the House, being reelected as a Democrat in 1980.

Republican politician

In 1981, Gramm attended Democratic Caucus budget meetings and then secretly shared their strategy with Republicans to help pass newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan's budget. In response, the House Democratic leadership stripped him of his seat on the committee. He won re-election to the seat again in 1982. Following his reelection, Gramm resigned his House seat on January 5, 1983, forcing a mid-term special election. Gramm ran in that election on February 12, 1983 to fill the vacancy that he had created, but as a Republican. Winning, he became the first Republican to represent the district since its creation, and after he left the House, the seat was retained for the Republican party (by Joe Barton).

In 1984, Gramm was elected as a Republican to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. He defeated Congressman Ron Paul in the primary election and Democratic candidate Lloyd Doggett of Austin in the general election for the right to succeed retiring Republican Senator John G. Tower. Gramm polled 3,116,348 votes (58.5 percent) to Doggett's 2,207,557 (41.5 percent), though Doggett would go on to become a House member later.

Gramm served on the Senate Budget Committee from 1989 until leaving office in 2003. Gramm and Senators Fritz Hollings and Warren Rudman devised a means of cutting the budget through indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts if deficit-reduction targets were not met. They were successful in making the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act law, but portions were ruled unconstitutional and other sections have largely been superseded by other budget-controlling mechanisms. Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which modernized Depression-era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities. Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry.[3]

In 1990, Gramm won his second term with an easy victory over Democratic State Senator (and former Fort Worth Mayor) Hugh Parmer, even as fellow Republican Clayton Williams was narrowly losing the governorship to Ann Richards.

As a senator, Gramm often called for reductions in taxes and government spending. He employed his "Dickie Flatt Test" to determine if federal programs were worthwhile (Dickie Flatt was a printer in Mexia, Texas, and a longtime Gramm supporter). In Gramm's eyes, Flatt embodied the travails that a typical Texas independent small businessman faced in the realm of taxation and government spending.

Gramm ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination in the 1996 presidential election. Although he began the race with a full warchest (and tied for first place with Dole in the 1995 "non-binding" Iowa Straw Poll), it is generally agreed that Gramm ran a poor campaign in the Republican primary. He finished a dismal 5th in Iowa's caucuses and withdrew from the contest on the Sunday before the New Hampshire primary to support senatorial colleague Robert J. Dole of Kansas. Gramm, a proponent of free trade, also lashed out at temporary Republican frontrunner Patrick J. Buchanan, whom he mocked in derision as a "protectionist."

After exiting the presidential race, Gramm defeated school teacher Victor Morales of Dallas in November 1996 to win his third and final term in the Senate. Morales ran a low-budget campaign in an effort to make contact with the Democratic grass roots. Gramm was one of five co-sponsors of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000,[4] which critics blame for permitting the Enron scandal to occur.[5] At the time, Gramm's wife was on Enron's board of directors. Gramm left his Senate seat a few weeks before the expiration of his term in December 2002 so that his successor, fellow Republican John Cornyn, could gain seniority over other newly-elected senators.

Post-Senate career

Although there were rumors that Gramm was being considered to be Treasury Secretary in George W. Bush's second term, he was not offered the position. He was also thought to have been in the running for the presidency of Texas A&M University, but the position went to former Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates instead. Gramm is a vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank. After the November 8, 2006 nomination and subsequent confirmation of Dr. Gates to the position of Secretary of Defense, Gramm was briefly rumored to be a candidate for Texas A&M University presidency, despite statements from university officials that he would not be considered and denials from Gramm himself.

He has been an economic adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign since summer 2007.

While advising the McCain campaign, Gramm was being paid by a UBS to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis. During this time, "the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages."[6] According to Politico.com, Gramm had input on McCain's March 26, 2008 policy speech on the mortgage crisis.[7] He was deregistered as a lobbyist for UBS on April 18th, 2008.[8]

"Whining" comments controversy

On July 9, 2008, Gramm participated in an interview with The Washington Times, explaining John McCain's plans in reforming the U.S. economy. During the interview, he downplayed the idea that the nation was in a recession, stating, "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," and "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline." The following day, McCain strongly denounced Gramm's comments and subsequently stated that Gramm was not in consideration for any high level positions, jokingly suggesting that he could become ambassador to Belarus. Gramm later attempted to clarify his comment, explaining that he had used the word "whiners" to describe the nation's politicians rather than the public, stating "the whiners are the leaders."

Personal

Gramm grew up in Columbus, Georgia. He is married to Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm, a native of Hawaii, who is associated with George Mason University's Mercatus Center in Virginia. They are the parents of two sons, one of whom, Marshall, is a professor of economics at Rhodes College.

Quotes

• "Has anyone ever noticed that we live in the only country in the world where all the poor people are fat?" — During his first Senate Campaign against Democrat Lloyd Doggett.

• "We're going to keep on building the party (the Texas Republican Party) until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." — As quoted in Mother Jones, August 1995

• "If you are willing to tackle the tough issues, you don’t need to worry about stepping on anyone’s toes; they will stand aside and shove you to the front.” — As quoted by former Gramm staffer Wayne A. Abernathy September 12, 2002, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

• "I have as many guns as I need, but I don't have as many guns as I want."

• "We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness."

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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