Dave Camp

Dave Camp
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Fred Upton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 10th district
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Bill Schuette
Succeeded by	David Bonior
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 102nd district
In office 1988–1990
Succeeded by	James McNutt
Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2011
Preceded by	Sander M. Levin
Personal details
Born	(1953-07-09) July 9, 1953 Midland, Michigan
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Nancy Camp
Residence	Midland, Michigan
Alma mater	Albion College, University of San Diego
Occupation	Attorney

David Lee "Dave" Camp (born July 9, 1953) is the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 4th congressional district, serving since 1991. He is a member of the Republican Party and the current Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Early life, education, and law career

Official 109th Congressional photo

Camp was born in Midland, Michigan to Norma L. Nehil and Robert D. Camp. He graduated from H.H. Dow High School in 1971. He attended the University of Sussex, Brighton, England, 1973–1974 and earned his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1975 from Albion College in Albion, Michigan. He earned a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1978.

From 1979 to 1991, he was a partner with the law firm Riecker, Van Dam & Barker Private Counsel.

Early political career

Camp also worked as a member of the Midland County, Michigan board of canvassers and a member of the Midland County Republican executive committee. He was special assistant to the Michigan attorney general from 1980 to 1984. He served on the staff of his longtime friend U.S. Representative Bill Schuette (R-MI) from 1984 to 1987. In 1988, he ran and won Michigan's 102nd District of the Michigan House of Representatives and served one term.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

When U.S. Congressman Schuette of Michigan's 10th congressional district decided to retire in 1990 to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent U.S. Senator Carl Levin, Camp ran to replace him and quickly won the endorsement of his former boss. But in the Republican primary he faced former U.S. Congressman James Dunn and former State Senator Alan Cropsey. Despite trailing Dunn in early polls, Camp won the Republican primary with a plurality of 33%. He defeated Cropsey (30%), Allen (19%), Dunn (18%), and Simcox (1%). He won the general election with 65% of the vote.

After redistricting, he decided to run in Michigan's 4th congressional district. He won the general election with 62% of the vote. He never won re-election with less than 61% of the vote and never had a primary challenge.

Tenure

Official 111th Congressional photo

.

102nd Congress

Camp served on the House Committee on Agriculture. For his work on behalf of Michigan agriculture, Camp received the Golden Plow Award in 1998, the American Farm Bureau Federation’s highest honor given to only one Member of the House in each Congress.

108th Congress

In the 108th Congress, he served as a deputy majority whip and served on the House Ways and Means Committee. Camp was selected by Speaker Denny Hastert to serve on the Select Committee on Homeland Security, which was created by the House of Representatives on January 7, 2003. While on the select committee Camp served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security, where he played an integral role in developing policies designed to better secure U.S. land and maritime borders in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

109th and 110th Congressional Sessions

Camp served as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health, and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, respectively. During his tenure on the committee, he has served seven terms as a Member of the Subcommittee on Human Resources, and six terms as a Member of the Subcommittee on Trade. As a junior Member of the committee in 1996, Camp made his mark by playing a role in the passage of welfare reform legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.

111th Congress

Again, Camp served as Ranking Member of the full committee on ways and means. During his tenure as Ranking Member, Camp helped advance Republican alternatives to the 2009 stimulus law and 2010 health care law. The Camp alternative to the 2009 stimulus law would have cut taxes and provided incentives for small businesses to hire new employees. He also offered an alternative plan during the 2010 debate on health care reform.

Camp was one of three House Republicans appointed by then-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to serve on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly known as the Bowles-Simpson Commission. The Commission, formed in February 2010, was charged with identifying policies to improve the U.S. fiscal situation in the medium term, and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long term. While on the Commission, Camp co-led the Tax Reform Working Group and was a member of the Mandatory Spending Working Group.

112th Congress

Camp was involved in the House Republicans’ January 2011 repeal efforts of the new health care law. While the Senate has not taken action on full repeal of the Democrats’ 2010 health care law, Camp did lead the successful repeal of the health care law’s 1099 tax reporting requirement – which some small businesses said would hurt their operations and ability to employ workers.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman)
• Joint Committee on Taxation (Chairman)
• Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction

Caucus memberships

• Building a Better America Caucus
• International Conservation Caucus
• Life Insurance Caucus
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus

Controversial Employee-Aharon Friedman

Aharon Friedman is a tax aide on Rep. Camp's Ways and Means Committee. Friedman, however, has attracted some controversy owing to his failure to grant his wife a religiously binding divorce. As noted in the New York Times from January 3, 2011, "Mr. Friedman, an Orthodox Jew, finds himself scrutinized in the Jewish press, condemned by important rabbis, and attacked in a YouTube video showing about 200 people protesting outside his Silver Spring, Md., apartment...[on account of] Mr. Friedman’s refusal to give his wife, Tamar Epstein, 27, a Jewish decree of divorce, known as a get."

According to the traditional Jewish law, only men can initiate a Jewish divorce. Although neither party can remarry without a get Epstein cannot initiate divorce proceedings and is thus still "chained" to Friedman at Friedman's sole discretion. Women thus bound to men who refuse to grant a divorce are traditionally referred to as agunot—literally translated as "chained". On October 5, 2011, the Vaad HaRabanim of Greater Washington (the council of Orthodox Rabbis) published an announcement declaring that all Jewish organizations in the city should deny Friedman membership, remove him from committees or any position of leadership, and refuse to grant Friedman any honors.

According to an article written by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Washington, DC's National Synagogue, "Camp's office has said that this is an internal religious matter in which they do not want to get involved." Other articles about Friedman's offense can be found in the archives of the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, and other media sources.

External links

• U.S. Congressman Dave Camp official U.S. House site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart