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Jason Altmire (D-Pa.)

U.S. Representative (since January 2007)

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Why He Matters

Hailing from one of the nation's most competitive House districts, Altmire got off to a fast start after his 2006 House election. The Pennsylvania Democrat gained recognition for passing a bill during his first term to guarantee enlistment bonuses for wounded military veterans. And as a former health-care industry executive, Altmire was named co-chair for the New Democrat Coalition Health-Care Task Force.

A one-time star high-school football player, Altmire surprised many by winning his first bid for elective office in 2006 when he defeated incumbent Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.) to win the 4th district. He ran as a centrist, gaining support from prominent liberal Democrats even as he campaigned as an opponent of abortion rights and gun control. Altmire rode the Democratic wave in 2006 and again in 2008, as he defeated Hart in a close rematch. Unlike many of his Pennsylvania Democratic colleagues in the tough year of 2010, Altmire survived his bid for reelection with 51 percent of the vote.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Vice president of government relations, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (1998-2005); Assistant vice president, Federation of American Hospitals (1996-1998); Aide to Rep. Pete Peterson (1991-1996)
Birthday: March 7, 1968
Hometown: Kittaning, Pa.
Alma Mater: Florida State University, B.S. 1990; George Washington University, M.H.A. 1998
Religion: Catholic
Committees: Transportation and Infrastructure ; Small Business
DC Office: 332 Cannon House Office Building, 202-225-2565

State/District Office: Aliquippa, 724-378-0928; Natrona Heights, 724-226-1304
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Path to Power

Altmire was born in 1968 and raised in Lower Burrell, Pa. His first love was not politics, but football. A two-sport star in high school, Altmire's gridiron dreams were initially dashed by a knee injury. Undeterred, Altmire attended college football powerhouse Florida State University and made the team as a walk-on wide receiver after rehabilitating his knee. He was injured again, however, before the team's appearance in the Sugar Bowl in 1989.

His football career over, Altmire switched gears. "Once the football side was gone, I focused on political science, which was something I was always interested in," he told the FSU alumni magazine. One of Altmire's professors suggested he go to work on the campaign of Pete Peterson, who in 1990 was challenging an incumbent Republican congressman in Florida. Altmire followed the advice, and Peterson won his race and hired Altmire as a legislative assistant in Washington. .

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Congressional Aide

Working for Rep. Peterson, Altmire gained expertise in health-care policy after the congressman assigned him to the Clinton health-care task force, which had sought out representation among centrist Democrats. Though Altmire served at a very junior level, his involvement in the task force gave him a firsthand look at both the political and policy stumbles that doomed the 1993 Clinton plan. "It was clear [the White House] was trying to do everything all at once, and even I knew at the time that in the districts like the one Peterson represented, it had no chance of getting political support," Altmire recalled in 2009.

Health-Care Executive

Altmire left Peterson's staff in 1996 and went to work as a lobbyist for the Federation of American Hospitals. After two-and-a-half years, he moved back to Pennsylvania to take a job as a lobbyist for the non-profit University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he would lobby, among others, his future House opponent, Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.). Altmire's years as a health-care executive bolstered his resume on an increasingly critical political issue, although his position in government relations would complicate his future campaigns.

Run for U.S. House

Altmire decided after the 2004 presidential election to mount a 2006 challenge to Rep. Hart (R) in Pennsylvania's 4th district. Elected in 2000, Hart had not faced a serious race in her three winning campaigns. Altmire was outraised in the Democratic primary by a local businesswoman, but he won the support of labor unions and took the primary handily.

In the general election, he ran as a centrist while gaining key fundraising help and endorsements from more liberal national Democrats, including party chairman Howard Dean, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and talk-show host (and future U.S. senator) Al Franken.

Looking to prove his centrist bona-fides, Altmire staked out positions opposed to abortion rights and supportive of gun rights. He characterized Hart as too conservative for the district, linking her to the increasingly unpopular George W. Bush administration and the arch-conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who would lose his re-election bid that year.

Hart criticized Altmire's associations with liberals like Dean and Franken, as well as his work as a health-care lobbyist. Though he was outspent by more than $1 million, Altmire benefited from the anti-Republican sentiment across the country and won the race, 52 to 48 percent. He entered the House promising to be an independent legislator and to focus on health care, his area of expertise.

2008 Rematch

Republicans targeted Altmire almost from the start, hoping to prove that his victory in 2006 was an aberration. Hart announced just six months into Altmire's term that she would try to win her seat back the next year. "The new majority in Congress talked big and has produced basically nothing," Hart said in July 2007.

Cognizant of Altmire's vulnerability, Democratic leaders worked both to promote his achievements and to allow him to vote independently on some issues. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) stood alongside Altmire as the House passed a bill he sponsored to force the military to make bonus payments to soldiers who were wounded overseas. The rookie congressman moved other bills on veterans' issues, aimed at the large veteran presence in his district.

But Hart attacked Altmire's votes for higher taxes and sought to link him to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), much as he had tied her to the Bush administration. But Altmire's moderate overall voting record, his incumbency advantage and the sustained Democratic trend nationwide helped him defeat Hart 56 to 44 percent, a much larger margin than his win two years earlier.

Altmire beat Keith Rothfus (R) with 51 percent of the vote in the dangerous 2010 elections, where several of his Pennsylvania Democratic colleagues were defeated.

The Issues

Throughout his first three years in the House, Altmire has highlighted his centrist record and his willingness to buck the Democratic Party leadership. He joined both the New Democrat Coalition and the fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Coalition. His web site boasts that according to the National Journal, his voting record places him smack in the House's political center.

Though he has voted with Democrats 88 percent of the time in the 111th Congress, he has opposed the party on the 2008 Wall Street bailout bill and the cap-and-trade energy legislation in June 2009. Altmire also sought to underscore his support for expanded offshore oil drilling in 2008, a move opposed by Pelosi. Altmire opposes abortion rights and gun control. On trade, the congressman has criticized both the North American and Central American free trade agreements; he voted against a trade deal with Peru. On immigration, he has emphasized increased border security.

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Altmire campaigned on his opposition to the handling of the Iraq war in 2006. In 2009, he has voiced support for an escalation of American troops in Afghanistan.

Health-Care Reform

Owing partly to his private sector background in health policy, Altmire was named in early 2008 as a co-chairman of the New Democrats' House health-care task force. He played an active role as a Democratic swing vote on one of the three House committees voting out health-care reform bills. Altmire voted against the bill passed by the House Education and Labor Committee, saying it did not do enough to control costs. He also opposed the tax increases on wealthy Americans included to help pay for the legislation, and he criticized the employer mandate as too punitive on small businesses.

In fall 2009, Altmire voiced increasing optimism that Congress would pass a health-care bill he could support. He praised President Barack Obama's address to Congress in September 2009, and he signaled an openness to many of the ideas being broached in the Senate, including a tax on high-end, so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans and a trigger for a public insurance option. Altmire said he could support a public option, as long as it included negotiated reimbursement rates that would not be tied to Medicare.

Ultimately, however, Altmire opposed the March 2010 final bill, saying that it "could compound the problem of skyrocketing health care costs."

"Simply moving money around within the existing system...eates a system of winners and losers, rather than reforming the system in a way that lets everyone win. It is estimated that after passage of this bill, federal health care expenditures would likely increase above what they would under current law."

The Economy

In fall 2008, Altmire opposed both versions of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill that came to the House floor, citing strong opposition from his constituents. "The American people were not sold on this plan," he said. "We can't charge them for the greed that took place on Wall Street." Altmire said the revised measure was not significantly different from the original and criticized the lack of an "ironclad guarantee" that taxpayers would get their money back.

Altmire voted in favor of the $787 billion economic stimulus package in February 2009, defending the bill against constituent concerns that it was rushed through Congress. Still, he acknowledged that he was unsure how well it would work. "The only guarantee I had in mind when I voted for it was that if we do nothing, the situation will get worse," the congressman said.

Veterans Affairs

With 60,000 military veterans in his district, Altmire made improving services for returning soldiers a priority in his first term in office.

His biggest legislative victory came when the House approved his bill aimed at forcing the military to distribute sign-up bonuses to soldiers whose service was cut short because they were wounded in battle. Altmire also advanced bills to increase screenings for traumatic brain injury for returning soldiers, and to extend tax credits and federal loans for active service members and veterans. "I'm interested because it's the right thing to do," the congressman said in 2007. "I don't think veterans have been treated fairly, and I want to make sure we do everything we can for them."

The Network

Altmire has worked closely with other moderate Democrats in the Pennsylvania delegation, including Reps. Allyson Schwartz, defeated in 2010 Reps. Christopher D. Carney, and Kathy Dahlkemper. He's also drawn praise from House majority leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who appeared with him to tout Altmire's veteran's legislation.

In 2008, Altmire drew attention for his persistent indecision in the Democratic primary contest. As a superdelegate, he was courted aggressively by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but he ultimately sat on the sidelines for the druation of the long primary. He had suggested he would back Clinton because she carried his House district in the primaries, but he never did. When Obama clinched the nomination in June 2008, Altmire released a statement endorsing him.

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