Kevin Brady (R-Texas)
U.S. Representative (since January 1997)
When Brady was 12-years-old, his father was murdered, which led the congressman to become an advocate for victims' rights.
Brady is a fiscal conservative who believes the IRS should be replaced by a consumption tax. From his seat on the House Ways and Means panel, Brady led the successful 2004 effort to restore the state and locals sales-tax deductions, which he cites as one of his major legislative accomplishments. He was a supporter of President George W. Bush's tax cuts and the House's chief sponsor of the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
Comfortable in southeast Texas' overwhelmingly Republican 8th district, Brady served as chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Trade and as the top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee. Brady pushed for passage of trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Brady also pushed plans to cut the federal budget that included drastic cuts to the federal workforce.
In Their Own Words
"There's not a business in American that's survived this [2008-2009] recession without right-sizing its workforce, without having to become more productive with fewer workers. The federal government can't be the exception," Brady said in January 2011. "We're going to have to find a way to serve our constituents and our taxpayers better and quicker and more accurately with fewer workers. I'm convinced we can do it and we don't have a choice."
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House GOP: We can move tax reform bill without Dem votes- Career History: Texas House of Representatives (1990-1996); Executive, Woodlands Chamber of Commerce (1978-1996)
- Birthday: April 11, 1955
- Hometown: Vermillion, South Dakota
- Alma Mater: University of South Dakota, B.S., 1990
- Spouse: Cathy
- Religion: Catholic
- Committees: Joint Economic Committee (House Chairman), House Ways and Means
- DC Office: 301 Cannon Building, 202-225-4901
Brady was born in 1955 in South Dakota, where his father worked as an attorney. When Brady was 12-years-old, a man involved in a messy divorce case shot and killed Brady's father in a state courtroom. Brady's father's death would color some of the future legislator's political views as the lawmaker became an advocate for victims' rights.
Early Life in Texas
After attending college in South Dakota, Brady moved to Texas in 1978 where he would serve as the executive of The Woodlands Chamber of Commerce in a wealthy Houston suburb.
In 1990, Brady joined the Texas House over concerns that the legislature wasn't moving quickly enough on workers' compensation reform.
U.S. House
Ahead of the 1996 election, eight-term Rep. Jack Fields (R-Texas) announced he would retire to spend more time with family. Brady said he would seek the GOP nomination in a six-way primary that included his main rival, Gene Fontenot, who lost to Rep. Ken Bentsen (D-Texas) in another House district in 1994. The top-two votegetters in the primary, Fontenot and Brady, emerged as runoff opponents.
During the campaign, Brady's vote against a 1995 state bill allowing concealed handguns became an issue. Fontenot used it as an example of Brady's willingness to break from the Republican agenda. Brady countered with ads calling himself the most conservative candidate in the race, and touting his legislative experience.
Brady won the nomination with 53 percent of the runoff vote. The nomination essentially secured Brady's seat in the Republican district and Brady has never faced a significant reelection challenge since.
Following the 2010 election when Republicans recaptured the House majority, Brady was named to two leadership positions. He was chosen to chair the Ways and Means subcommittee on Trade and as top House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee. He is also a deputy Republican whip and serves on the Republican Study Committee's steering panel.
During the 111th Congress, Brady voted with House Republicans 95 percent of the time.
A traditional supporter of gun ownership, Brady voted in 1995 against a Texas state bill allowing concealed handguns because of his father's death. "I couldn't look Mom in the eye and vote for this," Brady told a reporter immediately after the vote.
With his father's killer receiving a life sentence, Brady became a supporter of the death penalty. "The death penalty or execution is not something you celebrate," said Brady in 1998. "Those of us who support it as justice don't take joy in it."
Trade
Brady is a fervent supporter of free trade and has advocated for passing trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
While a trade deal with South Korea has been embraced by House Republicans and the Obama White House, Brady has led a contingent that called for packaging the deal with trade pacts reached with Panama and Colombia that have less bipartisan support. As of March 2011, none of the deals had passed.
Brady served as the Bush administration's House point man on the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, which was enacted in 2005. Brady advocated for the bill saying agricultural, consumer and industrial businesses would all benefit from the elimination of tariffs and Houston would serve as a major port for commerce.
Fiscal Policy
Brady has generally favored cutting the federal government's size and impact on the economy as a whole.
In January 2011, Brady introduced a bill that would cut the federal workforce by ten percent over a decade, impose a three-year pay freeze and cut equipment costs. Unlike many Republicans, Brady's cuts would target the Department of Defense. "Is the Department of Defense a sacred cow?" Brady asked about his bill. "Every wasted dollar is a dollar either lost to a soldier's care or heaped upon a soldier's children as future debt. That's just not acceptable."
In a November 2009 Joint Economic Committee hearing, Brady told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner he should resign on grounds that the American people had lost confidence in him and he was "shirking responsibility for the design of this (financial) bailout."
"I agree with almost nothing of what you said," Geithner responded. "What I can't take responsibility for is the legacy of crises you've bequeathed this country."
Still, Brady did vote for the 2008 financial bailout bill, saying "as much as I detest this bill, doing nothing is worse."
Brady backed a 2010 lame-duck compromise bill extending Bush-era tax cuts temporarily along with funding for programs such as unemployment insurance.
In 2004, Brady was a lead advocate of giving Texans and residents of six other states without state income tax the right to deduct sales-tax payments from federal income taxes.
Brady is the House's leading voice in favor of establishing a sunset commission to identify and eliminate government programs "that are no longer working." In 2006, his bill to sunset all federal programs every 12 years if not renewed by Congress won committee approval but was never approved by the full House because of opposition from moderate Republicans.
Health-Care Reform
In 2009, Brady gained acclaim among opponents of the Democrats' health-care reform plan for advertising a large, complicated chart intended to show the complex bureaucracy that the plan would cause.
Brady has worked closely with Rep. Dave Camp (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on trade issues. The two are the lead Republicans pushing for the passage of trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
Brady co-chairs the Republican Student Committee's Sunset Caucus, aimed at cutting the size of the government, with Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
- Henry, John C., "Congress approves sales tax deduction" The Houston Chronicle, Oct. 12, 2004
- "Washington Post Votes Database"
- Bernstein, Alan, "Past back to haunt present and future of House hopefuls" The Houston Chronicle, April 7, 1996
- "Senate Republicans pressure Obama on trade deals" The Associated Press, March 14, 2011
- Paletta, Damian, "Geithner Says He Won't Quit, Takes Swings at GOP Rep. Brady" The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 19, 2009
- "RSC Sunset Caucus"
- Rep. Brady's website
- Powell, Stewart M., "Texas Republicans claim victory on Obama tax cut deal; Gene Green says jobless benefits crucial" The Houston Chronicle, Dec. 8, 2010
- Levine, Samantha, "Battle over trade pact puts spotlight on Brady" The Houston Chronicle, April 21, 2005
- O'Keefe, Ed, "Bill proposes 10 percent cut in federal workforce" The Washington Post, Jan. 11, 2011
- "Brady to Wield Two Gavels in New Congress" Press Release, Jan. 7, 2011
- "8th Congressional District candidates speak out: Rep. Kevin Brady" The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 22, 2010
- Bernstein, Alan, "Brady, Babin snare GOP runoffs for House seats" The Houston Chronicle, April 10, 1996
- Rep. Brady's web site, Spending Reform
- Simons, Meredith, "He doesn't like the numbers he crunches" The Houston Chronicle, Nov. 27, 2009
- Powell, Stewart M. and Richard S. Dunham, "Finally, something our lawmakers agree on" The Houston Chronicle, Sept. 30, 2008
- Lochhead, Carolyn, "Deficits add pressure to cut defense spending" San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 7, 2011
- Casey, Rick, "Of mavericks and market meltdowns" The Houston Chronicle, Sept. 30, 2008
- Horsley, Scott, "S. Korea Trade Deal May Be Delayed By Other Pacts" NPR, March 7, 2011
- Dunham, Richard, "Rep. Kevin Brady's health-care chart goes viral" The Houston Chronicle, July 15, 2009
- National Journal, Almanac of American Politics
- National Journal, Almanac of American Politics
- Camia, Catalina, "Making a case for the death penalty Congressman says victims, families forgotten in Tucker story" The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 8, 1998
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