Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)

U.S. Representative (since January 2003)

(Congress Bio Directory)

Why She Matters

After just three terms in Congress, Blackburn has emerged as a top spokeswoman for House conservatives. She served from 2007 to 2008 as communications chief for the conservative Republican Study Committee, a post that made her a familiar face in the cable-news debates over health care, energy and government spending.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Blackburn settled in Tennessee after college and built a consulting business. She lost her first race for the U.S. House in 1992, but returned six years later to campaign successfully for the Tennessee senate. Blackburn heightened her profile as a conservative spending hawk in the legislature, and she used the support of the conservative Club for Growth to defeat a crowded GOP field in a 2002 House bid.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Tennessee state senator (1998-2002); retail marketing consultant (1973-1998)
Birthday: June 6, 1952
Hometown: Laurel, Miss.
Alma Mater: Mississippi State University, B.S., 1973
Spouse: Chuck
Religion: Presbyterian

Committees: House Energy and Commerce
DC Office: 217 Cannon House Office Building, 202-225-2811
State/District Office: Memphis, 901-382-5811; Clarksville, 931-503-0391; Franklin, 615-591-5161
Email
Web site

Path to Power

Blackburn was born in 1952 to what she described as "a typical Farm Bureau, 4-H family" in Mississippi. Her father sold oil-field equipment, and her mother volunteered. "We were always into one project or another," she told the Tennessean newspaper. Blackburn developed an interest in gardening and canning, earning a 4-H scholarship to Mississippi State University. She majored in merchandising and clothing and textiles, and while in college she began selling books door-to-door for the Southwestern Company.

Blackburn won a promotion to sales manager after graduation, and she moved to Tennessee, where the firm was based. She later worked as a director of retail fashion for a Nashville department store.

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Over the years in Tennessee, Blackburn became increasingly active in local Republican politics and became chairman of the Williamson County GOP in the late 1980s. She won the party's nomination for the 6th district House seat in 1992, but lost to the Democratic incumbent by 16 points.

In 1995, Gov. Don Sundquist (R-Tenn.) appointed Blackburn to head the state's Film, Entertainment and Music Commission. Three years later, she made another bid for office, this time for the state Senate. She won that race and soon earned a reputation as a small-government conservative in Nashville.

Blackburn made frequent appearances on talk radio, and her biggest star-turn came in 2001 during a fierce debate over a proposed income tax by Gov. Sunquist. As budget negotiations headed toward a vote, Blackburn told her secretary to e-mail a talk-radio show with the message: "We need troops."

The radio hosts broadcast the plea, and within hours, more than 1,000 protesters had circled the capitol, with an estimated 200 entering the building. The protests became rowdy; one Republican leader described it as "a mob scene." Legislators ultimately voted on a budget with no income tax, though it was disputed whether the elimination of the tax was prompted by the demonstrations. Afterward, Blackburn voiced no regrets about her role in the incident. "When I ran for office, I had a TV commercial that said, 'If you honor me with your vote, I will fight against back-room dealmaking.' I have kept that commitment," she said at the time, though she said she disagreed with the depiction of the protests as "a mob."

Blackburn's role in the income tax battle raised her profile, and when Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.) ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, she campaigned for his 7th district House seat. Redistricting had shifted the borders in the decade since her first congressional campaign, and Blackburn found herself as the only well-known Republican candidate (in a field of seven) from the Nashville side of the spread-out district. The others all hailed from closer to Memphis. Blackburn ran as a staunch conservative, emphasizing her opposition to high taxes and spending, and her support for gun rights and the military.

The geographic division benefited Blackburn, as she forced her opponents to split the Memphis vote. Blackburn also drew crucial fund-raising help from the national group Club for Growth, which contributed more than $100,000 in TV ads and contributions to her campaign.

Blackburn pulled away from the field as the primary neared, and she won twice as many votes as her closest rival, largely by running up the margin in Nashville. With the 7th district solid Republican territory, she cruised to victory in the general election.

Unlike most of her female colleagues in the House, Blackburn prefers to be referred to as "congressman," not congresswoman. Her official Web site and press releases all list her title as congressman. For Blackburn, the title's origin stems from an encounter early in her congressional campaign, when a voter asked: "Little lady, what qualifies you to run for the United States House of Representatives?" Blackburn cited her years as a choir director and as a Girl Scout mom before engaging the man in conversation. Later, he returned to her and asked, "Little lady, if you win this thing, what are we going to call you? Congresslady? Congress-girl?" Blackburn replied, "Sir, congressman will be just fine."

The Issues

Blackburn has built one of the most conservative voting records in the House. She has supported the Republican position 92.1% of the time in the 111th Congress, with her dissenting votes often coming on issues that have broad Republican and Democratic support.

She is staunchly opposed to abortion rights and same-sex marriage, and she has taken a hard-line stance on illegal immigration, sponsoring bills that would make it harder for undocumented immigrants to access federal programs and easier for law enforcement officials to deport them. On energy policy, Blackburn has pushed for expanded domestic oil drilling, and in June 2009 she voted against the cap-and-trade program to limit carbon emissions. After President Barack Obama delivered his address to Congress in February 2009, Blackburn briefly summarized her view of his domestic agenda: "Whether it is cap and trade, whether it is cradle-to-grave education, whether it is universal healthcare, the era of big government is here," she told the Los Angeles Times.

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On foreign policy and national security, Blackburn has supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also backed extending the USA Patriot Act and has said that the "intelligence community and our forces on the frontlines must have all of the tools they need to keep us safe."

Blackburn was a forceful opponent of both major spending bills aimed at bolstering the economy during the recession. She voted against the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package in fall 2008, saying it was " too much a bailout and not enough workout." She criticized the George W. Bush administration's approach to the economic crisis and said the legislation gave too much power to the Treasury Department. She also cited the anger of her constituents. "They are very, very unhappy that the misdeeds of Wall Street and some of these investment bankers has put them in this situation," she said at the time.

Blackburn was equally, if not more, critical of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that passed Congress in February 2009. She said the bill threw "good money after bad" and that it did not include enough tax cuts, which she argued would more effectively stimulate the economy. "As it stands, there are no new jobs in this bill, no new ideas, just new spending. The only thing this bill stimulates is the national debt."

The hallmark of Blackburn's legislative career has been a push for lower taxes and less spending. She cites as a top success her role as a freshman lawmaker in winning passage of an amendment allowing residents of Tennessee, which has no income tax, to deduct state and local sales taxes from their federal income taxes.

She has also been a frequent presence on the House floor and in the media advocating for spending cuts, and she often proposes amendments to slash five percent in spending from appropriations bills. Blackburn opposes "pay-as-you-go" budgeting rules as containing too many loopholes. She backed an alternate proposal to cap federal deficits and mandate spending cuts when the budget grows faster than the economy.

She has said the most glaring loophole in "PAYGO" rules is the exemption for emergency spending. Blackburn drew criticism for suggesting that the federal government should not be so quick to dole out funds for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. She later said that she believes emergency spending should not be subject to "PAYGO," but that those allocations are too often loaded with unrelated pet projects and pork.

Blackburn approached the 2009 debate over health-care reform by citing the example of TennCare, a state-run 1994 program to reduce costs while expanding coverage to the uninsured. The program was widely criticized for cost-overruns and inefficiencies, to the point where the state's Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen, proposed scrapping it in 2004. Blackburn has compared the proposed "public option" in federal health reform to TennCare, saying the Tennessee version "nearly bankrupted the state, reduced the quality of care, and collapsed under its own weight."

The health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, has said the comparison is not altogether apt. In a letter responding to questions from Blackburn, Sebelius said the Obama administration has "learned many lessons" from TennCare, but that the state program is "not a traditional public option."

Blackburn has said she supports an alternative health-care reform plan offered by Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), which relies on tax incentives to increase the affordability of purchasing insurance.

The Network

In 2008, Blackburn had the unfortunate distinction of backing two different losing contenders for the Republican presidential nomination. She first endorsed former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) before switching to a former home-state senator, Fred Thompson. Blackburn was later an enthusiastic surrogate for the McCain-Palin ticket, and she delivered an impassioned address in support of Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

In the House, Blackburn has forged strong ties both with the GOP leadership and the conservative wing of the conference. She is a deputy whip for the conference and served as communications chair for the Republican Study Committee during the 110th Congress. She was also close with former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

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