Evan Bayh
Evan Bayh (1955-) is a Democratic U.S. Senator representing the state of Indiana. He is a member of the Senate Committees on Armed Services, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Small Business and Entrepreneurship; Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Senate Special Committee on Aging.
The son of Sen. Birch Bayh, he was first elected to office, Secretary of State of Indiana, at the age of 31, and served two terms as Governor of Indiana.
Congressional process
He is Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and honorary Senate chair of Third Way.
Sen. Bayh, who both was well-funded and running high in polls, announced he will not run for reelection in 2010, citing frustration with the Congressional process.He elaborated,
After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned. For some time, I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is too much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous challenge, the peoples’ business is not being done.
Examples of this are legion, but two recent ones will suffice.
Two weeks ago, the Senate voted down a bipartisan commission to deal with one of the greatest threats facing our nation: our exploding deficits and debt. The measure would have passed, but seven members who had endorsed the idea instead voted “no” for short-term political reasons.
Just last week, a major piece of legislation to create jobs -- the public’s top priority -- fell apart amid complaints from both the left and right.[1]
In his announcement, he spoke highly of his Republican counterpart, Sen. Richard Lugar, "I particularly value my relationship with Senator Dick Lugar and have often felt that if all Senators could have the cooperative relationship we enjoy, the institution would be a better place."
National Security
In the Armed Services Committee, he is chair of the Readiness and Management Support Airland and Emerging Threats subcommittees and is on the Capabilities Subcommittees.
He is also a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
He chairs Security and International Trade and Finance, and is a member of the Financial Institutions and Securities Subcommittee Insurance and Investment Subcommittees.
Energy and natural resources
He serves on the National Parks Subcommittee and Water and Power Subcommittee
Small business and entepreneurship
Aging
Education
in 1988 to the first of two terms as Governor of Indiana, where he established the state as one of the strongest, most financially secure economies in the nation. "Mr. Bayh's record," reported the Wall Street Journal in 1992, "is one of a genuinely fiscally conservative Democrat." Stressing fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, job creation and lean government, Bayh's list of achievements include: eight years without raising taxes; the greatest single tax cut and largest budget surplus in state history; national leadership in moving people from welfare to work; more dollars for schools every year; high academic standards and new college opportunities for all, including low-income students; more than 350,000 new jobs; tougher laws on crime; and improved environmental quality.
- Undergraduate degree with honors in business economics from Indiana University in 1978
- Law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981
- clerking for a federal court judge
References
- ↑ Bayh Announces He Will Not Seek a Third Senate Term":“I believe I can best contribute to society in another way”, Office of Senator Evan Bayh, 15 February 2010