Rob Woodall

Rob Woodall
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 7th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2011
Preceded by John Linder
Personal details
Born (1970-02-11) February 11, 1970
Athens, Georgia, U.S.
Political party Republican
Education Furman University (BA)
University of Georgia (JD)
Website House website

William Robert Woodall III[1] /ˈwʊdɔːl/ (born February 11, 1970)[2] is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 7th congressional district since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman John Linder (R-GA). He worked for Linder from 1994 to 2010.

Early life, education, and career

Woodall was born in Athens, Georgia.[3] He attended both public and private grade schools, graduating from Marist School in 1988. He attended Furman University followed by law school at the University of Georgia.[4] While attending law school, he spent summers working in a Washington, D.C. law firm. He left law school after the summer of 1994 to work for his hometown U.S. Representative, John Linder,[3] where he began working as a legislative correspondent and eventually served as Linder's chief of staff in 2000.[5]

Woodall finished law school in 1998.[6]

U.S. House of Representatives

2010 election

Woodall won the Republican primary with about 56% of the vote against Jody Hice.[7] He faced Democrat Doug Heckman in the 2010 General Election.[8] On November 2, 2010, Woodall defeated Heckman to win the general election.[9]

The top donors to Woodall's campaign were the Credit Union National Association, the Southern Company, the American Dental Association, and the Vision for Tomorrow Fund.[10]

Woodall addressed the U.S. House on October 26, 2011, calling for reduced regulations on businesses.[11]

2012 election

In 2012, Woodall won the election with 62.16% of the 252,066 votes cast, against Steve Reilly (D).[12]

2014 election

In 2014, Woodall won the election with 65.39% of the 173,669 votes cast, against Thomas D. Wight (D).[13]

2016 election

In 2016, Woodall won the election with 60.38% of the 288,301 votes cast, against Rashid Malik (D).[14]

Tenure

Woodall took office as part of the 112th United States Congress in January 2011. In July 2014, Woodall was elected chairman of the Republican Study Committee,[15] a group of conservative Republican lawmakers, succeeding Steve Scalise.[16] Woodall was replaced as chairman in November 2014 by Bill Flores (TX-17). In 2018, Woodall was supported by the Great America Committee, a political action committee registered by Vice President Mike Pence.[17]

Committee assignments

Political positions

Interest group ratings

Woodall has a 66 percent rating from conservative policy advocacy organization Heritage Action for his voting record.[18]

Woodall has a "B" rating from marijuana legalization advocacy organization the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes.[19]

Economic issues

Woodall supports tax reform and FairTax.[20] Woodall introduced the Fair Tax Act of 2013 (H.R. 25; 113th Congress) into the House on March 1, 2013.[21]

In July 2011, he voted for the Cut, Cap and Balance Act during the 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis.

He voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[22] After the passage of the bill, Woodall stated that it "marks tremendous progress and is the fulfillment of a commitment made to the American people."[20]

Woodall was one of only six House Republicans in the 112th Congress who did not sign Grover Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," stating that "my commitment to the Fair Tax and a common-sense tax overhaul makes it impossible for me to support the second component of the Pledge, which states that I must 'oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.'"[23][24]

Woodall introduced the Baseline Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 1871; 113th Congress) into the House on May 8, 2013.[25] The bill would change the way in which discretionary appropriations for individual accounts are projected in the Congressional Budget Office's baseline.[26] Under H.R. 1871, projections of such spending would still be based on the current year's appropriations, but would not be adjusted for inflation going forward.[26]

Health care

Woodall voted for repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in January 2011.

Woodall co-sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act.[27] In October 2011, Woodall voted for legislation to restrict how private insurance companies listed on a public insurance exchange may offer abortion coverage.[28]

LGBT rights

Upon the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S, Woodall disagreed with the federal government's approach to deciding the issue for the entire nation, rather than allowing states to make the decision individually.[29]

Gun rights

Woodall was one of only six Republicans who opposed legislation that would require all states to honor the concealed weapons permits of other states, arguing that the bill was unnecessary because the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution already gives Americans the right to bear arms.[30]

National security

On July 24, 2013, Woodall voted against Representative Justin Amash's (R-Michigan) amendment to HR 2397 which would have ended the National Security Agency's ability to collect and store data on the phone calls of every American without a warrant.[31]

References

  1. ↑ "Representative William Robert Woodall (Rob) (R-Georgia, 7th) - Biography from LegiStorm". www.legistorm.com.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-29. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  3. 1 2 "Rob Woodall - Candidate for U.S. President, Republican Nomination - Election 2012". WSJ.com. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  4. ↑ "Biography". Congressman Rob Woodall. 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  5. ↑ "Rob Woodall". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  6. ↑ "Meet Rob".
  7. ↑ "8/10/2010 - U.S. Representative, District 7". sos.ga.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  8. ↑ Young, Camie. "10 races set for runoffs". Gwinnett Daily Post. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  9. ↑ "11/2/2010 - U.S. Representative, District 7". sos.ga.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  10. ↑ "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart.
  11. ↑ "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart.
  12. ↑ "GA - Election Results - November 6, 2012". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  13. ↑ "GA - Election Results - November 4, 2014". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  14. ↑ "GA - Election Results - November 18, 2016". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  15. ↑ "Member List". Republican Study Committee. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  16. ↑ "Woodall to Chair Republican Study Committee". 9 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Pence's PAC gives to 30 House members in second round of donations". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  18. ↑ "Heritage Action Scorecard". Heritage Action Scorecard. Heritage Action for America. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  19. ↑ "Georgia Scorecard". NORML. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  20. 1 2 Yeomans, Cur. "POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Gwinnett's Republican representatives in Washington celebrate tax bill passage". Gwinnett Daily Post. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  21. ↑ "Legislative Search Results". Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  22. ↑ Almukhtar, Sarah (19 December 2017). "How Each House Member Voted on the Tax Bill". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  23. ↑ "The Taxpayer Protection Pledge Signers, 112th Congressional List" (PDF). Americans for Tax Reform. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  24. ↑ Alexander Bolton (2 June 2011). "Some GOP no's on 'pledge' could complicate debt talks". The Hill. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  25. ↑ "H.R. 1871 – Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  26. 1 2 "CBO – H.R. 1871". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  27. ↑ Yeomans, Curt. "POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Hice bill declares human life begins at fertilization". Gwinnett Daily Post. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  28. ↑ cite web|url=http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/122251/rob-woodall%7Ctitle=The Voter's Self Defense System|website=Vote Smart}}
  29. ↑ Crawford, Tom. "No massive resistance here to gay marriage decision". Tom Crawford's Georgia Report. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  30. ↑ Kasperowicz, Pete (16 November 2011). "House approves concealed weapons bill".
  31. ↑ "FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 412". Retrieved 25 July 2013.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
John Linder		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 7th congressional district
2011–present		 Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Steve Scalise		 Chair of the Republican Study Committee
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Bill Flores
Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Steve Womack		 United States Representatives by seniority
237th		 Succeeded by
Kevin Yoder
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