Tom Reed (politician)

Thomas W. Reed II
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 23rd district
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Preceded by Bill Owens
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 29th district
In office
November 18, 2010 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by Eric Massa
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Mayor of Corning
In office
2008–2010
Preceded by Frank Coccho
Succeeded by Rich Negri
Personal details
Born (1971-11-18) November 18, 1971
Joliet, Illinois, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Jean Reed
Children 2
Education Alfred University (BA)
Ohio Northern University (JD)
Website House website

Thomas W. Reed II (born November 18, 1971) is an American attorney and politician who serves as the U.S. Representative for New York's 23rd congressional district. A Republican, Reed first joined the U.S. House after winning a special election to replace Eric Massa in 2010. Reed previously served one term as the Mayor of Corning, New York.

Early life and career

Reed is the youngest of twelve siblings in a Roman Catholic family. He was born in Joliet, Illinois. His father, Tom Reed, was a decorated United States Army officer who served in World War II and the Korean War, and died when Reed was two years old. Reed was raised by his mother, Betty (née Barr) Reed in Corning, New York. He graduated from Horseheads High School in 1989 and then received his bachelor's degree from Alfred University in 1993. Reed is a member of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. While at Alfred he was a NCAA Division III All-American as a swimmer before attending Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law where he graduated with a J.D. degree in 1996.

After receiving his law degree Reed worked as a corporate lawyer associate in the Litigation Department at Gallo & Iacovangelo in Rochester. After his mother died in 1998, he returned to Corning and opened his own law firm. His businesses would grow to include real estate, medical billing collection, and mortgage brokerage employing twenty-five people.[1]

Mayor of Corning

Reed defeated incumbent Democrat Frank Coccho in 2007 and served one two-year term as mayor.[2] Reed represented the Republican, Conservative, and Independence parties on the mayoral ballot.

2007 election for Mayor of Corning
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Tom Reed 1,866 59
Democratic Frank Coccho (Inc.) 1,317 41
Total votes 3,220 100

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

In 2009, Reed announced that he would run against incumbent Democrat Eric Massa in the 2010 election.[3][4] Midway through his first term in Congress, Massa announced that he would not seek reelection due to health problems. In March 2010, Massa resigned from Congress after it was revealed that he was under investigation by the United States House Committee on Ethics for allegedly sexually harassing a male staffer.[5]

In the election to replace Massa, Reed was challenged by Democrat and Working Families Party nominee Matthew Zeller.[6] Reed received the endorsement of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and every county Republican chairman in New York's 29th congressional district.[7]

Reed won the election and immediately assumed the remainder of Massa's term.[8] In the immediate days following Reed's election, he suffered a pulmonary embolism.[9] After a three-day delay, Reed was sworn in during a special ceremony.

29th Congressional District Election Results (2010)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Tom Reed 101,209 56
Democratic Matt Zeller 78,578 44
Total votes 179,787 100
2012

New York lost two seats in the U.S. House due to redistricting. The 29th Congressional District was eliminated and much of the district became the 23rd Congressional District. The new 23rd Congressional District includes Allegany, Cattaragus, Chemung, Ontario, Schuyler, and Steuben County from the old 29th Congressional District with the addition of Chautauqua, Seneca, Tompkins, and Tioga counties.[10] Three candidates, Leslie Danks Burke, Melissa Dobson and Nate Shinagawa, campaigned in a Democratic primary to challenge Reed in New York's 23rd congressional district.[11]

Reed won reelection against Democrat and Working Families Party nominee and Tompkins County Legislator Nate Shinagawa.[12] In 2012, Reed said that he accidentally paid one of his tax bills using campaign funds. Reed's campaign voluntarily reported the error in a campaign finance report and Reed reimbursed the campaign.[13][14]

23rd Congressional District Election Results (2012)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Tom Reed 126,519 52
Democratic Nate Shinagawa 117,055 48
Total votes 243,571 100
2014

Reed faced Tompkins County Legislative Chair Martha Robertson. Though it was predicted to be a close race,[15] Reed won handily.

23rd Congressional District Election Results (2014)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Tom Reed 113,130[15] 58
Democratic Martha Robertson 70,242[15] 36
N/A Blank/Void/Scattering 12,502[15] 6
Total votes 195,874 100
2016

Reed ran for reelection in 2016. He was unopposed in the Republican primary, before facing John Plumb, the lone Democrat to file for candidacy, in the November 8, 2016, general election.[16] Reed was re-elected with 58% of the vote.[17]

Reed initially endorsed Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign before Bush's departure from the race.[18] He then endorsed Donald Trump for U.S. president on March 16, 2016.[19][20] Reed reaffirmed his support for Trump in August 2016.[21]

23rd Congressional District Election Results (2016)
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Tom Reed 149,779[22] 58.1
Democratic John Plumb 107,822[22] 41.9
Total votes 257,601 100

Tenure

Upon election to Congress, Reed was appointed to the House Judiciary Committee and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.[23] During his first term, Reed co-founded with Mark Critz the bi-partisan Marcellus Shale Caucus, a work group to conduct an open discussion and debate on Marcellus Shale issues.[24]

Five months into his first term, Speaker John Boehner and Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier appointed Reed to the House Committee on Rules.[25] An unusual position for a freshman member, Chairman Dreier called his appointment "a testament to his vision and commitment to changing the way Congress does business."[25] In order to serve on the Committee on Rules, Reed relinquished his assignment on the House Judiciary Committee and took a leave of absence from the House Transportation Committee.[26]

Only two months later Dean Heller was appointed the United States Senate following the resignation of Senator John Ensign leaving an opening on the House Ways and Means Committee.[27] Following the recommendation of Speaker John Boehner and Ways and Means Chairman David Camp the Republican Steering Committee voted to recommend Reed for the vacant position.[28]

During his first term in Congress, Reed proposed a resolution that would install a national debt clock on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.[29] Reed focused on bringing attention to wasteful government spending and supported budget amendments that saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating government funding for projects, including a sewer system in Tijuana, Mexico.[30] He voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and supported the Budget Control Act of 2011.[31][32]

After his reelection to Congress, Reed drafted the Promoting Assistance with Transitional Help Act. The bill would modify the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) program by introducing a five-year limit on welfare payments to individuals. The TANF program was originally intended to provide temporary assistance to needy families but had deviated from that mandate and in some states provided indefinite cash benefits to individuals. Reed hopes that requiring the program to provide only temporary emergency relief will reduce dependence on government assistance.[33]

In 2013, Reed offered amendment 103 to the House Farm Bill (H.R. 1947), which would have imposed a lifetime ban on food assistance through SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for people convicted of certain violent offenses.[34] On August 2, 2013, Reed introduced the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013 (H.R. 2996; 113th Congress), a bill that would establish the Network for Manufacturing Innovation Program (NMIP) within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).[35][36] Under the program, NIST would award grants to establish a network of centers of innovation to improve the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers.[35]

With a government shutdown looming, Reed introduced the Pay Our Veterans and Seniors First Act. The legislation would ensure that armed services members were paid and that seniors continued receiving benefits during a temporary government shutdown. The bill also forfeited pay for Congress and the President for the duration of the government shutdown.[37][38]

In 2014, Reed introduced the Clinical Trial Cancer Mission 2020 Act. The bill would make it mandatory for researchers to publish all information from cancer clinical trials, with the goal being to get more researchers to work together and bring down the number of duplicative studies. The legislation would create a national clearinghouse run by the NIH.[39] It would also make it so that any researcher who received a grant from the government for their research, and did not comply with the law's requirements to publish all clinical trial information, would have to return the grant money.[40] Congresspersons Chris Collins (R-NY) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) cosponsored the bill, which was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.[41] Reed announced the bill at the Arnot Health Falck Cancer Center.[42]

On May 22, 2014, Reed introduced the Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2014 (H.R. 4719; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend and expand certain expired provisions that provided an enhanced tax deduction for businesses that donated their food inventory to charitable organizations.[43][44] Reed argued that it makes sense to make this a permanent measure because "doing it on a temporary basis... is part of the problem. We need to make this sound policy permanent in the tax code and I'm optimistic we'll get it to the finish and allow people to take advantage of the tax deduction that would encourage them to use the food rather than put it in a landfill."[45]

On May 4, 2017, Reed voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act.[46][47]

Reed was ranked as the 32nd most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress (and the seventh most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York) in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).[48]

Reed, who sits on the House tax-writing Way and Means Committee, was one of only two House members from New York state (along with Chris Collins) to support the provision in Republican tax overhaul bill introduced November 2, 2017 eliminating personal deductions for state income taxes on federal tax forms. In response New York Governor Andrew Cuomo labeled the two lawmakers "the Benedict Arnolds of their time", claiming that the loss of the deduction would cost New York State taxpayers nearly $15 billion and do grave damage to the state.[49]

In December 2017, Reed voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.[50]

In the wake of Collins's arrest for insider trading violations in August 2018, Reed introduced a proposed change to House rules that would prohibit members of the House of Representatives from serving on the boards of directors of publicly held companies. Reed proposed the change in partnership with Democratic Representative Kathleen Rice.[51]

Committee assignments

Caucus membership

References

  1. ↑ "Biography | Congressman Tom Reed". Reed.house.gov. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  2. ↑ "Reed ousts Coccho" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  3. ↑ "Mayor Reed announces challenge to Massa". Briefingroom.thehill.com. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  4. ↑ Reed announces candidacy for Congress, Jeffery Smith, Corning Leader, July 2, 2009
  5. ↑ "Rep. Eric Massa to resign – John Bresnahan and Glenn Thrush". Politico.com. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  6. ↑ "Republicans zeroing in on Massa's seat in 2010". Stargazette.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  7. ↑ National Parties Pick Recruits To Topple Freshmen
  8. ↑ "Reed wins twice in NY's 29th". The Evening Tribune. 2010-11-03. Archived from the original on 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  9. ↑ "Congressman-elect Tom Reed "Resting Comfortably"". ABC News WHAM. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  10. ↑ "Redistricting will give Ithaca a new Congressional representative — Tom Reed or Nate Shinagawa". Ithaca.com. 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  11. ↑ Ed Sutherland (June 17, 2012). "Shinagawa Leads Primary Democrats in Contributions". The Ithaca Independent. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Reed edges Shinagawa in 23rd District race". The Leader. 2012-11-07. Archived from the original on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  13. ↑ Zremski, Jerry (September 3, 2013). "Reed admits error in using campaign funds to pay Steuben County tax bill". Buffalo News. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  14. ↑ Seligman, Lara (August 29, 2013). "Lawmaker paid property taxes with campaign funds". The Hill. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "New York's 23rd Congressional District elections, 2014". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  16. ↑ Simpson, Amy (April 21, 2016). "No Primary Opponent For Tom Reed". My Twin Tiers. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  17. ↑ Roby, John (November 9, 2016). "US CONGRESS: Reed wins re-election". Star Gazette. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  18. ↑ Miller, Rick (August 30, 2016). "Reed not concerned with fallout from Trump endorsement". Olean Times Herald. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  19. ↑ Phoebe Keller (2016-03-16). "Congressman Tom Reed Endorses Donald Trump for President | The Cornell Daily Sun". Cornellsun.com. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
  20. ↑ "Congressman Tom Reed Criticized For Endorsing Donald Trump", Cornell Sun, March 17, 2016, Accessed August 16, 2016]
  21. ↑ "Reed maintains Trump support", The Leader (Corning, NY), August 8, 2016; accessed August 16, 2016.
  22. 1 2 "2016 New York House Election Results". Politico. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  23. ↑ "Congressman Tom Reed Appointed To Judiciary Subcommittees". Reed.house.gov. 2011-01-20. Archived from the original on 2014-06-21. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  24. ↑ "Critz: Marcellus Shale Caucus Holds Organizational Meeting". Votesmart.org. 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  25. 1 2 "News Items | House Committee on Rules". Rules.house.gov. 2014-06-13. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  26. ↑ Archived March 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  27. ↑ "Rep. Reed to be next Ways and Means Committee member". TheHill. 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  28. ↑ "CONGRESSMAN TOM REED NAMED TO COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS; Becomes only New York Republican on tax policy and trade committee". Reed.house.gov. 2011-06-14. Archived from the original on 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  29. ↑ Chris Moody (2011-04-18). "Congressman wants ticking debt clock installed on House floor". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  30. ↑ Zremski, Jerry (June 18, 2012). Reed leads campaign against waste. The Buffalo News; retrieved June 18, 2012.
  31. ↑ Reed Votes For Extending Tax Breaks. WLEA (2010-12-17); retrieved 2010-12-17.
  32. ↑ Sherwood, Julie. Reed tells why he voted to repeal health care law, Messenger-Post Newspapers; retrieved 2011-01-20.
  33. ↑ "Reed to introduce bill to support welfare recipients", The Ripon Advance, 08-26-2013; retrieved 09-03-2013.
  34. ↑ "H.R.1947 – 113th Congress (2013-2014): Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013". Hdl.loc.gov. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  35. 1 2 "CBO – H.R. 2996". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  36. ↑ "H.R. 2996 – All Actions". United States Congress. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  37. ↑ Harrison, Julie (September 25, 2013). "Reed introduces the Pay Our Veterans and Seniors First Act". The Ripon Advance. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  38. ↑ "REP. REED WANTS VETERANS, SENIORS PROTECTED IF SHUTDOWN OCCURS (press release)". Office of U.S. Congressman Tom Reed. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  39. ↑ “Bill aims to enhance cancer research, end cancer by 2020”. Ripon Advance. 2014-02-17 (Retrieved 2014-02-24)
  40. ↑ Progress. Cancer Mission 2020 (Cancermission2020.com). (2013); retrieved 2014-02-14
  41. ↑ Clinical Trial Cancer Mission 2020 Act (H.R. 2301). GovTrack.us. (2014); retrieved 2014-02-24.
  42. ↑ “Rep. Tom Reed, Camp Good Days team up to strengthen cancer research reporting requirements”; retrieved 2014-02-24.
  43. ↑ "H.R.4719 – Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  44. ↑ "CBO – H.R. 4719". Congressional Budget Office. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  45. ↑ Meyer, Kellie (May 27, 2014). "Reed Fighting Hunger Incentive Act". WENY. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  46. ↑ "How the House voted to pass the GOP health-care bill". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  47. ↑ Staff, CNN. "How every member voted on health care bill". CNN. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  48. ↑ The Lugar Center - McCourt School Bipartisan Index (PDF), The Lugar Center, March 7, 2016, retrieved April 30, 2017
  49. ↑ Jerry Zremski “Reed and Collins revel in tax compromise that Cuomo and Schumer abhor”, Buffalo News, November 1, 2017, Retrieved November 4, 2017
  50. ↑ https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/115-2017/s303
  51. ↑ https://twitter.com/RepTomReed/status/1027669549552951296
  52. ↑ Marcos, Cristina (2017-02-03). "Lawmakers set up bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus for new Congress". TheHill. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  53. ↑ "Member List". Republican Study Committee. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  54. ↑ "Members". Republican Mains Street Partnership. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  55. ↑ "Members". Congressional Constitution Caucus. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  56. ↑ "Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  57. ↑ "Members". Congressional Western Caucus. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Eric Massa		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 29th congressional district
2010–2013		 Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Bill Owens		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 23rd congressional district
2013–present		 Incumbent
Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Tom Graves		 United States Representatives by seniority
188th		 Succeeded by
Tim Walberg
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