Kevin Brady | |
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Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee | |
January 3, 2019 | |
Richard Neal | |
Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee | |
November 5, 2015 - January 3, 2019 | |
Paul Ryan Sam Johnson (Acting) | |
Richard Neal | |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 8th district | |
January 3, 1997 | |
Jack Fields | |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 15th district | |
January 3, 1991 - January 3, 1997 | |
Mike McKinney | |
Tommy Williams | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kevin Patrick Brady April 11, 1955 Vermillion, South Dakota, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Cathy Patronella (m. 1991) |
Children | 2 |
Education | |
Website | House website |
Kevin Patrick Brady (born April 11, 1955) is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 8th congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party. The 8th district includes a large swath of suburban and rural territory north of Houston.
Brady was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, as one of five children of William F. and Nancy A. Brady. His father, a lawyer, was killed in 1967 in a courtroom shooting in Rapid City when Brady was 12 years old and his mother was in her early 30s.[1][2] He graduated from Central High School in 1973. Brady has a degree in mass communications from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.[3]
Brady worked for the Rapid City area chamber of commerce. He was elected to the Rapid City common council, at age 26. In 1982, he moved to Texas to work for the Beaumont, Texas chamber of commerce. In 1985, he went to work for the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.[2]
Brady was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, district 15, in 1990, representing The Woodlands, parts of Montgomery County, and five other counties west and north of Houston.[4]
Incumbent Republican congressman Jack Fields of Texas' 8th congressional district decided to retire. Brady decided to run and ranked second in the Republican primary with 22% of the vote in a six candidate field. But the candidate who ranked first, Dr. Gene Fontenot, received just 36% of the vote, short of the 50% threshold.[5] In the run-off election, Brady defeated him 53%-47%.[6] However, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bush v. Vera that three congressional districts in Texas were unconstitutional.[7] After holding hearings, the court concluded that there was no longer time to hold primaries and instead forced all candidates (Democrats and Republicans) be listed together on the November general election ballot in a jungle primary. If no candidate reached 50%, a special runoff would be held on December 10 between the two highest ranking candidates regardless of political party. In the November election, Brady ranked first with 41% of the vote.[8] In the December run-off election, he defeated Fontenot again 59%-41%.[9]
During this time period, he never won re-election with less than 67% of the vote.[10]
For the first time since 1998, Brady was challenged in the Republican primary. Three candidates filed against him. He defeated all of them in the March primary with 79% of the vote.[11] He won re-election with 80% of the vote.[12]
In the May 2012 Republican primary, in a newly redrawn district, he defeated his challenger with 76% of the vote. In the November 6, 2012, general election, he defeated his Democratic opponent with over 77% of the vote.
In the Republican primary on March 4, Brady won re-nomination to a tenth term in the U.S. House. In 2014, Brady received 68% of the vote in the primary.[13] He polled 41,549 votes (68 percent) to 19,508 (32 percent) for his intraparty challenger, Craig McMichael.[14]
In the General election held November 4, 2014 Brady was re-elected to his seat in the U.S. House. He polled 124,897 votes (89.32 percent) to 14,930 (10.67 percent) for his challenger, Ken Petty.[15]
In November 2015, Steve Toth, a former State Representative from The Woodlands, Texas, announced that he would be running against Brady, facing what could be Brady's toughest campaign.[16][17][18]
Kevin Brady eked out a victory in the March 1, 2016 primary, but he is likely to have a target on his back for years to come.[19] Toth held Brady to 53% of the vote, the lowest re-election total in his 18-year career.[19][13][20] Brady spent over $1.5 million.[21] Toth spent $89,325.[22] Toth criticized Brady for compromising too often with President Obama[22] and was critical of Brady for supporting the omnibus federal budget bill and voting to revive the U.S. Export-Import Bank.[23]
Brady won his Republican primary unopposed, as did his Democratic opponent, Steven David. In the general election, Brady prevailed, 73.5%, 198,241 votes to David's 24.8%, 67,027 votes. Libertarian Chris Duncan received 1.7%, 4,597 votes.[24] As of September 30, 2018, Brady had out-raised David in contributions, $4,899,672 to $31,664.[25]
Brady had a Republican challenger in the March 3, 2020 primary. He defeated fellow Republican Kirk Osborn 80.73% to 16.19%.[26] In November 2020, Brady defeated his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Hernandez and Libertarian challenger Chris Duncan, winning election to his 13th term in Congress.[2] Brady received 72.5% of the vote to the combined total of the two challengers of 27.5%.
In 2002, Brady voted in favor of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq, authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq the following year.[27] Yet in 2008 he was one of the 24 Republicans (and 227 Democrats) to vote "yes" on the effort to impeach President George W. Bush for misleading the United States into going to war in Iraq.[28][29]
In 2005, Brady was a chief supporter of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), working with the George W. Bush administration to secure passage of that free-trade agreement.[30][31][32] In 2011, Brady also voted in favor of free-trade agreements with South Korea[33]Colombia,[34] and Panama.[35] However, in 2017, Brady supports President Donald Trump's proposed border adjustment tax, arguing that the tax on imports would place the U.S. on a level playing field with other countries that have the tax and would raise an estimated $1 trillion for the federal budget.[36]
Brady is known as the author of a federal "sunset law" that would require every federal program not specifically written into the Constitution to justify its existence to taxpayers within 12 years or face elimination.[37]
In March 2012, he proposed the Sound Dollar Act, legislation to require the Federal Reserve to monitor gold and the foreign-exchange value of the U.S. dollar. The bill would also repeal the Federal Reserve's dual mandate (controlling unemployment and inflation) and replace it with a single mandate for U.S. dollar price stability.[38]
In November 2015, Brady was elected the 65th chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, serving until 2019.[39]
In March 2017, Brady introduced an amendment to the American Health Care Act (the House Republican proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act) that would allow health insurance providers to fully deduct all forms of compensation to their most highly compensated executives without limit, repealing the current law, which capped the deduction at $500,000 per executive. Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik criticized Brady's amendment as a "secret payoff" to the health insurance industry because of the cryptic language of Brady's amendment.[40][41]
As chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Brady opposed a resolution to request ten years' worth of returns from President Trump and his business entities.[42][43] Brady said in 2017 that the resolution was an abuse done for "obvious political purposes".[44][45] In September 2020, after the New York Times published an extensive report on President Donald Trump's tax records and business dealings spanning two decades, Brady called for an investigation in the New York Times and the sources behind the report.[46]
In November 2017, Brady said that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 would provide "tax relief at every level"; in fact, seven percent of households in 2018 would pay more in taxes and by 2022, one quarter of households would pay more.[47] Brady's claim that 70% of the tax cuts in the bill would go to households making below $200,000 was found to be "misleading" by FactCheck.Org and "cherry-picked" by PolitiFact.[47][48] FactCheck.org noted that "57.7 percent of the tax relief goes to those families making less than $200,000 in 2019 -- not the 70 percent that Brady cited for 2019. By 2027, 50 percent of tax relief as a result of business and individual income tax changes would go to those making more than $200,000 a year."[47] The American Conservative Union gave him a 94% evaluation in 2017.
Alongside Richard Neal (D-MA), Brady introduced the bipartisan SECURE Act of 2019, which contained a number of provisions to expand access to retirement planning options and to encourage employers to set up retirement plans for workers. The bill, originally introduced in late March 2019, was passed into law in December 2019 as part of the fiscal year 2020 federal appropriations bill.[49]
In December 2020, Brady was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed[50] over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state.[51][52][53]House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion."[54][55][56]
In December 2020, Brady indicated that he supports a second round of Paycheck Protection Program funds to assist small businesses, to focus on the economic effects on the country of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Brady was a negotiator during the discussions to pass the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.[2]
In January 2021, in response to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol and subsequent calls to impeach Donald Trump, Brady stated that those calling for impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment in response to President Trump's rhetoric are themselves engaging in intemperate and inflammatory language and calling for action that is equally irresponsible and could well incite further violence.[57]
During his time in congress he has served as a chair on the Joint Economic Committee, Ways and Means Committee, and the Joint Committee on taxation.
Brady lives in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston, with his wife Cathy and two young sons (Will and Sean).[61]
In October 2005, Brady was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol while in South Dakota.[62] He pleaded no contest, was convicted of a misdemeanor, and fined $350. Brady issued an apology.[63]
A former state lawmaker from The Woodlands will mount a Republican primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, the House's newest and perhaps most powerful committee chairman.
In this highly charged election season, the race between Brady and Steve Toth reflects tensions within the Republican Party's conservative wing.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, faces three primary challengers, including former state Rep. Steve Toth.
His challengers said Brady has compromised too often, most recently by voting for a year-end spending measure that conservative activists say lacked limits on Planned Parenthood or on refugees from Syria and Iraq.
He won re-election last fall with 53 percent of the vote after being challenged by three conservative Republicans in a primary, and his public role in a national tax debate could spur another challenge in 2018.
Texas House of Representatives | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Mike McKinney |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 15th district 1991-1997 |
Succeeded by Tommy Williams |
U.S. House of Representatives | ||
Preceded by Jack Fields |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 8th congressional district 1997-present |
Incumbent |
Preceded by Bob Casey Jr. |
Chair of the Joint Economic Committee 2013-2015 |
Succeeded by Dan Coats |
Preceded by Sam Johnson Acting |
Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee 2015-2019 |
Succeeded by Richard Neal |
Chair of the Joint Taxation Committee 2015-2016 |
Succeeded by Orrin Hatch | |
Preceded by Orrin Hatch |
Chair of the Joint Taxation Committee 2017-2018 | |
Preceded by Richard Neal |
Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee 2019-present |
Incumbent |
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
Preceded by Robert Aderholt |
United States Representatives by seniority 35th |
Succeeded by Danny Davis |