Roy Blunt

This article is about the Congressman. For the similarly named writer and humorist, see Roy Blount, Jr.. For other uses, see Roy Blunt (disambiguation).

Roy D. Blunt
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 7th district
In office 1997 - present
Preceded by	Mel Hancock
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Abigail Blunt (née Perlman)

Roy D. Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is a Republican politician from Missouri, currently representing that state's 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He is also the current House Majority Whip.

After House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down due to a criminal indictment in Texas, Blunt served as interim majority leader from September 29, 2005, to February 2, 2006, when John Boehner of Ohio was elected as DeLay's permanent replacement.

Blunt is also the honorary chairman of the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund.

Personal life

Blunt earned a B.A. in History from Southwest Baptist University in 1970. Two years later, he earned a M.A. in History from Southwest Missouri State University.

Blunt has been married twice. He married Roseann in May 1967, and with her had Four children: Matt (the current governor of Missouri), Amy Blunt Mosby, Andrew, and Charlie. Amy and Andrew are lawyers and lobbyists. After divorcing Roseann, he married Abigail Perlman, a Phillip Morris lobbyist on October 18, 2003. In April, 2006, he and Abigail adopted an 18-month old baby boy from Russia, whom they named Alexander Charles Blunt.

He has five grandchildren: Davis Mosby, Eva Mosby, Ben Blunt, William Branch Blunt, and Allyson Blunt.

Political career

Blunt entered politics in 1972, when he was elected county clerk and chief election official of Greene County, Missouri (where Springfield is located). Blunt was the Republican nominee for Missouri lieutenant governor in 1980, but lost to Democrat Ken Rothman. He served as Greene County clerk until 1984, when he was elected Missouri Secretary of State — the first Republican to hold that post in 50 years.

He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Missouri in 1992, losing the Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster.

From 1993 to 1996, Blunt was president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater.

Blunt was first elected to Congress in 1996, when incumbent Congressman Mel Hancock honored his pledge to serve only four terms. Blunt's district, one of the most Republican districts in the country, is located in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri, a district which includes Springfield and Joplin.

Upon entering the House, Blunt served on the International Relations Committee.

After only one term, Blunt was appointed as Chief Deputy Whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican Caucus. In that capacity, he served as the Republicans' chief vote-counter. When Dick Armey retired and fellow Texan DeLay was elected to succeed him, Blunt was elected to succeed DeLay as majority whip.

On January 8, 2006, one day after DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain his position, Blunt announced he would run to permanently replace DeLay. On January 14, 2006, he issued a release claiming that the majority of the Republican caucus had endorsed him as DeLay's successor. However, when the election was held by secret ballot on February 2, 2006, Boehner won on the second ballot, with 122 votes to 109 for Blunt.

Since he was first elected in 1996, Blunt has been reelected four times without significant opposition. In 2004, he received 70.4% of the vote .

Positions and interest group ratings

Blunt has a very conservative voting record. He is generally rated highly by conservative interest groups and receives correspondingly low ratings from liberal groups.

Social issues

Although Missouri Right to Life endorsed Webster over Blunt in the 1992 Republican gubernatorial primary, Blunt has voted pro-life in Congress and has a conservative record on most other social issues. He has voted to ban partial-birth abortions, and to make it more difficult for minors to get an abortion. He also voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment which bans same-sex marriages and has voted agai

Global warming

In August 2006, Blunt said he would oppose any global warming mandates for the entire 110th Congress (2007-2009) if Republicans retain control. "I think the information is not adequate yet for us to do anything meaningful," he said.

Education

Blunt has voted in favor of school prayer and supported the No Child Left Behind Act. He has voted in favor of school vouchers within the District of Columbia but has voted against broader legislation allowing states to use federal money to issue vouchers for private or religious schools. He has received a 17% rating from the National Education Association.

Guns

Blunt has voted to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers if the guns they manufacture or sell are later used in a crime. He has also voted to reduce the waiting period for purchasing a gun from 72 hours to 24 hours. He has received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association.

Business

Blunt received a 97% rating from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce indicating a pro-business voting record. He supported banking industry-backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bankruptcy laws, requiring consumers who seek bankruptcy protection to repay more of their debts.

Controversies

Ties to tobacco industry

In 2002, Blunt attempted to insert a provision, in support of tobacco corporations, into the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security. The "rider" would have made tobacco sales over the Internet more difficult, allowing tobacco companies to control distribution. At the time, Blunt was dating Altria lobbyist Abigail Perlman, whom he later married. In contrast to House tradition, the rider had not been cleared by the House leadership. It was removed from the final bill.

Ties to Tom DeLay

On November 16, 2005, Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle subpoenaed documents that purportedly show communication between DeLay's political action committee and that of Roy Blunt. The subpoenaed documents were bank records of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC, which gave $75,000 to start the Texans for a Republican Majority. Federal Election Commission records show that Blunt's PAC also paid roughly $88,000 in fees since 2003 to a consultant facing indictment in Texas in the same case as DeLay.

DeLay said of Blunt: "Roy Blunt has done a tremendous job. . . . His leadership is vital to our cause."

External links

• Blunt's official website at the U.S. House of Representatives
• Blunt for Congress
• United States Congress. "Roy Blunt (id: B000575)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Criticisms of Blunt, from a website owned by left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
• Blunt's positions on major issues, from issues2000.org, a website owned by speakout.com
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

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