LEGISLATOR US Representative LAMAR SMITH (R-TX-21)

IN OFFICE CONTACT

Up for re-election in 2016 Email Contact Form http://lamarsmith.house. 15th Term gov/contact Re-elected in 2014 Web lamarsmith.house.gov http://lamarsmith.house.gov

Twitter @LamarSmithTX21 http://twitter.com/ LamarSmithTX21

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DC Office 2409 Rayburn House Office Building

BGOV BIOGRAPHY

By Caitlin Webber, Bloomberg News As chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Lamar Smith oversees innovation legislation -- an area where the Republican, known for his conservative views, has been willing to reach across the aisle. He served more than a quarter-century on the Science panel before being appointed chairman in the 113th Congress. Energy research, space exploration and science education top Smith’s agenda for the committee, which has broad jurisdiction over federal scientific research programs. In 2011, when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he partnered with his Senate counterpart, Vermont Democrat , to push through the most significant overhaul of the U.S. system in 50 years. The serious and soft-spoken Smith has sometimes attracted controversy for his high-tech legislation. His 2011 Internet piracy bill, known as SOPA (short for the ), sparked backlash from companies such as Inc. and Facebook Inc., which contended that it would chill free speech. Following widespread online protests against the proposal, including a one-day blackout of service on Jan. 18, 2012, by Wikipedia’s English-language site, Smith postponed further Judiciary Committee consideration of the measure. Immigration Policy On immigration, Smith is one of the biggest backers of tougher border security in the House, and he opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Despite the fact he was required to step down from the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee after reaching House Republican term limits on committee leadership after the 112th Congress, Smith has made it clear he’s not taking a back seat in the immigration debate. He still has a seat on the Judiciary panel. Smith has blasted President ’s proposals to overhaul U.S. immigration policy, saying they will only encourage more people to come to the U.S. illegally. He has warned fellow Republicans against supporting an overhaul, saying legalization of undocumented immigrants would create more Democratic voters.

© 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved Smith also serves on the Homeland Security Committee, where he has emphasized enforcement of existing immigration laws, and he backs programs to track when visitors leave the country. He points to weak border control as allowing the terrorists who conducted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to operate in the U.S. He supports limited changes to the immigration system, including increasing the number of guest agricultural workers as long as those workers don’t have a path to citizenship. In the 112th Congress, he sponsored legislation that would have eliminated the Diversity Visa Program and made as many as 55,000 permanent-residence visas available to foreign students who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; after winning passage in the House, the bill died in the Senate. NASA Supporter Smith has a cordial leadership style. As one of his first actions as chairman of the Science panel, he called members together for the committee’s first bipartisan retreat. Although he’s not a name-caller, Smith can use irony to make his point; for example, he started off a hearing on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by saying, “Today, a question remains about NASA’s vision -- namely, whether there is one.” Smith says that under his leadership, the Science panel will consider a NASA reauthorization measure that promotes the commercialization of space. He requested an investigation into the “politicization” of NASA in 2011, saying the agency’s focus on the Obama administration’s political goals had created a “dysfunctional and hostile work environment.” Tea Party When the Tea Party was established in 2010, Smith was one of the longer-serving House members to join. He’s also a member of the Republican Study Committee, a 175-member group of conservatives who press Speaker John Boehner for deeper spending cuts, and he has signed the no-new-taxes pledge sponsored by the anti-tax advocacy group . Smith votes reliably with party leadership and has supported repeal of the 2010 health-care law and the legislation that created the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. Smith comes from a ranching family that has lived in Texas for generations. After earning an undergraduate degree from , he worked in Boston as a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, then returned to his home state for law school at Southern Methodist University. He then sought out a career in politics, serving in the Texas state legislature and then on the Bexar County Commission in the early 1980s. The 21st Congressional District, which now includes parts of and its northern suburbs, is heavily Republican, and beginning with his first race in 1986, Smith has been elected to Congress with at least 60 percent of the vote. Updated March 14, 2013.

BIO FROM REPRESENTATIVE'S WEBSITE

From the Representative's Website Lamar Smith represents the 21st Congressional District of Texas. He serves as Chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, which has jurisdiction over programs at NASA, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Committee oversees agency budgets of $39 billion, where the primary focus is on research and development. Congressman Smith continues to serve on both the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee. He is a former Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Ethics Committee. Representative Smith was ranked the most effective member of the House in the 112th Congress (2011-2012) in a study jointly conducted by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. He also was named Policymaker of the Year by for his work on patent reform legislation during that same Congress. A fifth generation Texan and native of San Antonio, Congressman Smith graduated from Yale University and Southern Methodist University School of Law. He and his wife, Beth, have an adult daughter and son. The 21st Congressional District includes parts of Bexar, Travis, Comal and Hays Counties and all of Bandera, Blanco, © 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved The 21st Congressional District includes parts of Bexar, Travis, Comal and Hays Counties and all of Bandera, Blanco, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr and Real Counties. The district's population is about 700,000. Congressman Smith maintains district offices in San Antonio, Austin and Kerrville.

PERSONAL PROFILE

COMMITTEES Birthdate 11/19/1947 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS House Committee on the Judiciary Birthplace San Antonio, TX Education House Committee on Homeland Security Political Party Republican Party Yale University House Committee on Science, Bachelor's Degree 1969 Space, and Technology Marital Status Married Chairman Southern Methodist Univ Schl of Law Spouse Beth JD 1975 Congressional Caucus for Family 2 children Competitiveness in Entertainment Technology 1981 - 1982 State Representative, Congressional Reclaim American (TX)House of Representatives 1982 - 1985 Jobs Caucus Commissioner, (TX)Bexar County 01-03- 1987 - Present Representative:Texas, Congressional Media Fairness (US)House of Representatives Caucus

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