William Robert Woodall III (born February 11, 1970) 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.
Video Rob Woodall
Early life, education, and career
Woodall was born in Athens, Georgia. 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. 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, where he began working as a legislative correspondent and eventually served as Linder's chief of staff in 2000.
Woodall finished law school in 1998.
Maps Rob Woodall
U.S. House of Representatives
2010 election
Woodall won the Republican primary with about 56% of the vote against Jody Hice. He faced Democrat Doug Heckman in the 2010 General Election. On November 2, 2010, Woodall defeated Heckman to win the general election.
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.
Woodall addressed the U.S. House on October 26, 2011, calling for reduced regulations on businesses.
2012 election
In 2012, Woodall won the election with 62.16% of the 252,066 votes cast, against Steve Reilly (D).
2014 election
In 2014, Woodall won the election with 65.39% of the 173,669 votes cast, against Thomas D. Wight (D).
2016 election
In 2016, Woodall won the election with 60.38% of the 288,301 votes cast, against Rashid Malik (D).
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, a group of conservative Republican lawmakers, succeeding Steve Scalise. 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.
Committee assignments
- House Rules Committee
- House Budget Committee
- House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Political positions
Interest group ratings
Woodall has a 66 percent rating from conservative policy advocacy organization Heritage Action for his voting record.
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.
Economic issues
Woodall supports tax reform and FairTax. Woodall introduced the Fair Tax Act of 2013 (H.R. 25; 113th Congress) into the House on March 1, 2013.
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. 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."
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.'"
Woodall introduced the Baseline Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 1871; 113th Congress) into the House on May 8, 2013. The bill would change the way in which discretionary appropriations for individual accounts are projected in the Congressional Budget Office's baseline. 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.
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. In October 2011, Woodall voted for legislation to restrict how private insurance companies listed on a public insurance exchange may offer abortion coverage.
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.
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.
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.
References
External links
- Congressman Rob Woodall official U.S. House site
- Rob Woodall for Congress
- Rob Woodall at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
Source of article : Wikipedia
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