Roy Blunt
United States Senator from Missouri
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011 Serving with Claire McCaskill
Preceded by	Kit Bond
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 7th district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Mel Hancock
Succeeded by	Billy Long
House Minority Whip
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Leader	John Boehner
Preceded by	Steny Hoyer
Succeeded by	Eric Cantor
House Majority Whip
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Leader	Tom DeLay (2003-2005) Himself (Interim) (2005-2006) John Boehner (2006-2007)
Preceded by	Tom DeLay
Succeeded by	Jim Clyburn
Republican Chief Deputy Whip of the United States House of Representatives
In office January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2003
Whip	Tom DeLay
Preceded by	Dennis Hastert
Succeeded by	Eric Cantor
House Majority Leader Interim
In office September 29, 2005 – February 2, 2006
Preceded by	Tom DeLay
Succeeded by	John Boehner
33rd Missouri Secretary of State
In office January 8, 1985 – January 8, 1993
Governor	Kit Bond
Preceded by	James Kirkpatrick
Succeeded by	Judi Moriarty
Personal details
Born	January 10, 1950 (1950-01-10) (age 61) Niangua, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Roseann Ray Blunt (div.) Abigail Perlman Blunt
Children	Matthew Roy Blunt Amy Blunt Mosby Andrew Blunt Alexander Charles Blunt (adopted)
Residence	Strafford, Missouri
Alma mater	Southwest Baptist University (B.A.) Missouri State University (M.A.)
Profession	College administrator
Religion	Baptist
Website	Senator Roy Blunt

Roy D. Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement.

Blunt served as the U.S. Representative from Missouri's 7th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. The district contains most of Southwest Missouri, the most conservative part of the state, anchored in the city of Springfield, as well as cities such as Joplin, Carthage, and Neosho. The popular tourist destination of Branson also lies in the district. In January 2011, Blunt was succeeded in the House by Billy Long.

Blunt was the House Minority Whip during the 110th Congress but after the 2008 general elections announced that he would step down from the position. After House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down upon criminal indictment in Texas, Blunt served as interim House Majority Leader from September 29, 2005, to February 2, 2006, when John Boehner of Ohio was elected as DeLay's permanent replacement.

Blunt is the father of Matt Blunt, the governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2009. He and his son are the only Republicans to have served as Missouri Secretary of State since 1945.

Early life, education, and career

Blunt was born in Niangua, Missouri to Neva Dora Letterman and Leroy O. Blunt. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Southwest Baptist University in 1970. In college he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. Two years later, he earned a master's degree in history from Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University).

Early political career

Blunt entered politics in 1972, when he was elected county clerk and chief election official of Greene County (where Springfield is located). Blunt was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Missouri in 1980 but lost to Democrat Ken Rothman. He served as Greene County Clerk until 1984, when he was elected to the office of Secretary of State of Missouri — the first Republican to hold the post in 50 years. He was reelected to the office in 1988.

He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Missouri in 1992, losing the Republican primary to state Attorney General William L. Webster, but fared better than state treasurer Wendell Bailey.

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

U.S. House of Representatives

Roy Blunt in his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Blunt was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, when incumbent U.S. Representative Mel Hancock honored his pledge to serve only four terms. Blunt's district, the most conservative district in Missouri, is located in the Ozark Mountains in the southwestern part of the state and includes cities such as Springfield and Joplin. Blunt has been reelected six times without significant opposition. Blunt's political action committee is the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund.

Tenure

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 Tom DeLay was elected to succeed him, Blunt was elected to succeed DeLay as House Majority Whip. Rep. Blunt was a member of the "CREW's Most Corrupt", a publication distributed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a self-styled ethics watchdog group, in 2005 and 2006. CREW accused Blunt of benefiting firms who had hired his then-girlfriend (later wife) Abigail Perlman and son Andrew Blunt, as well as close connections to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who had been convicted upon multiple counts of fraud. Blunt denies both accusations.

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, U.S. Representative John Boehner of Ohio won on the second ballot, with 122 votes to 109 for Blunt. In November 2006, Blunt was elected by House Republicans to their second-highest position during the 110th Congress, House Minority Whip. Blunt handily defeated U.S. Representative John Shadegg of Arizona for the position. He stepped down from the position in 2008, avoiding a difficult battle with Eric Cantor.

Committee assignments

Upon entering the U.S. House, Blunt served on the House International Relations Committee, the House Committee on Agriculture, and the House Transportation Committee. In 1999, he gave up seats on the latter two committees and joined the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. In addition he became a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He has also served on the Republican Conference Steering Committee since his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, a committee that determines to which committees Republican members of the House are assigned and elevates members to positions of ranking member or chair.

U.S. Senate

2010 election

On February 19, 2009, Blunt announced he would seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate election for the seat being vacated by incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kit Bond. He successfully ran against Democratic nominee Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Constitution Party nominee Jerry Beck, Libertarian nominee Jonathan Dine, and write-in candidates Mark S. Memoly, Frazier Miller, Jeff Wirick and Richie L. Wolfe.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
• Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Select Committee on Intelligence

Political positions

Blunt has a conservative voting record. He is generally rated highly by conservative advocacy 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 the House and has a conservative record on most other social issues. He has voted to ban partial-birth abortions and to restrict or criminalize transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of getting an abortion. He opposes federal funding for elective abortions in accordance with the Hyde Amendment. He also voted in favor of the unsuccessful Federal Marriage Amendment which sought to place a national ban on same-sex marriage, and has voted against gay adoption. He received 94 percent lifetime and 96 percent 2004 ratings from the American Conservative Union, a 14 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union, and a 92 percent rating from the conservative Christian Coalition.

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 percent 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.

Environment

Blunt opposes the federal cap and trade legislation and supports drilling for oil on the U.S. coastline. On 10 March 2010, Blunt was named by environmentalist group League of Conservation Voters as one of the "Dirty Dozen" lawmakers who had "consistently sided with Big Oil and other dirty polluters over a cleaner, more sustainable future".

Business

Blunt received a 97 percent tiles rating from the United States 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.

Internet gambling

Blunt is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibitions of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

Health care

Blunt, who chairs the House Republican Health Care Solutions Group, has opposed plans for health care reform supported by Democrats, including proposals that include a "public option" of medical insurance offered by the government. In July 2009 he suggested that the government should not have created Medicare and Medicaid, saying:

The government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare and later with Medicaid. And government already distorts the marketplace. A government competitor would drive all of the other competitors away. What we should be doing is creating more competition.

Later that month, according to the Missouri Democratic Party, Blunt said, "We've had Medicare since 1965, and Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy."

In August 2009, Blunt stated in two separate newspaper interviews that, because he was 59 years old, "In either Canada or Great Britain, if I broke my hip, I couldn't get it replaced." Blunt stated that he had heard the statement in Congressional testimony by "some people who are supposed to be experts on Canadian health care." The PolitiFact service of the St. Petersburg Times reported that it could not find any such testimony.

Blunt opposes efforts to end the practice of charging higher rates to unhealthier groups of people. Instead, he suggests expanding the risk pool to make healthcare affordable for those people.

Blunt favors allowing dependent children to stay on their parents' health insurance plans until after the age of 27.

Personal life

Blunt has been married twice. He married Roseann Ray in May 1967 and had three children with her: Matt (the former Governor of Missouri), Amy Blunt Mosby and Andrew Blunt. Amy and Andrew are lawyers and lobbyists. Blunt and Ray divorced after 35 years of marriage. Afterward, he married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Kraft Foods, on October 18, 2003. In April 2006, he and his wife adopted an 18-month old boy from Russia, whom they renamed Alexander Charles "Charlie" Blunt. Blunt also has six grandchildren: Davis Mosby, Eva Mosby, Ben Blunt, William Branch Blunt, Brooks Anderson Blunt, and Allyson Blunt.

United States Senators from Missouri Class 1 Benton • Geyer • Polk • Henderson • Schurz • Cockrell • Warner • Reed • Patterson • Truman • Briggs • Kem • Symington • Danforth • Ashcroft • Carnahan • Talent • McCaskill Class 3 Barton • Buckner • Linn • Atchison • Green • Johnson • Wilson • Brown • Drake • Jewett • Blair • Bogy • Armstrong • Shields • Vest • Stone • Wilfley • Spencer • Williams • Hawes • Clark • Donnell • Hennings • Long • Eagleton • Bond • Blunt

Majority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives Payne • Underwood • Kitchin • Mondell • Longworth • Tilson • Rainey • Byrns • Bankhead • Rayburn • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Halleck • McCormack • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • Wright • Foley • Gephardt • Armey • DeLay • Blunt (acting) • Boehner • Hoyer • Cantor

Republican Party Leaders in the United States House of Representatives Payne • Mann • Mondell • Longworth • Tilson • Snell • Martin • Halleck • Martin • Halleck • Martin • Halleck • Ford • Rhodes • Michel • Armey • DeLay • Blunti • Boehner • Cantor (i) - interim

Majority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Bell • Knutson • Vestal • McDuffie • Greenwood • Boland • Ramspeck • Sparkman • Arends • Priest • Arends • Albert • Boggs • O'Neill • McFall • Brademas • Foley • Coelho • Gray • Bonior • DeLay • Blunt • Clyburn • McCarthy

Minority Whips of the United States House of Representatives Underwood • Lloyd • Dwight • Burke • Hamilton • Oldfield • McDuffie • Bachmann • Englebright • Arends • McCormack • Arends • McCormack • Arends • Michel • Lott • Cheney • Gingrich • Bonior • Pelosi • Hoyer • Blunt • Cantor • Hoyer

Republican Whips of the United States House of Representatives Tawney • Watson • Dwight • Burke • Hamilton • Knutson • Vestal • Bachmann • Englebright • Arends • Michel • Lott • Cheney • Gingrich • DeLay • Blunt • Cantor • McCarthy