Wally Herger

Infobox_Congressman
name = Wally Herger


date of birth= birth date and age|1945|05|20
place of birth= Yuba City, California
occupation=oil executive
alma_mater=American River College
state = California
district = 2nd
term_start = January 3 1987
preceded = Eugene Chappie
succeeded = Incumbent
party = Republican
religion = The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
spouse = Pamela Herger
residence = Chico, California

Walter William Herger, Jr. (born May 20 1945), American politician with Swiss roots (his grandfather emigrated to the US from the canton of Uri about 100 years ago), has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1987, representing the California's 2nd congressional district. The second district is physically large. The major cities are Chico, Redding and Red Bluff. He was born in Yuba City, California, and graduated from American River College with an Associate of Arts. He also attended California State University, Sacramento for a year. He grew up on his family's convert|200|acre|km2|sing=on cattle ranch and plum farm in the northern California town of Rio Oso (between Yuba City and Sacramento). He also worked in the family's oil and gas exploration business.Biography | Representative Wally Herger 2nd District of California. (2007) Retrieved July 23, 2007, from http://www.house.gov/herger/bio.shtml]

Herger's career started in 1976, with his election to the East Nicolaus School Board. He also served northern California in the California State Assembly from 1980 to 1986. Herger is married to his second wife Pamela Sargent, with whom he has 9 children and 6 grandchildren. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and sits on the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.fasdf]

Early life

Herger grew up in California. He joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was about 20. ["LDS Church News", March 29th, 2008]

Election campaigns

Herger has easily been reelected to Congress due to the "safe" Republican voter registration advantage in this district. His election campaigns are challenged by token Democratic candidates. The district also always fields a candidate registered with a third party such as the Libertarian party and, during the 1990s, the Natural Law Party. In 2002 and 2004, Herger defeated Democrat Mike Johnson, garnering 67% of the vote in 2004. In 2006, Herger faced Arjinderpal Sekhon and received 64% of the vote. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote — 2006 General Election. Retrieved March 4, 2008, from http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2006_general/congress.pdf]

House tenure

Herger has served on the influential United States House Committee on Ways and Means since his tenure began as a federal representative. Within Ways and Means, representative Herger serves on two subcommittees, the Subcommittee on Trade, and the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support. In the 110th Congress he was named the Ranking Member of the Republican (minority) delegation to the Trade Subcommittee. Representative Herger's participation in full committee is limited to Ways and Means, in accordance with the rules of the Committee on Ways and Means.While he chaired the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support (called the Subcommittee on Human Resources during his watch) beginning with the 107th Congress, he played a leading role in the reauthorization and expansion of the 1996 welfare reform law. While chairman of the Committee on Human Resources, he was a champion of the nation’s at risk children, introducing legislation to assist the process of moving greater numbers of at risk children into safe, stable, and loving families. He also sponsored the “Criminal Welfare Prevention Act”, which was passed as part of the larger 1996 Welfare Reform Law. This bill gave additional financial incentives to law enforcement agencies that identitied fraudulent recipients of aid.asd] [Herger, W. (1999, May 25) Retrieved July 24, 2007, from http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?]

Legislative philosophy

Herger's primary legislative concerns as a member of Congress and the Ways and Means Committee include:
#securing economic growth and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship by reducing the tax burden on American families
#making government run more efficiently by reducing federal regulatory burdens and spending
#responsibly reforming entitlement programs to make them sustainable and ensure that they will still be around for future generations of Americans ... ]

Legislative goals

The 2nd congressional district is driven by agriculture. Congressman Herger supports legislation to bolster free and fair trade in an effort to support his constituency. Congressman Herger, from his position on the Trade Subcommittee, plans to lead the consideration of trade agreements with foreign nations. His intent is to broaden the opportunities for American businesses to export their products to growing foreign markets. He anticipates that agreements with Panama, Peru and Colombia will expand American exports throughout the western hemisphere.

Herger is also a strong advocate of private property rights. He is an ardent proponent of environmental policies that balance the requirements of stewardship with the economic need for raw materials and finished goods. His work on the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act reflects this dedication. This act institutes a framework for managing federal forest assets that will be tested on federal lands in Lassen, Plumas, and Tehama counties, and has been negotiated by a diverse coalition that includes environmental and logging interests. The act aims to reduce vegetation density in Forest Service lands, while simultaneously expanding the biodiversity of the forest (reduction of “monoculture” forests). [USDA Forest Service HFQLG Forest Recovery Act Pilot Project - Home. (2007, June 4) Retrieved July 24, 2007, from http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/hfqlg/]

Current goals

Congressmen Herger and Meek of Florida are currently drafting a bill to repeal the three percent withholding tax scheduled to begin in 2011. The withholding tax would apply to governments with expenditures of greater than 100 million USD on services from for-profit companies. The law mandates that governments will only deliver 97 percent of a contract to the contractor, and send the remaining 3 percent to the IRS. Vendors and contractors are expected to increase their bid values to cover this new cost. The National Association of Counties thinks that this will give Counties a competitive disadvantage when dealing with vendors and contractors. (Counties assess costs of federal ‘3-percent withholding law’) [Hot Topics | Representative Wally Herger 2nd District of California. (2007, January 2) Retrieved July 24, 2007, from http://www.house.gov/herger/hottopics_] [ThreePercentWithholding. (2007, January 1) Retrieved March 4, 2008, from http://www.abc.org/Government_Affairs/Issues/ABC_Priority_Issues/Three_Percent_Withholding.aspx] [NACo | Counties assess costs of federal '3-percent withholding law' (2007, January 1) March 4, 2008, from http://www.naco.org/CountyNewsTemplate.cfm?template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=21305]

Committee Assignments

*Committee on Ways & Means
**Subcommittee on Trade (Ranking Member)
**Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support

References

External links

*CQ Politics in America 2006
* [http://www.wallyherger.com/ Wally Herger for Congress] official campaign site
* [http://www.house.gov/herger/ U.S. Congressman Wally Herger] official House site
*CongBio|h000528
* [http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_detail/H6CA02010 Federal Election Commission — Wally Herger] campaign finance reports and data
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Wally_Herger.htm On the Issues — Wally Herger] issue positions and quotes
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00007584 OpenSecrets.org — Wally Herger] campaign contributions
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H0172103 Project Vote Smart — Representative Wally Herger (CA)] profile
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wally_Herger SourceWatch Congresspedia — Wally Herger] profile
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/h000528/ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Wally Herger] voting record