United States Senator From Indiana
Bayh was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 to the seat that was once held by his father. He won with 64% of the vote, the largest margin ever recorded for a Democrat in a U.S. Senate race in Indiana, defeating former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke. He easily won reelection in 2004, defeating Prof. Marvin Scott, receiving 62% of the vote--in the process, becoming only the fourth Indiana Democrat to be popularly elected to a second term in the Senate. Bayh's victory was even more remarkable since George W. Bush carried the state handily in his bid for a second term.
During his Senate career, Bayh served on five Senate committees: Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, on which he is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance; Armed Services; the Select Committee on Intelligence; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Small Business Committee.
Bayh released an autobiography in 2003 entitled From Father to Son: A Private Life in the Public Eye. He describes growing up as the son of Senator Birch Bayh and emphasizes the importance of active, responsible fatherhood.
Bayh was known as a leading moderate Democrat. From 2001 to 2005, Bayh served as Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). He is also a member of the Senate Centrist Coalition, helped establish the New Democrat Coalition, and founded the Moderate Dems Working Group. Bayh also served on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Bayh voted against confirming United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
Bayh was an early supporter of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq. On October 2, 2002, Bayh joined President George W. Bush and Congressional leaders in a Rose Garden ceremony announcing their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, and was thanked by Bush and Senator John McCain for co-sponsoring the resolution.
Senator Bayh began asking for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in 2004 for his mistakes in the Iraq war. Bayh made it clear that he had lost confidence in Rumsfeld.
He voted yes on reauthorizing the Patriot Act in 2006.
In the aftermath of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010, Bayh joined with his fellow senators in hurrying to bail out U.S. financial institutions. Addressing the launch of the No Labels political organization, he "described a scene from 2008 where Ben Bernanke warned senators that the sky would collapse if the banks weren't rescued. 'We looked at each other,' said Bayh, 'and said, okay, what do we need.'"
Read more about this topic: Evan Bayh
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, senator and/or indiana:
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“And hereby hangs a moral highly applicable to our own trustee-ridden universities, if to nothing else. If we really wanted liberty of speech and thought, we could probably get it—Spain fifty years ago certainly had a longer tradition of despotism than has the United States—but do we want it? In these years we will see.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“It may be said that the elegant Swann’s simplicity was but another, more refined form of vanity and that, like other Israelites, my parents’ old friend could present, one by one, the succession of states through which had passed his race, from the most naive snobbishness to the worst coarseness to the finest politeness.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Michael Corleone: My father is no different than any powerful man. Any man who’s responsible for other people. Like a senator or a president.
Kaye: Do you know how naive you sound?
Michael Corleone: Why?
Kaye: Senators and presidents don’t have men killed.”
—Mario Puzo (b. 1920)
“If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn’t be here. It’d still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)