Bob Bennett
Junior Senator from Utah
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 5, 1993 Serving with Orrin Hatch
Preceded by	Jake Garn
Born	September 18, 1933 (1933-09-18) (age 74) Salt Lake City, Utah
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Joyce McKay
Residence	Salt Lake City, Utah
Alma mater	University of Utah
Occupation	public relations consultant, technology executive
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Robert Foster "Bob" Bennett (born September 18, 1933) is a Republican United States Senator from Utah.

Early life

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bennett is the son of Frances Marion Grant and U.S. Senator Wallace Foster Bennett,^[1] as well as the grandson of Heber J. Grant, seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He attended Utah public schools and received a B.S. from the University of Utah in 1957 with a degree in Political Science.

In 1962, Bennett married Joyce McKay, granddaughter of David O. McKay, ninth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple has six children: Julie, Robert, James, Wendy, Heather, and Heidi.

Bennett was a chaplain in the Army National Guard from 1957 to 1969, when he entered public service as congressional liaison of the United States Department of Transportation. He held this position from 1969 to 1970. That year he became president of Robert Mullen Company, a Washington, D.C. public relations firm that occasionally provided cover for Central Intelligence Agency operations. Because his company employed Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt, he was suspected of being Woodward and Bernstein's source Deep Throat.

In 1974, he became the public relations director for billionaire Howard Hughes's holding company, Summa Corporation, working there until 1978 when he became president of Osmond Communications. In 1979, he went into computers, first as chairman of American Computers Corporation, then as president of Microsonics Corporation from 1981 to 1984. In 1984, he was named CEO of Franklin Quest, the maker of organizers and appointment books. He held this position until his run for public office.

Senate career

A Senate seat opened up in 1992, when Jake Garn, who hated Washington and made no secret of it, refused to run for a fourth term. Bennett narrowly won the heavily contested Republican primary (51% of the vote) in 1992, his opponent being another millionaire with famous forebears. Bennett then went on to defeat his Democratic opponent, Congressman Wayne Owens, in the general election. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2004. His Democratic opponent in 2004 was Paul Van Dam and Bennett won by a vote of 68%-29%. Bennett currently serves as the Deputy Republican Whip.

On June 27, 2006, Bennett was one of only three Republicans to vote against the defeated Flag Desecration Amendment. The amendment's chief sponsor was Bennett's fellow Utah Republican senator, Orrin Hatch.

Political Positions

Abortion and Civil Rights

Bennett has strongly opposed abortion and has supported measures to restrict it, such as bans on allowing minors to cross state lines to obtain the procedure or requirements of parental notification for one to take place. However, he has shown some support for stem cell research.[1]

Although he has voted in favor of expanding funding to women and minority-owned businesses, Bennett has generally rejected affirmative action proposals. He has also is opposed to gay rights issues, voting in favor of a proposed constitutional ban on the matter and against bills that would prevent job discrimination and hate crimes against homosexuals.[2]

Bennett has supported Bush Administration wiretapping proposals. He was one of only three Republican senators to vote against a proposed constitutional ban on flag burning. He stated that he would like to see flag desecration banned by federal law rather than by constitutional amendment [3].

Taxes and the Economy

Bennett has been a supporter of flat taxation and has been a leading voice for the repeal of the Death Tax, Alternative Minimum Tax, and "marriage penalty." He has publically stated that he sees it as unfair for the tax burden to fall on the wealthiest 1% of the population. Bennett has also voted against minimum wage increase proposals and bills that would increase the ease in which workers could organize.[4]

A free trade advocate, Bennett has voted in favor of CAFTA, presidential fast-tracking for normalizing trade relations, and removing common goods from national security export controls. He has favored recent trade deals with countries such as Chile, Singapore, and Oman [5].

Healthcare

Bennett has been an opponent of public healthcare and has blamed government policies for the high cost of insurance. He has voted against propsoals to expand government healthcare, such as those that would let Medicare negotiate in bulk with drug companies or those that would enroll more children in federally-provided insurance. During his most recent Senate campaign, he stated that high taxes were causing insurers to pass the costs off to customers. He also believed that new drugs were not being properly developed because pharmacutical companies feared lawsuits if unexpected side effects occured [6].

Immigration and Homeland Security

Generally, Bennett has supported tighter immigration control. He voted in favor of the fence along the US-Mexico border, making English the nation's official langague, and denying citizenship rights to guest workers. However, he voted to uphold the legalization of nonimmigrant guest worker status [7].

Bennett has been a supporter of the PATRIOT Act. He also voted no on limiting the tours of duty on Iraqi soldiers and on implementing habeus corpus to the Guantanamo Bay detainees [8].

Energy and the Environment

Bennett has voted against energy standards proposals. He is against CAFE, defining goals for a 40% reduction in oil use by 2025, and factoring global warming into government planning. Bennett supports ANWAR drilling and using nuclear power as an energy solution. He also voted against providing emergency energy funding to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina [9].

Committee Assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
  • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
  • Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance
• Committee on Rules and Administration (Ranking Member)
• Joint Committee on the Library
• Joint Committee on Printing
• Joint Economic Committee

Electoral history

See also

• Wells-Bennett-Grant Family

Footnotes

External links

• United States Senator Robert F Bennett, U.S. Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• mormoncentury.org — Why Bennett supported stem cell research
• New York Times — Robert F. Bennett News collected news and commentary

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