Tom Harkin

Thomas Richard Harkin, a Democrat, has been the junior U. S. Senator from Iowa since 1984. (map) He is married to Ruth Harkin.

H.R. 3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform)
On December 9, 2009, Senator Harkin was one of ten Democratic Senators to reach what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called a “broad agreement”on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The discussion focused on abandoning or greatly narrowing the public health insurance option. In exchange, people 55-64 would be able to buy in to Medicare and Medicaid eligibility would be expanded to people within 150 percent of the federal poverty line. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office released a statement on the compromise:

"I asked Senators Schumer and Pryor to work with some of the most moderate and most progressive members of our diverse caucus, and tonight they have come to a consensus. It is a consensus that includes a public option and will help ensure the American people win in two ways: one, insurance companies will face more competition, and two, the American people will have more choices. I know not all 10 Senators in the room agree on every single detail of this, nor will all 60 members of my caucus. But I know we all appreciate the hard work that these progressives and moderates have done to move this historic debate forward. I want to thank Senators Schumer, Pryor, Brown, Carper, Feingold, Harkin, Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson and Rockefeller for working together for the greater good and never losing sight of our shared goal: making it possible for every American to afford to live a healthy life. As is long-standing practice, we do not disclose details of any proposal before the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to evaluate it. We will wait for that to happen, but in the meantime, tonight we are confident."

Iraq War
Harkin voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq in Oct. 2002.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Military Record
While running for his Senate seat, and again while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, Harkin made statements about his military record that implied he had flown combat missions over North Vietnam. After inquiries by Barry Goldwater and The Wall Street Journal, Harkin clarified that he had flown combat air patrols and reconnaissance missions over Cuba, and had flown aircraft into and out of Vietnam, but had never flown missions in Vietnam and had never engaged enemy aircraft in combat.

Support for Alternative Medicine
According to Robert Johnson:


 * "Arguably the most powerful symbol of the recent coming of age of alternative medicine in the United States was the establishment of the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) within the National Institutes of Health. The two legislators with the greatest responsibility for the growth of this office, and for the overall nurturing of alternative medicine with the vast medical-government complex, have been Senators Tom Harkin and Orrin Hatch."

For more on this subject, see James Harvey Young, "The Development of the Office of Alternative Medicine in the National Institutes of Health, 1991-1996," Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 1998. (Royden Brown, Berkley Bedell and Frank Wiewel)

Support for stem cell research
Harkin sponsored the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 which would have lifted restrictions on stem cell research. It passed the Senate in a vote of 63-34. It was later vetoed by President George W. Bush.

National security and foreign policy
In late June, 2007, Sen. Harkin and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) began working on an amendment to the FY2008 Defense Department authorization bill that would close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Background
Harkin was born November 19, 1939 in Cumming, Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1962 and received his J.D. degree from Catholic University of America Law School in 1972. He served in the United States Navy from 1962-1967. Harkin was stationed at Atsugi Naval Air Station in Japan, where he ferried damaged aircraft to and from the airbase, and at Guantanamo Bay, where he flew missions in support of U-2 planes reconnoitering Cuba.

Harkin was an aide to Democratic Congressman Neal Smith, when he accompanied a congressional delegation that went to South Vietnam in 1970. Harkin published photographs he took during the trip and a detailed account of "tiger cages" at Con Son Island prison in Life Magazine on July 17, 1970. The account exposed shocking, inhuman conditions prisoners were forced to endure.

Harkin was an attorney before being elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1974, where he served until 1985. In 1984, Harkin was elected to the United States Senate from Iowa and was reelected in 1990, 1996 and 2002.

Congressional Career
While a member of the House, Harkin opposed President Gerald Ford's decision to support Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975. 

Harkin is known as an advocate for people with disabilities. In 1990, he wrote and was the chief sponsor of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Senator Harkin is a staunch supporter of Israel. He is a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, which appropriates about $2 billion annually for military financing for Israel. In the Senate, he is the third-largest career recipient of pro-Israel Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions.]

Harkin also supports efforts to raise the minimum wage. In 2006, Harkin, along with Senators Hillary Clinton, Edward M. Kennedy, Jim Jeffords, Patrick Leahy, and Barack Obama authored the Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act of 2006. This bill would change the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1983 by keeping the wage increase for Congressional members at the same pace as the increase of the federal minimum wage. 

He ran for President in 1992 and won the Iowa caucus, but ultimately lost the Democratic Party nomination to Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

Money in politics
cid=N00004207&cycle=2006

Committees and Affiliatoins

 * Member of the Honorary 25th Anniversary Committee, Global Rights
 * Host Committee 2005, Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award

Committees

 * Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry - Chairman
 * Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
 * Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging
 * Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
 * Senate Committee on Appropriations
 * Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science
 * Subcommittee on Defense
 * Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
 * Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
 * Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry - Ranking Minority Member
 * Senate Committee on Appropriations
 * Subcommittee on Agriculture Rural Development and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Commerce Justice and Science
 * Subcommittee on Defense
 * Subcommittee on State Foreign Operations and Related Programs
 * Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services Education and Related Agencies - Ranking Minority Member
 * Subcommittee on Transportation Treasury the Judiciary and Housing and Urban Development
 * Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Bioterrorism Preparendess and Public Health
 * Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development
 * Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
 * Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Affiliations

 * Director, Bread for the World

Contact
DC Office: 731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1502 Phone: 202-224-3254 TTYD Number: 202-224-4633 Fax: 202-224-9369 Web Email Website

District Office - Cedar Rapids: 150 First Avenue Northeast Suite 370 Cedar Rapids, IA 52401 Phone: 319-365-4504 Fax: 319-365-4683

District Office - Davenport: 1606 Brady Street, Suite 323 Davenport, IA 52803 Phone: 563-322-1338 Fax: 563-322-0417

District Office - Des Moines: 210 Walnut Street Federal Building, Room 733 Des Moines, IA 50309 Phone: 515-284-4574 Fax: 515-284-4937

District Office - Dubuque: 350 West Sixth Street Federal Building, Room 315 Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: 563-582-2130 Fax: 563-582-2342

District Office - Sioux City: 320 Sixth Street Federal Building, Room 110 Sioux City, IA 51101 Phone: 712-252-1550 Fax: 712-252-1638

External resources

 * Official website
 * Congressional Biography
 * Technorati Search: Tom Harkin
 * Google News Search: Tom Harkin
 * Yahoo! News Search: Tom Harkin
 * Power Trips: How much does Tom Harkin travel?
 * Thomas (Library of Congress) Congressional bills website
 * See how you compare to Tom Harkin
 * Herbalife
 * Barbara Mikulski - alternative medicine friend

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Bleeding Heartland
 * Diary of a political madman
 * Political Forecast
 * Blog for Iowa
 * Century of the Common Iowan

External articles

 * Harkin Fails to Account for Use of Skybox; Pays Tribes Back by Josephine Hearn, The Hill, 10/20/05
 * Lobbyist Helped Senator Write Tribal Pleas by Sharon Theimer, Associated Press, 12/02/05
 * Kathy Kiely, "Some lawmakers balk at proposed boost in salaries", USA Today, June 26, 2006.
 * John Aravosis, "Ask Susan Collins, Norm Coleman and John Sununu just how well the Democratic message on Iraq is selling," AMERICAblog, April 23, 2007.

Articles by Harkin

 * Harkin, Tom and Thomas, C. E. "Five Minutes to Midnight: Why the Nuclear Threat Is Growing Faster Than Ever" Carol Publishing Corporation (1990) ISBN 1559720425.