Buck McKeon



Howard Philip "Buck" McKeon, a Republican, has represented the 25th District of California in the U. S. House of Representatives since 1993. (map)

Biography
McKeon was born in Los Angeles, California on September 9, 1938. Educated at Brigham Young University, and was a business owner and member of the Santa Clarita Valley City Council before entering the House.

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Roberto J. Rodriguez, and the Libertarian Party nominated David W. Erickson to face McKeon in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)  McKeon retained his seat.

Iraq War
McKeon voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

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

Pays wife for campaign work
In October 2006, the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based non-profit organization which advocates better transparency in government, reported that McKeon’s campaign committee paid his wife $74,462 to serve as the campaign’s treasurer during 2005-2006. 

War spending hawk
Philip Giraldi, the former CIA officer and analyst, had this to say about McKeon:
 * And then there is the congressional propensity to conceal additional spending in legislation that is normally passed without a great deal of debate. It is perhaps no coincidence that on May 7 the Republican spokesman, the redoubtable Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, released his party’s proposal for increased defense spending (yes, increased) for 2013. McKeon, who has never served in the military and who was holds a bachelor of science degree in animal husbandry from Brigham Young University, is an uber-hawk who relies heavily on campaign contributions from the defense industry. Perhaps “Buck” should consider changing his sobriquet to “Warbucks,” but as he probably lacks a sense of humor, it would be wasted on him. Included in the proposed defense bill is a cool $1 billion for Israel to upgrade its missile defenses. Money for Israel inserted in the U.S. defense budget suggests that Congress believes that defense of the U.S. and defense of Israel are pretty much conjoined at the hip. That’s on top of the $3 billion Tel Aviv already receives and the numerous defense co-production programs that it benefits from, which will clearly be expanded if 4133 is any indication. The media predictably underreported the largesse for Israel with a couple of lines hidden away in a story in The Washington Post about overall defense spending.

Giraldi concludes:
 * If Buck McKeon and his friends on the House Armed Services Committee want to give Israel a billion dollars and actually believe it serves the U.S. national interest, why do they hide it in a procurement bill for the defense of the United States? If historians 100 years from now seek to explain how a great power committed seemingly intentional national suicide, they will have to look no further than the voting record of the U.S. Congress.

Committees

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces
 * Subcommittee on Readiness
 * House Committee on Education and Labor -Ranking
 * Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities

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

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Readiness
 * Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
 * House Committee on Education and the Workforce - Chair
 * Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations
 * Trustee of the Meridian International Center

Contact
DC Office: 2351 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-0525 Phone: 202-225-1956 Fax: 202-226-0683 Web Email Website

District Office- Palmdale: 1008 West Avenue M-14, Suite E-1 Palmdale, CA 93551 Phone: 661-274-9688 Fax: 661-274-8744

District Office- Santa Clarita: 26650 The Old Road, Suite 203 Santa Clarita, CA 91355 Phone: 661-254-2111 Fax: 661-254-2380

Resources

 * Official website
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database
 * Sunlight Foundation: Congressional Family Business Project

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Calitics
 * Tiger Beat: Music, Culture, and Politics

Articles

 * Selling Out Higher Education Policy? by Stephen Burd, Chronicle for Higher Education, 7/30/04.
 * Online Colleges Receive a Boost from Congress by Sam Dillon, New York Times, 3/1/06.