POLS 1602

Who are the people in the

House of Representatives
Congressman Paul C. Broun M.D.
Jacqueline Bedrin

This paper is an in depth look into the United States Congressman Paul C. Broun M.D. It explores key
aspects about him in order to provide a better understanding of his role in congress and how he got
there. It also looks at some of the specific characteristics of the 10th Congregational District of
Georgia in order to show who it is that he actually represents.
 The congressman that I researched is Paul C. Broun, M.D. he represents the 10th Congregational District of

Georgia and is a republican. Congressman Broun was elected in July of 2007; prior to being elected he practiced

general medicine for most of his career. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves as a jet engine mechanic,

later he then was commissioned as a medical officer in the Navy. His first experience with politics came at the age

of sixteen when his father Paul Broun Sr. won a seat in the Georgia State Senate; he represented the Athens area as a

State Senator for 38 years. Paul Jr. would later dive into politics as a volunteer lobbyist for Safari Club International

(a pro-hunting and conservation organization).Then becoming a conservative Republican United States

Representative.

Since being elected Congressman Broun has been appointed to a number of committees. The first is the

House of Homeland Security Committee, where he is Vice Ranking Member of Intelligence. He also belongs to two

subcommittees within the House Homeland Security Committee the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information

Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science and

Technology. He also is assigned to the House Committee on Science and Technology. He also serves on the

Technology and Innovation Subcommittee, and investigation and oversight in which he is Ranking Member. The

last committee assignment he has is the House Committee on Natural Resources. He is also chairman of the Second

Amendment Task Force that opposes the Obama administration's plan to shift dozens of enforcement agents and

step up gun and drug smuggling prosecutions in the fight against Mexican drug cartels. He was also the founding

President of the Georgia Republican Assembly, and President of the Georgia Sport Shooting Association (the NRA

state affiliate).

The 10th Congregational District of Georgia is 51.99% urban and 48.01% rural. It is located in northeastern

Georgia, and includes the cities of Athens, Evans, Augusta, Watkinsville, and Toccoa. The demographics for the

district are as follows in regards to race 73.1% are White, 19.0% Black, 4.5% Hispanic, 1.8% Asian, and 0.3%

Native American. The median income for the district is $43,135 and the poverty rate is 11.7%. In addition 27.9%

earn below $25,000, 26.0% make in between $25,000-$50,000, and 29.6% make $50,000-$100,000. Additionally

12.0% earn $100,000-$200,000, and 2.8% make $200,000 or more. In regard to educational background in the 10th

district about 80.6% of people are High school graduates, and 24.3% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. When it

comes to age 23.7% are under 18 and 12.6% are 65 and older in the 10th district of Georgia.
 Congressman Broun was first elected in a special election to fill the seat of Charles Whitlow Norwood in

2007. In this election he defeated Senator Jim Whitehead with less than 1% of the vote in a runoff. Then In 2008 he

was re-nominated in July of 2008 in the Primary. He won election to a full term in 2008 by defeating Democrat

Bobby Saxon with 61 % of the vote. Broun twice ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House, and ran unsuccessfully for

the U.S. Senate in 1996. In this past election he was re-elected beating Democrat Russell James Edwards with a

percentage of 67.36% of the votes. In the 2008 presidential election 37% of the district voted for Barack Obama

while 62% voted for John McCain.

There are a number of pieces of legislation that Congressman Broun has sponsored, there have been 27

bills since January of 2007, 26 of those never made it out of committee and none of them were enacted. Broun has

also co-sponsored 365 bills in that same time. Congressman Broun is considered to be a far-right republican and

many of the bills he sponsors and supports represents these views. Some significant legislation that Congressman

Broun sponsored is bill H.R. 4157 which provided that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization. He

has also introduced H.R. 4100, the JOBS (Jumpstarting Our Business Sector) Act of 2009, to provide relief to small

businesses so they can create jobs, while also rescinding and recouping all unspent tax dollars from the American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He also cosponsored H.R. 997 that declared English as the official language of the

U.S., H.R. 1586 which proposed to repeal the Federal estate and gift taxes, and H.R. 1399 which would restore

Second Amendment rights in the District of Columbia. Congressman Broun’s political agenda includes leading the

fight for fiscal responsibility. He proposed to do this by working to cut wasteful government spending, in doing so

putting more dollars back in the pockets of taxpayers. He is also a leader for Positive Change based on sound

conservative principles. He is also working to end the culture of corruption in Washington, D.C., lower taxes, stop

illegal immigration, and strengthen national security.

Congressman Broun votes with his party about 88% of the time. There are many interest groups which

support Congressman Broun. One of the most recent interest groups is the Gun Owners of America they gave him a

grade of A+. In addition most of the interest groups dealing with gun laws rated him very high. In 2009

Representative Broun supported the interests of the National Taxpayers Union and was rated 96%. In the same year

he supported 100% the American Conservative Union, the American Conservative Union-Lifetime, the Campaign
for Working Families, and the Eagle Forum. He also received a rating of 90% from the American Security Council

Foundation in 2009.

Congressman Brouns campaign financial statistics from January 1st 2009 to October 13th 2010 for the most

recent election are as follows: in total contributions he received $1,802,080 the majority of this came from of

itemized individual contributions in the amount of $920,436, $626,305 was from un-itemized individual

contributions, and $255,140 came from other committees contributions. He also received only $200 from party

committee contributions. His total operating expenditures were $1,518,216. At the end of his campaign Broun was

left with $158,072 in cash on hand, and had a debt of $75,000.

Georgia utilizes a primary election in order to select candidates for subsequent elections. According to the

Georgia Code primaries occur the third Tuesday in July in each even-numbered year, and in municipalities on the

third Tuesday in July in each odd-numbered year. Primaries are held in the same manner at general elections. In

regards to leadership in the Congress Broun is somewhere between a leader and a follower. This is because he

sponsors others’ bills and other Members of Congress cosponsor Broun’s bills.
 References

http://www.paulbroun.com/
http://broun.house.gov/
http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/61650
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=412252
http://www.opencongress.org/person/show/412252_paul_broun
www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php