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Sen. Robert "Bob" F. Bennett


Self Description

August 2006: "Reelected to a third term in the United States Senate in 2004, Senator Bob Bennett continues to serve the citizens of Utah with distinction. In his position as Chief Deputy Majority Whip and a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, Senator Bennett joins Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Majority Whip Mitch McConnell in managing strategy and schedule in the Republican-led Senate. As Vice Chairman of the distinguished Joint Economic Committee and a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, the Utah senator is at the center of national economic policy discussions.

From his seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Bennett works to balance fiscal discipline in government while also representing the needs of Utah in the distribution of federal funds. The Utah Republican also serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Senate Rules Committee. Named an "Emerging Leader in a Post-September 11 Senate" by Congressional Quarterly Magazine, Bennett has received numerous awards for his contributions in the U.S. Senate....

Prior to his election to the Senate in 1992, Bennett earned distinction in entrepreneurial and government activities. For his success as chief executive officer of the Franklin International Institute Bennett was named Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year" for the Rocky Mountain region. His Washington, D.C. experience includes service as chief congressional liaison at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Born September 18, 1933, in Salt Lake City, Bennett is the son of former four-term U.S. Senator Wallace F. Bennett and Frances Grant Bennett. He is a 1957 graduate and former student-body president of the University of Utah."

http://bennett.senate.gov/bennettinthesenate/biography.html

Third-Party Descriptions

July 2009: "That is the thinking behind the proposal of Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) to replace employer-provided plans with a tax deduction and subsidies people would use to purchase an individual plan. The idea is that health-care consumers would become cost-conscious and force insurers to lower prices and providers to deliver care in more cost-effective ways."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072902035.html

June 2009: "One idea embodied in a bill sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Senator Robert F. Bennett, Republican of Utah, is to finance new health care programs by taxing health insurance benefits. This makes sense in principle: why should insurance benefits be favored over salary by our tax system? But employer-supplied insurance is a mainstay of the current health care system, and there is no adequate replacement immediately in sight."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/business/economy/14view.html

September 2006: However, even Matz, along with many other environmentalists, balks at a bill being pushed by Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R) and Rep. Jim Matheson (D), both of Utah, that would sell as much as 40 square miles of federal land -- nearly twice the size of Manhattan -- and use the profits to pay for a water pipeline and other area projects.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/23/AR2006092301124.html

August 2006: "In 2005, Congress passed a law that gives religious groups a limited right to recruit illegal aliens as church volunteers or missionaries. (Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah introduced the legislation at the behest of the Mormon Church.) The illegal immigrants would still be subject to arrest, but church officials couldn't be prosecuted for taking them on."

http://www.slate.com/id/2147879

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Franklin Quest Organization Aug 19, 2006
Member of (past or present) Republican Party (U.S.) / Republican National Committee Organization Aug 19, 2006
Member of (past or present) US Senate Organization Aug 19, 2006
Student/Trainee (past or present) University of Utah Organization Aug 19, 2006
Colleague/Co-worker of (past or present) Senator Bill Frist M.D. Person Aug 19, 2006
Colleague/Co-worker of (past or present) Senator Mitch McConnell Person Aug 19, 2006

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Sep 16, 2009 Citing Risks, U.S. Seeks New Rules for Niche Banks (Back to Business)

QUOTE: While they [niche banks that give loans to business] have brought billions of dollars in deposits, thousands of jobs and millions in charitable donations to Salt Lake City, the banks have also drawn fire from Washington.

 New York Times
Jul 30, 2009 Would Tax on Benefits Rein In Spending?s Debate

QUOTE: The heath-care bill that has been wending its way through the Senate Finance Committee is likely to contain a provision that President Obama opposed during his campaign: a tax on at least some employer-provided insurance plans....A vocal minority of participants in the debate warn that the effect of taxing health-care benefits is being overstated. They concede there is a case for limiting the tax exemption -- to raise money for universal coverage, as well as to equalize the status between employer benefits and individual coverage bought with after-tax money -- but say the strategy is no golden key for reining in costs.

 Washington Post
Jul 12, 2009 Are 'Grassroots Activists' For Real?

QUOTE: some “grassroots” movements are actually sophisticated marketing campaigns financed by businesses and special-interest groups.
Jun 13, 2009 Economic View: Something’s Got to Give in Medicare Spending

QUOTE: the Obama administration talks of empowering an independent board of experts to judge the comparative effectiveness of health care expenditures; the goal is to limit or withdraw Medicare support for ineffective ones. This idea is long overdue, and the critics who contend that it amounts to “rationing” or “the government telling you which medical treatments you can have” are missing the point.

 New York Times
Apr 20, 2008 Ethics Law Isn’t Without Its Loopholes

QUOTE: Starting Monday, Washington lobbyists must file detailed quarterly reports of their activities...But even as they try to figure out what the law requires, lobbyists are working to preserve the access and influence they have in Congress and at federal agencies.

 New York Times
Jan 10, 2008 Ex-CIA Official May Refuse To Testify About Videotapes

QUOTE: The [subpoena] comes as part of an escalating, three-way confrontation between Congress, the Justice Department and a group of former CIA officials involved in the decision to destroy the videotapes, which showed the use of harsh interrogation tactics on two suspected al-Qaeda operatives in 2002.

 Washington Post
May 12, 2007 Bank May Vote No Confidence In Wolfowitz

QUOTE: The World Bank executive board has concluded that the bank's president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, broke ethics rules in engineering a hefty pay raise for his girlfriend, and plans to try to end his tenure next week, senior bank officials said yesterday.

 Washington Post
Sep 24, 2006 Wilderness Designation Trade-Offs Faulted: Environmentalists Say Bills to Protect a Million Acres Come With Too High a Price

QUOTE: Congress is on the verge of approving half a dozen bills that would protect as much as 1 million acres of wilderness areas across the West, but the move has infuriated environmentalists who charge that lawmakers are giving away too much pristine public land to real estate developers and local communities in the process.

 Washington Post
Sep 04, 2006 True Wilderness, and False

QUOTE: This is, in short, a raid on national resources aimed at helping private developers. It is the worst sort of Congressional earmarking. And it gives true wilderness bills a reputation they do not deserve.

 New York Times
Aug 16, 2006 Can Criminals Hide in Churches? On the tradition of religious sanctuary.

QUOTE: Religious institutions in America don't have special permission to harbor criminals or protect them from the government. That hasn't stopped pastors from trying...In 2005, Congress passed a law that gives religious groups a limited right to recruit illegal aliens as church volunteers or missionaries.

 Slate
Jan 15, 2002 A Time for Outrage . . .

QUOTE: "I am unaware of any evidence that supports the allegation there was improper selling by members of the board or senior management," Bennett said. But "improper" is a word dipped in Teflon, so slippery it flips out of your hand like a thrashing fish.

 Washington Post