Barry Dean Loudermilk (born December 22, 1963) is an American
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from the state of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
who has been the U.S. representative from since 2015. The district covers a large slice of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
's northern suburbs, including
Marietta
Marietta may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Marietta, Jacksonville, Florida
*Marietta, Georgia, the largest US city named Marietta
*Marietta, Illinois
*Marietta, Indiana
*Marietta, Kansas
*Marietta, Minnesota
*Marietta, Mississippi
*Mar ...
,
Acworth and
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
, and a sliver of Atlanta itself.
Loudermilk won the Republican nomination for the seat in a runoff on July 22, 2014, over
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence Barr Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is an American attorney and politician. He served as a federal prosecutor and as a United States House of Representatives, Congressman. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Re ...
, and won the general election on November 4, 2014. He was reelected to a second term on November 8, 2016.
Early life and career
Loudermilk was born in
Riverdale, Georgia
Riverdale is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 15,134 at the 2010 census, up from 12,478 in 2000. Riverdale is a suburb just south of Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is part of the Atlanta ...
. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
, where he worked as a Communications Operations Specialist for command, control and intelligence operations.
Loudermilk served at duty stations in Texas, Hawaii and Alaska.
Loudermilk left the Air Force in 1992.
Loudermilk attended the
Community College of the Air Force
The Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) is a federal program offered by the United States Air Force and United States Space Force which grants two-year Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees in association with Air University. CCAF se ...
to receive his
Associate of Applied Science
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The fi ...
in 1987 before going on to receive his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
from
Wayland Baptist University
Wayland Baptist University (WBU) is a private Baptist university based in Plainview, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Southern Baptist Convention). Wayland Baptist has 11 campuses in five Texas cities, six ...
in 1992. He was a member of the
Georgia State Senate
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Legal provisions
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia ...
for almost three years, representing the 14th district. He served in the
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
from 2005 until 2011. Loudermilk resigned from the state senate on August 27, 2013, to focus on his congressional bid.
Loudermilk is a native of Georgia. He entered politics in 2001, when he was elected chairman of the Bartow County Republican Party, serving until 2004. He was subsequently elected to the State House. Loudermilk was elected to the State Senate in 2010, and was sworn in in 2011. As a state senator, he served as chair of the Senate Science and Technology Committee and as Secretary to the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security and Public Safety Committees. He was also a member of the Senate Transportation Committee. He holds an associate degree in telecommunications technology and a Bachelor of Science in occupational education and information systems technology.
Loudermilk is a former member of the
Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and farth ...
and has been endorsed by evangelical Christian minister
David Barton.
U.S. House of Representatives
Tenure
In February 2017, Loudermilk co-sponsored
H.R. 861, which would eliminate the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
by 2018.
In September 2017, the Georgia-based credit bureau
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion (together known as the "Big Thr ...
revealed a data breach that affected 143 million Americans and was characterized by technology journalists as "very possibly the worst leak of personal info ever to have happened". Four months earlier, Loudermilk, who had received $2,000 in campaign contributions from Equifax as part of an extensive
lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
effort, introduced a bill that would reduce consumer protections in relation to the nation's credit bureaus, including capping potential damages in a
class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
suit to $500,000 regardless of class size or amount of loss.
[Weisbaum, Herb]
"Republicans in Congress Want to Roll Back Regulations on Credit Bureaus"
NBC News, September 11, 2017, Retrieved September 18, 2017 The bill would also eliminate all
punitive damages
Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...
.
After criticism from consumer advocates, Loudermilk agreed to delay consideration of the bill "pending a full and complete investigation into the Equifax breach."
Committee assignments
*
Committee on Financial Services
The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...
**
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
**
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
*
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
**
Subcommittee on Environment
**
Subcommittee on Oversight
*
Committee on House Administration
The United States House Committee on House Administration deals with the general administration matters of the United States House of Representatives.
History
The Committee on House Administration was created by the Legislative Reorganization A ...
Caucus memberships
*
Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana.
Although the prim ...
*
U.S.-Japan Caucus
Allegations of aiding the January 6 United States Capitol attack
On May 19, 2022, the
United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan Select or special committee (United States Congress), select committee of the U.S. House of ...
requested that Loudermilk appear for an interview about a tour he led of the United States Capitol Complex on January 5, 2021, the day before the
2021 United States Capitol attack
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...
. House Democrats had suggested Loudermilk aided in the attack, which he and House Republicans disputed. In June, Capitol police concluded that there was nothing suspicious about Loudermilk's tour. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said, "There is no evidence that Representative Loudermilk entered the U.S. Capitol with this group on January 5, 2021." The next day, the committee released video of Loudermilk leading the tour of the Capitol Complex on January 5 in areas "not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints"; the footage showed the group walking through tunnels underneath the Capitol, but not within the main building. A man in the tour group can also be seen taking photos of hallways. The committee then shared footage claiming the man was at the riot, showing footage of a man at the storming of the Capitol the next day.
Although he first denied it and then charged Representative
Mikie Sherrill
Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherrill (; born January 19, 1972) is an American politician, former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, attorney, and former federal prosecutor
An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service ...
with an ethics violation for revealing that it happened, Loudermilk admitted that he took people on a tour of the Capitol Complex on January 5, 2021, the day before the attack on the Capitol.
Political positions
Loudermilk has an 83% score from conservative political advocacy group
Heritage Action
Heritage Action for America, more commonly known simply as Heritage Action, is a Conservatism in the United States, conservative policy advocacy organization founded in 2010. Heritage Action, which has affiliates throughout the United States, is ...
for his voting record.
Health care
Loudermilk supports reforming
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
,
Medicare and
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
. He wants to repeal and replace the
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
("Obamacare"). He compared the 2017 Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare to the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Loudermilk did not
vaccinate
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.[ ...]
his children against the
mumps
MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...
or
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
. He believes that it is up to parents, not the government, to decide whether children receive vaccines.
Donald Trump
Loudermilk said he considers the presidency of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
a "movement" and has praised the concept of "
Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" or MAGA is an American political slogan popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants in ...
." He has credited
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member o ...
, rather than Trump, with Republican success in Congress.
In 2017, Loudermilk called Ryan a "revolutionary thinker."
In December 2019, Loudermilk likened the impeachment of Trump to the crucifixion of Jesus. In a floor speech, he said, "When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers... During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this President in this process", a fact pattern disputed by religious scholarship and rated by
PolitiFact
PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...
as "false."
In December 2020, Loudermilk was one of 126 Republican members of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
to sign an
amicus brief
An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...
in support of ''
Texas v. Pennsylvania
''Texas v. Pennsylvania'', 592 U.S. ___ (2020), was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in certain states, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump.
Fil ...
'', a lawsuit filed at the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
contesting the results of the
2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**C ...
, in which
Joe Biden defeated Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked
standing
Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
under
Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.
On January 7, 2021, Loudermilk and 139 other House Republicans voted against certifying Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes, despite no evidence of widespread election fraud.
Economic issues
In 2016, the
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic policy issues. Club for Growth's largest funders are the billionaires Jeff Yass and Richard U ...
named Loudermilk a "defender of economic freedom" for his conservative voting record on the economy.
Loudermilk supports a
balanced budget amendment
A balanced budget amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that a state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government.
Balanced-budget provisions have been added t ...
but does not consider it "politically viable."
Loudermilk supports
tax reform
Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxatio ...
and voted for the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs A ...
. He called the act a "big Christmas present" for his constituents, claiming it would reduce the deficit, improve the lives of all Americans, and cause more companies to hire due to increased revenues. He said, "I could understand it if all we were doing was just giving a corporate tax break—you could make that argument. But the bulk of the tax reform is giving middle-income Americans a significant tax cut."
Loudermilk supports dismantling the IRS and establishing a
flat tax
A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressiv ...
system.
Abortion
Loudermilk is
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
and believes that life starts at conception. He supports the
right to life
The right to life is the belief that a being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including capital punishment, with some people seeing it as ...
movement and has said, "Life is the ultimate right endowed by God and it is the responsibility of governments to protect that right, not to destroy it."
LGBT rights
Loudermilk opposes federal legalization of
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
, believing it should be decided by states. In 2015, Loudermilk condemned the Supreme Court decision in ''
Obergefell v. Hodges
''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...
'', which held that same-sex marriage bans violated the constitution. He has supported the
First Amendment Defense Act
The First Amendment Defense Act (often abbreviated FADA) () is a bill introduced into the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate on June 17, 2015. The Senate sponsor of the bill is Mike Lee (R-Utah), and the House sponsor i ...
.
See also
* ''
''
References
External links
Congressman Barry Loudermilkofficial U.S. House website
Barry Loudermilk for Congress*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudermilk, Barry
1963 births
21st-century American politicians
Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
Living people
Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
People from Bartow County, Georgia
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)