Erik Paulsen
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Erik Philip Paulsen (born May 14, 1965) is an American businessman and politician who represented in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from 2009 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the
Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...
from 1995 to 2009 and as
majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.
from 2003 to 2007. In
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
Paulsen was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 42B, which covered part of suburban
Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...
. He was reelected six times and, in addition, he was elected by his fellow house Republicans to serve as majority leader from 2003 until 2007. He won the
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district, which covers the western suburbs of the
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...
, and succeeded retiring Republican incumbent
Jim Ramstad James Marvin Ramstad (May 6, 1946 – November 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Minnesota's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Republican Part ...
. Paulsen represented the district in Congress for five terms. He easily won reelection four times, but was defeated in his
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
reelection bid by
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
Dean Phillips. From 2018 until 2019, he served as chair of the Joint Economic Committee.


Early life, education, and career

Born in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
, Paulsen graduated from
Chaska High School Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 912 grade school that is attended by more than 1,500 students. The school masc ...
in Minnesota in 1983. He attended St. Olaf College, and received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
in 1987. After college, Paulsen worked as an
intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
for Republican Senator
Rudy Boschwitz Rudolph Ely Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930) is an American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 1978 until 1991. Boschwitz is a member of the Republican Party. He was born in Berlin to a Jewish ...
from 1989 until Boschwitz was defeated by Democratic challenger
Paul Wellstone Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A ...
in 1990. Paulsen then took a staff position with Republican Representative
Jim Ramstad James Marvin Ramstad (May 6, 1946 – November 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Minnesota's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Republican Part ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
He worked on Ramstad's local congressional campaign in 1992 before seeking election to the
Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...
in 1994. He succeeded Sidney Pauly. From 2007 to 2009 Paulsen worked as a part-time business analyst for
Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...
while a member of the
Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...
.


Minnesota House of Representatives

Paulsen was elected as member of the Republican Party. Before entering politics he was a businessman. He served on the Commerce and Labor, Rules and Legislative Administration, Taxes, and Ways and Means committees.


U.S. House of Representatives


Elections

;2008 ;2010 ;2012 ;2014 ;2016 ;2018


Committee assignments

* The Bicameral Joint Economic Committee * The House Committee on Ways and Means ** Subcommittee on Health ** Subcommittee on Trade


Town halls

In 2017 a group of constituents sought signatures on a petition asking Paulsen to hold public town hall meetings. His campaign primarily held townhalls over the phone with campaign aides screening questions, in addition to business tours and private meetings. Paulsen was invited to attend a "With or Without Him" town hall meeting but declined. On May 30, 2018, Paulsen held three in-person town hall meetings in the 3rd district. During the events he distanced himself from
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 ...
and congressional leaders.


Political positions

Paulsen was a member of the
Republican Main Street Partnership The Republican Main Street Partnership is a 501(c)(4) organization that was allied with the congressional Republican Main Street Caucus. The Partnership continues to exist, while the Caucus was dissolved by its members in February 2019. Hist ...
, the
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 ...
, the
Congressional Arts Caucus The Congressional Arts Caucus is a registered Congressional Member Organization for the US House of Representatives in the 115th Congress. History The Congressional Arts Caucus was created in the 1980s as a way for the various members of Congres ...
, the
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus The U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus, founded in September 2003, is a bipartisan congressional organization with the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation and the interests to advanc ...
and the
Climate Solutions Caucus The Climate Solutions Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of U.S. legislators supported by the Citizens' Climate Lobby whose members work to achieve action addressing the risks from climate change. The House of Representatives and Senate each have a ...
. Paulsen opposed the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (, ) is a landmark federal statute in the United States that was the first bill signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009. The act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...
. He voted against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Paulsen introduced the Text a Tip Act to the House in 2010. The bill would have allowed users to send tips about crimes to a third party, removing all identifying information about the source before the police received the message. The bill died in committee and was not adopted. In 2010 Paulsen cosponsored a draft of the Small Business Assistance and Relief Act intended to provide increased lending and aid for small businesses and ease their financial burden. Paulsen supported the special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump's
dismissal of James Comey James Comey, the seventh Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was fired by U.S. President Donald Trump on May 9, 2017. Comey had been criticized in 2016 for his handling of the FBI's investigation of the Hillary Clinton email ...
. In February 2017 Paulsen voted against requesting Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department.
FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...
found that Paulsen voted with Trump 98% of the time, and was the third-most partisan Republican in the House when compared to his district's voting patterns.Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump
accessed September 25, 2018


Economy

Paulsen helped to author the Republican tax reform of 2017, the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 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 ...
. Paulsen supported continuing the Bush-era tax cuts and global
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
agreements. He voted for the fiscal 2012 federal budget plan that provided for substantial overhaul of Medicare, including replacement of the traditional program with a premium support payment for private health insurance coverage for Americans under age 55. Paulsen voted against the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
and Dodd-Frank.


Health care

In 2009 Paulsen expressed opposition to a
public health insurance option The public health insurance option, also known as the public insurance option or the public option, is a proposal to create a government-run health insurance agency that would compete with other private health insurance companies within the Unite ...
and instead supported a Republican alternative plan. At an April 7, 2010, Republican rally in Minneapolis, Paulsen described the Affordable Care Act as a "government takeover of health care," a claim that
Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...
said "isn't correct." Paulsen voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In January 2017 he voted for the budget reconciliation provision to begin the process of ACA repeal. On May 4, 2017, Paulsen voted to repeal the
Patient Protection and 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 Presi ...
(Obamacare) and for the
American Health Care Act The American Health Care Act of 2017 (often shortened to the AHCA or nicknamed Trumpcare) was a bill in the 115th United States Congress. The bill, which was passed by the United States House of Representatives but not by the United States S ...
.
In February 2018 Paulsen sponsored legislation to repeal caps on Medicare outpatient services such as physical therapy. Paulsen introduced legislation to combat opioid abuse by educating seniors about non-opioid alternative pain treatments and ways to safely dispose of addictive painkillers.


Immigration

Paulsen was a longtime proponent of immigration reform and supported granting temporary legal status to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, saying he supported "ensuring that young people who came to the United States through no fault of their own and have done nothing wrong are able to be valuable contributors to our country." In May 2018 Paulsen joined House Democrats in signing a "discharge petition" to force the House to vote on a series of immigration bills, including one that would provide permanent legal status to those who came to the country illegally as children. Paulsen did not support building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, citing its projected multi-billion-dollar cost.


Environment

Paulsen had a lifetime rating of 16% from the League of Conservation Voters. He called for an end to Minnesota's ban on building
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
plants, saying that "trying to meet our energy needs without using nuclear energy is a little bit like trying to row a boat with one oar." Along with 95% of Republicans and 17% of Democrats, he voted against the
American Clean Energy and Security Act The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress () that would have established a variant of an emissions trading plan similar to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The bil ...
, which would have imposed a cap-and-trade system. Paulsen voted against allowing copper-sulfide mining in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.


LGBT rights

In 2010 Paulsen voted against a bill repealing the U.S. military's "
don't ask, don't tell "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on Decemb ...
" policy. In 2017 he voted for an amendment that would have defunded transition-related healthcare for transgender soldiers in the military.


Guns

From 2007 through 2018 Paulsen received $21,150 in campaign contributions from the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
(NRA), which gave him an "A" rating. As of June 2016 he had voted 13 times against bringing gun safety bills to the House floor. In February 2018 Paulsen said he would support a ban on bump stocks, strengthened background checks, a lifting of the ban on federal research for gun violence, and gun violence restraining orders. In May 2018 Paulsen co-sponsored the Jake Laird Act, which provides grants to encourage states to adopt gun violence restraining order laws. Gun violence restraining orders enable local law enforcement to seize and retain firearms from people who are determined to be an imminent danger to themselves or others. In December 2017 Paulsen voted for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which allows people with a concealed carry permit in one state to legally travel with hidden guns to any other state.


Legislation

On February 13, 2013, Paulsen introduced the National Park Service 100th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act (H.R. 627; 113th Congress), a bill that would direct the
Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
to mint and issue
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
,
silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
, and half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
(NPS). The coins would all have a surcharge attached, the money from which would be given to the
National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official charity of the National Park Service (NPS) and its national park sites. The NPF was chartered by Congress in 1967 with a charge to "further the conservation of natural, scenic, historic, scientif ...
. Paulsen strongly supported a bill that would make it easier for nonbank financial institutions such as money service businesses to provide
remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wit ...
payments internationally. He argued that the bill would make it easier for American immigrants "supporting their extended families overseas" to help their relatives, while still "providing the necessary safeguards to ensure their money reaches its intended destination." On November 21, 2013, Paulsen introduced the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2013 (H.R. 3610; 113th Congress), a bill that would require each state, within three years, to have in effect legislation that: (1) treats a minor who has engaged or attempted to engage in a commercial sex act as a victim of a severe form of
trafficking in persons Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extract ...
, (2) discourages the charging or prosecution of such an individual for a
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
or sex trafficking offense, and (3) encourages the diversion of such individual to child protection services. The bill was scheduled to be voted on in the House on May 20, 2014 under a
suspension of the rules In parliamentary procedure, a suspension of the rules allows a deliberative assembly to set aside its normal rules to do something that it could not do otherwise. However, there are rules that cannot be suspended. Explanation of use Rules are ess ...
. With Democratic U.S. Senator
Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...
, Paulsen led an effort to repeal an excise tax on medical devices imposed by the
Patient Protection and 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 Presi ...
. The bill passed the House one vote shy of a veto-proof majority. A two-year suspension of the tax was included in a 2015 year-end funding bill.Zdechlik, Mark
With Special Tax Suspended, Medical Device Firms Reap Big Savings. ''npr.'' 16 February 2016.
/ref>H.R. 2029 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. ''Congress.gov.'' 18 December 2015.
/ref> Also in 2015 Paulsen authored a bill to provide tax incentives to encourage food donations and wrote a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act that requires the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
to return all military working dogs to the United States after completing their service. The
American Humane Association American Humane (AH) is an organization founded in 1877 committed to ensuring the safety, welfare, and well-being of animals. It was previously called the International Humane Association before changing its name in 1878. In 1940, it became t ...
strongly advocated passage of this provision.


Personal life

During college at St. Olaf, Paulsen met his wife Kelly. As of 2014, the Paulsens have four daughters and lived in
Eden Prairie Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...
. Paulsen serves as a board member of the Eden Prairie A Brighter Day Foundation, Habitat for Global Learning, Habitat for Technology and the Southdale YMCA. He is a member of the American Council of Young Political Leaders and the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce, and volunteers for Learning Exchange. Paulsen has participated in the inaugural two-year class of the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, the Young Leaders Forum of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and the American Council of Young Political Leaders.http://paulsen.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=98§iontree-2,98 He has been granted an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, and a Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the United States.


See also

* List of United States representatives from Minnesota *
United States congressional delegations from Minnesota These are tables of congressional delegations from Minnesota to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The current dean of the Minnesota delegation is Representative Betty McCollum (MN-4), having served in the ...


References


External links

* * * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulsen, Erik Philip 1965 births 21st-century American politicians American Lutherans American people of Norwegian descent Living people Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives People from Eden Prairie, Minnesota Politicians from Bakersfield, California Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota St. Olaf College alumni United States congressional aides