Bruce Frank Vento (October 7, 1940 – October 10, 2000) was an American politician, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 until his death in 2000, representing .

Early life

Vento was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and was educated at the

University of Minnesota Twin Cities The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. T ...

in Minneapolis, where he received his BA in 1961. He later, in 1965, received a B.S with honors, from the

University of Wisconsin River Falls A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. He was a public school teacher in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

prior to entering politics.

Career

Vento served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1971 until 1976 before entering the House. Vento is recognized for his efforts in cleaning the environment and promoting affordable housing. He is also widely known for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1986, which provides federal money for shelter programs.

Honors

The

Bruce Vento Regional Trail The Bruce Vento Regional Trail is a rail trail in the cities of Vadnais Heights, Gem Lake, Maplewood, and Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. The trail occupies an abandoned Burlington Northern Railroad corridor and intersects with the Gateway St ...

runs through

. Along this path, by the Johnson Parkway just north of Phalen Avenue, a memorial grove has also been named in his honor. The

Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary The Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary is a city park in the Mississippi River corridor in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Just east of the city's downtown district, the sanctuary includes towering limestone and sandstone bluffs that date back more than 450 mil ...

, a former railroad yard and informal trash dumping area in Lowertown St. Paul is also named for the Congressman, who lived nearby and supported this model reclamation project. East Consolidated Elementary School in St. Paul was renamed Bruce Vento Elementary School in 2000.

Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act

Vento introduced the first bill in the US Congress to grant honorary U.S. citizenship to Laotian and Hmong veterans who served in the "U.S. Secret Army" in Laos during the Vietnam War. The legislation, the

Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 2000 The Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 2000 is &Se legislation which granted Hmong and ethnic Laotian veterans, who were legal refugee aliens in the US (political refugees, facing political persecution, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations ...

was passed by the House and Senate following his death and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Vento worked with the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Veterans of America Institute, the Center for Public Policy Analysis and others to research and advance the legislation in Congress, Washington, D.C., and the Lao- and

Hmong-American Hmong Americans ( RPA: ''Hmoob Mes Kas'', Pahawh Hmong: "") are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Many Hmong Americans immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s. Over half of the Hmong population from Laos left the country, or att ...

community. Vento worked with Hmong elders and community leaders in the Twin Cities and across the United States, including Cherzong Vang, Colonel Wangyee Vang and others to build support for the legislation which took over 10 years to gain the bipartisan support for passage on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

, Congress and the White House.

Death

Vento died in 2000 while still a member of Congress from

pleural The pleural cavity, pleural space, or interpleural space is the potential space between the pleurae of the pleural sac that surrounds each lung. A small amount of serous pleural fluid is maintained in the pleural cavity to enable lubrication bet ...

mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, as a result of exposure to

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

. He died shortly before the 2000 election, in which he was not running for another term, so no special election or new candidates were needed to replace him.

References

External links

Minnesota Legislators Past and Present
* The Bruce Vent
Papers
including extensive records of his congressional service, are available for research use at th
Minnesota Historical Society.Bruce Vento Elementary School History
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vento, Bruce 1940 births 2000 deaths Catholics from Minnesota Deaths from cancer in Minnesota Deaths from mesothelioma American politicians of Italian descent Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives University of Wisconsin–River Falls alumni Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Hmong people 20th-century American politicians