Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Congressman-elect Billy Long, MO 7

From CQ Politics, by John Bicknell, CQ Staff, this profile of Billy Long:

12th Congress: Billy Long, R-Mo. (7th District)
Election: Defeated Scott Eckersley, D, to succeed Roy Blunt , R, who ran for Senate
Residence: Springfield

Born: August 11, 1955; Springfield, Mo.

Religion: Presbyterian

Family: Wife, Barbara Long; two children

Education: U. of Missouri, attended 1973-74

Career: Auction company owner; Realtor; radio talk show host

Political highlights: No previous office

Long’s campaign focused on his catch phrase of being “fed up” with what he called career politicians, but he is likely to a dependable vote for GOP leaders on both economic and social issues.

An auctioneer and Realtor, he has never served in elective office before.

But Long isn’t worried about not knowing his way around. He told the Joplin Globe that there is “enough experience in Washington to choke a horse.”

He says his first order of business is to repeal the Democrats’ health care overhaul, which he has called an “unmitigated disaster.” He backs giving small businesses more leeway to join together to buy coverage, health savings accounts and overhauling the medical liability system. Specific to his region, he favors loan forgiveness programs to encourage providers to serve rural areas.

He endorses a balanced-budget constitutional amendment coupled with an amendment to cap taxes at a specified percentage of personal income. And he promises not to “seek, support, or enact earmarks.”

Long also is a strong proponent of free trade, saying the opening up of new markets is essential to growing the economy of his southwest Missouri district. He wants to eliminate “obsolete” agricultural subsidies, but is not specific on which ones qualify as obsolete.

On social issues, Long is just as conservative. He calls himself “100 percent pro-life” and says marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman.


"Long is a strong proponent of free trade, saying the opening up of new markets is essentail to growing the economy of his southwest Missouri district."

Listen as Long and Sarah Steelman discuss how to keep a free market free:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last night, at the watch party, the faithful cheered when Billy was introduced, and cringed when he spoke.

Anonymous said...

omg for a second I thought GQ might have actually posted that video. awkward.

Timeshare Jake said...

I want to hear more about how they cringed when the RINO spoke.

Anonymous said...

Does Billy have a real name?

Anonymous said...

10:37 - exactly. We now are the proud owners of a congressman, a hick, an inbred named,,,,billy.

God help us.

Busplunge said...

from the Washington Post:

To see how Tuesday's midterm rout will change the face of Congress, look no farther than the Bible Belt of southwest Missouri. Voters there replaced Rep. Roy Blunt, a savvy insider, with Billy Long, a smack-talking auctioneer with no college degree but a pithy slogan: "Fed Up."