Robert Joseph Wittman is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for, serving since a special election in 2007. The district stretches from the fringes of the Washington suburbs to the Hampton Roads area. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Early life, education and career
Wittman was born in Washington, D.C., the son of adoptive parents Regina C. and Frank Joseph Wittman. His father was of German descent and his mother's ancestors included immigrants from Ireland and Canada. He grew up in Henrico County, Virginia. He attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University as a member of the Corps of Cadets and Army ROTC and studied biology. While at Virginia Tech, he spent the summers working at a tomato cannery and on a fishing vessel. Also while he was in college, Wittman was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He later earned a master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990 and a Ph. D. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. Wittman worked for 20 years with the Virginia Department of Health. He served as an environmental health specialist and later was field director for the Division of Shellfish Sanitation. Wittman served on the Montross Town Council from 1986 to 1996 and as Mayor of the Town of Montross from 1992 to 1996. Two of his major accomplishments in this office were the overhaul of the sewage system and the development of a computerized system for tax billing. From 1996 to 2005, Wittman served on the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, the last two years as chairman. He helped with the creation of new libraries and pushed for raises in teacher salaries.
In 2005, Wittman was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 99th district. He served on the Agricultural; Chesapeake and Natural Resources; and Police and Public Safety Committees while in the state House.
In 2010, Wittman stated platforms include support for corporate tax cuts, expanding broadband, and cutting spending. Wittman is the cosponsor of legislation that would place a 2-year moratorium on capital gains and dividends taxes, cut the payroll tax rate and the self-employed tax rate in half for two years, and reduce the lowest income brackets by 5% each. He also favors deregulation. He co-sponsored a personhood bill in Congress that defined life as beginning at conception. In 2012 Wittman said he would consider cutting pay and benefits for service members who join the military in the future in order to avoid closing bases or cutting the number of miliary personnel. Wittman authored the Chesapeake Bay Accountability and Recovery Act, designed "to enhance coordination, flexibility and efficiency of restoration efforts," according to Wittman. Following the sponsoring by several senators of a bill to reauthorize the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Wittman introduced a version of the same bill for House members to consider. He proposed the Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act, which he said was designed to simplify the process companies must go through in order to test and develop offshore wind power.
Immigration
Wittman stated that the "immigration system is broken. To keep America strong and prosperous, we need an immigration system that works for the American people." Wittman supports ending chain migration, implementing e-verify, eliminating the visa-lottery system, funding a southern border wall, increased border security and immigration enforcement, and revision of legal immigration. During the 115th Congress, Wittman voted to provide $1.6 billion for border security measures necessary for enforcing existing immigration laws, and The Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program Authorization Act. In November 2018, Wittman said that "85 percent don’t show up for a scheduled court hearing or call to schedule a court hearing." PolitiFact found that his claim was false. Wittman said that he got the information from his fellow member of Congress Bob Goodlatte, who in turn said he got it from the conservative website Newsmax, who attributed the claim to an anonymous "senior Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective."
Health Care
Wittman opposes the Affordable Care Act and has voted to repeal it. He said that Congress should not merely be "anti-Obamacare" and that Republicans in Congress are ready to provide alternatives if it is deemed unconstitutional. In 2017, he voted for the Republican Party's American Health Care Act, which would have repealed and replaced the Affordable Care Act.
Political campaigns
2005
Wittman was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates over Democrat Linda M. Crandell.
2007
Wittman was re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates unopposed. On December 11, 2007, Wittman was first elected to the United States Congress to succeed the late Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, who died in October 2007. He was heavily favored in the special election due to the 1st's heavy Republican bent; it has been in Republican hands since 1977. The Independent candidate was Lucky Narain.
