Tom Reed (politician)


Thomas W. Reed II is an American attorney and politician who serves as the U.S. Representative for. A Republican, Reed first joined the U.S. House after winning a special election to replace Eric Massa in 2010. Reed previously served one term as the Mayor of Corning, New York.

Early life and early career

Born in Joliet, Illinois, Reed grew up in Corning, New York, the youngest of 12 children. He received a B.A. degree in political science from Alfred University in 1993 and his J.D. degree from Ohio Northern University College of Law in 1996. After receiving his J.D. degree, Reed worked as an associate in the law firm of Gallo & Iacovangelo in Rochester from 1996-99.

Debt collection firm

After Reed's mother died in 1998, he returned to Corning and opened the Law Office of Thomas W. Reed. The firm specialized in debt collection. After getting elected to Congress in 2010, Reed resisted congressional rules which required him to remove his name from the law firm. In 2014, the firm changed its name to RR Resource Recovery; at the same time, Reed's campaign stated that he was no longer involved with the firm.

Mayor of Corning

Reed defeated incumbent Democrat Frank Coccho in 2007 and served one two-year term as mayor. Reed represented the Republican, Conservative, and Independence parties on the mayoral ballot.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

;2010
In 2009, Reed announced that he would run against incumbent Democrat Eric Massa in the 2010 election. Midway through his first term in Congress, Massa announced that he would not seek reelection due to health problems. In March 2010, Massa resigned from Congress after it was revealed that he was under investigation by the United States House Committee on Ethics for allegedly sexually harassing a male staffer.
In the election to replace Massa, Reed was challenged by Democrat and Working Families Party nominee Matthew Zeller. Reed received the endorsement of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and every county Republican chairman in New York's 29th congressional district.
Reed won the election and immediately assumed the remainder of Massa's term. In the immediate days following Reed's election, he suffered a pulmonary embolism. After a three-day delay, Reed was sworn in during a special ceremony.
;2012
New York lost two seats in the U.S. House due to population change. The 29th Congressional District was eliminated and much of the district became the 23rd Congressional District. The new 23rd Congressional District includes Allegany, Cattaragus, Chemung, Ontario, Schuyler, and Steuben County from the old 29th Congressional District with the addition of Chautauqua, Seneca, Tompkins, and Tioga counties. Three candidates, Leslie Danks Burke, Melissa Dobson and Nate Shinagawa, campaigned in a Democratic primary to challenge Reed in New York's 23rd congressional district.
Reed won reelection against Democrat and Working Families Party nominee and Tompkins County Legislator Nate Shinagawa. In 2012, Reed said that he accidentally paid one of his tax bills using campaign funds. Reed's campaign voluntarily reported the error in a campaign finance report and Reed reimbursed the campaign.
;2014
Reed faced Tompkins County Legislative Chair Martha Robertson. Though it was predicted to be a close race, Reed won handily.
;2016
Reed ran for reelection in 2016. He was unopposed in the Republican primary, before facing John Plumb, the lone Democrat to file for candidacy, in the November 8, 2016, general election. Reed was re-elected with 58% of the vote.
Reed initially endorsed Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign before Bush's departure from the race. He then endorsed Donald Trump for U.S. president on March 16, 2016. Reed reaffirmed his support for Trump in August 2016.
2018
Reed ran unopposed in the Republican primary before facing Tracy Mitrano in the 2018 general election. Tom Reed was re-elected with 54.2% of the vote.

Tenure

Reed has served on the House Judiciary Committee, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House Committee on Rules and House Ways and Means Committee.
Reed focused on ending government spending and supported budget amendments that eliminated government funding, such as a sewer system in Tijuana, Mexico. He voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which significantly benefited his constituents who could not afford to pay their healthcare bills, and supported the Budget Control Act of 2011.
After his reelection to Congress, Reed drafted the Promoting Assistance with Transitional Help Act. The bill would modify the Temporary Assistance for Needy Family program by introducing a five-year limit on welfare payments to individuals. The TANF program was originally intended to provide temporary assistance to needy families but had deviated from that mandate and in some states provided indefinite cash benefits to individuals. Reed hopes that requiring the program to provide only temporary emergency relief will reduce dependence on government assistance.
With a government shutdown looming, Reed introduced the Pay Our Veterans and Seniors First Act. The legislation would ensure that armed services members were paid and that seniors continued receiving benefits during a temporary government shutdown. The bill also forfeited pay for Congress and the President for the duration of the government shutdown.
In 2014, Reed introduced the Clinical Trial Cancer Mission 2020 Act. The bill would make it mandatory for researchers to publish all information from cancer clinical trials, with the goal being to get more researchers to work together and bring down the number of duplicative studies. The legislation would create a national clearinghouse run by the NIH.
On May 22, 2014, Reed introduced a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to permanently extend and expand certain expired provisions that provided an enhanced tax deduction for businesses that donated their food inventory to charitable organizations. Reed argued that it makes sense to make this a permanent measure because "doing it on a temporary basis... is part of the problem. We need to make this sound policy permanent in the tax code and I'm optimistic we'll get it to the finish and allow people to take advantage of the tax deduction that would encourage them to use the food rather than put it in a landfill."
On May 4, 2017, Reed voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and pass the American Health Care Act.
In the House, Reed votes in line with President Donald Trump's position about 96.6% of the time, and was ranked as the 32nd most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy.
Reed sits on the House Way and Means Committee, which is in charge of tax legislation, and was one of only two House members from New York state to support the provision in 2017 Republican tax overhaul bill that eliminated the federal tax deduction for state income taxes. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo accused the two lawmakers as "the Benedict Arnolds of their time", claiming that the loss of the deduction would cost New York State taxpayers nearly $15 billion and do grave damage to the state. Reed voted in favor of the bill.
During early 2019, Reed became the first House Republican in the new Congress to support a House rules change package authored by Democrats. Becoming the first member to "break ranks for a full rules proposal" in 18 years, he argued, according to his spokesman, he "felt that real reforms were necessary that could actually bring legislation to the floor". The change intends to "lessen the sharp partisan divide in the House, in part by making it easier for rank-and-file members to bring their own bills onto the floor for a vote."
On September 19, 2019, Reed suddenly lost consciousness for approximately 30 seconds while waiting to conduct a television interview. Reed was revived and hospitalized.

Committee assignments