1. Bruce Lowell Braley was born on October 30,1957 and is an American politician and attorney who served as the US representative for from 2007 to 2015.
34 Facts About Bruce Braley
1. 2.
Bruce Braley's family owned a farm in nearby Brooklyn, Iowa.
3.
Bruce Braley earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa College of Law.
4.
Bruce Braley won an open seat battle in the 1st district after eight-term Republican congressman Jim Nussle stepped down to make an unsuccessful run for Governor in 2006.
5.
Bruce Braley became the second member of Iowa's congressional delegation to issue an endorsement in the 2008 presidential race, announcing his support on December 5,2007, for former North Carolina Senator John Edwards in a press conference in Waterloo.
6.
In 2010 Bruce Braley defeated GOP challenger Ben Lange, an attorney from Independence, by only about 4,000 votes out of more than 215,000 cast.
7.
Bruce Braley raised an approximate total of $2.46 million for his re-election campaign, The sectors following two and three behind the lawyers and lobbyists were labor groups, and health groups, raising approximately $223,000 and $157,000 respectively.
8.
Bruce Braley spent approximately $2.11 million of what he raised being spent during the course of the campaign.
9.
On June 26,2009, Bruce Braley voted to pass an emissions trading measure in order to limit greenhouse gas emissions and set new requirements for electric utilities.
10.
Bruce Braley voted to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
11.
Bruce Braley supports raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour.
12.
On March 21,2010, Bruce Braley voted for the final version of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
13.
On May 4,2011 Bruce Braley voted against HR 3, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which passed the House 251 to 175.
14.
On May 31,2012 Bruce Braley voted against HR 3541, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2012.
15.
Bruce Braley has received an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association of America.
16.
Bruce Braley has received varied agricultural interest group ratings in his time in office.
17.
On February 29,2012, Bruce Braley voted against HR 1837 - Water Resources in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley which passed the House, and would require the Secretary of the Interior to reallocate water for irrigation purposes.
18.
Bruce Braley came under harsh criticism after it emerged that he had criticized Republican Senator Chuck Grassley as "a farmer from Iowa, who never went to law school"; a later press release emphasizing his background in the agricultural sector contained misspellings of basic farming terminology.
19.
Bruce Braley has been a long time opponent of tort reform.
20.
Bruce Braley defended keeping the House gym open for members and lamented the cutbacks to the gym's services, including cancellation of towel service.
21.
Bruce Braley noted that gym was one of the few places where Democrats and Republicans could build relationships.
22.
However, according to "The Weekly Standard," the vote cited by Bruce Braley was actually to arm Syrian rebels who are fighting ISIS.
23.
On June 19,2014, Bruce Braley voted for an amendment to prohibit the use of funds for combat operations in Iraq.
24.
Since 2008, Bruce Braley has been a member of the House Armenian Caucus.
25.
In 2009, Bruce Braley founded his own House caucus, the Populist Caucus.
26.
In February 2013, Bruce Braley announced that he would seek the United States Senate seat held by retiring Senator Tom Harkin.
27.
Bruce Braley's entrance cleared the field of all potential Democratic challengers and he raised $2.6 million by the end of 2013.
28.
Bruce Braley even lost his own district by less than a point.
29.
In March 2014, video footage was discovered from a January 2014 fundraising event of trial lawyers in Texas in which Bruce Braley assured the audience that he would be a spokesman in Congress for trial lawyers, and commented that Republican Senator Chuck Grassley could become the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee if Democrats lose control of the Senate majority.
30.
In June 2014, Bruce Braley released a 30-second ad spot attacking Republican opponent Joni Ernst.
31.
Bruce Braley's campaign responded by saying that he is an outspoken advocate for veterans.
32.
The campaign said that Bruce Braley missed the hearing the day of the three fundraisers because he was at another hearing.
33.
The paper reported that Bruce Braley was not seen on video of the hearing, although Bruce Braley's chair could not be seen at all times in the video.
34.
Bruce Braley was accused of threatening a lawsuit against the neighbor, which he emphatically denied, and said he handled the situation properly.