1. Joseph John Heck was born on October 30,1961 and is an American politician, physician, and retired United States Army Major general who served as the United States representative for Nevada's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2017.
61 Facts About Joe Heck
1. 2.
Joe Heck is a board-certified physician who previously served as a Nevada state senator from 2004 to 2008.
3.
Joe Heck ran for the United States Senate in 2016, losing to Catherine Cortez Masto.
4.
Joe Heck was born in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood of New York City, and was raised in Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Wallenpaupack Area High School in 1979.
5.
Joe Heck graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1984 with a degree in health education.
6.
Joe Heck is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
7.
Joe Heck received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine in 1988 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and obtained a residency in emergency medicine in 1992 at the Albert Einstein Medical Center.
8.
Joe Heck earned a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the US Army War College in 2006.
9.
Joe Heck served in the United States Army Reserve since 1991 and was promoted to brigadier general in 2014.
10.
Joe Heck commanded a Medical Readiness Support Group overseeing more than 2,000 soldiers in six western states, and continued to serve in that capacity while in Congress.
11.
Joe Heck served in Operation Joint Endeavor, Operation Noble Eagle, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
12.
Joe Heck was promoted to the rank of major general in a ceremony at Fort Douglas, Utah, November 7,2020.
13.
Joe Heck retired from the Army Reserve in February 2024.
14.
Joe Heck was the president, owner, and medical director of Specialized Medical Operations until 2011.
15.
Joe Heck provided medical training, consulting, and operational support to law enforcement agencies, EMS, and military special operations.
16.
Joe Heck has lectured and is published on special operations medical support, the medical response to acts of terrorism, and emergency preparedness and response.
17.
From 1998 to 2003, Joe Heck served as the medical director of the Casualty Care Research Center of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, where he provided medical support for several federal law enforcement agencies and oversight for the medical response to acts of terrorism.
18.
Joe Heck started his medical career as a volunteer firefighter and ambulance attendant in rural Pennsylvania.
19.
Joe Heck served as a tactical physician with the LVMPD SWAT team.
20.
Joe Heck served as a member of the Nevada State Homeland Security Commission Sub-committee on Health, the American Osteopathic Association's Task Force on Bioterrorism, and as the medical director for the Nevada Hospital Association's Hospital Preparedness program.
21.
Joe Heck served as the medical director for the Southern Nevada Health District's Office of Public Health Preparedness.
22.
Joe Heck served one four-year term in the Nevada Senate, representing Clark County's 5th district.
23.
Joe Heck was first elected to the Nevada Senate to represent Clark County's 5th district in 2004, after defeating Senator Ann O'Connell in the Republican primary.
24.
Joe Heck served on the Natural Resources, Human Resources and Education, the Commerce and Labor Committees.
25.
Joe Heck was the vice-chair of the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.
26.
Joe Heck was one of three freshmen named to the House Republican Steering Committee in the 112th Congress.
27.
Joe Heck was re-elected to the Republican Steering Committee in both 2012 and 2014.
28.
In 2011, as a representative, Joe Heck voted to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.
29.
Joe Heck voted to ease the exploration and extraction of minerals and energy resources from Native American lands, and restrict the ability of non-resident tribal members to vote on these issues.
30.
Joe Heck voted against increasing the debt limit in 2011, stating "Raising the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts will only prolong the uncertainty preventing an economic recovery".
31.
The remark aroused a political controversy in Nevada, and Joe Heck clarified that he meant to refer to it as an "inverted pyramid".
32.
Joe Heck has been critical of Governor Brian Sandoval's Commerce Tax.
33.
Joe Heck is opposed to raising the federal minimum wage in favor of leaving the decision to local governments.
34.
Joe Heck voted for a budget bill which called for a 10-year freeze to the maximum Pell Grant award to college students.
35.
Joe Heck favors expanding refinancing options for student loans, enhancing income-based repayment plans, and providing loan forgiveness for civil service.
36.
In 2011, Joe Heck voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.
37.
In 2011, Joe Heck voted not to withdraw American troops from the war in Afghanistan.
38.
Joe Heck opposes the Iran nuclear deal framework, calling it unenforceable, and has voted to censure and block President Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran.
39.
Joe Heck has voted for the Patriot Act and has endorsed the indefinite military incarceration of alleged terrorists.
40.
Joe Heck voted to end the bulk collection of metadata from phone calls by the NSA.
41.
In 2015, Joe Heck cosponsored a bill with Democrat Tulsi Gabbard that would award a Congressional Gold Medal to Filipinos who fought in World War II, who now live in the Philippines and the United States.
42.
Joe Heck authored the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act which prevents disabled veterans who receive in-home care from the VA from having their housing benefits reduced.
43.
Joe Heck opposes most laws which restrict the sale of firearms.
44.
Joe Heck is in favor of expanded and perhaps universal background checks.
45.
Joe Heck voted against restricting gun sales to those on terror watch lists.
46.
Joe Heck voted to prevent Washington DC from implementing many provisions of gun control.
47.
Joe Heck was an original co-sponsor of the attempt to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
48.
Joe Heck's stated priorities include protecting the patient-physician relationship, reducing health care costs, and working to protect Medicare for Nevada's seniors and preserving it for future generations; by training more physicians and increasing the use of health savings accounts.
49.
Joe Heck is opposed to the DISCLOSE Act, which would require funders of political ads to put their names on advertisements.
50.
Joe Heck is a supporter of the Citizens United v FEC US Supreme Court decision.
51.
In July 2015, Joe Heck announced that he would run for the US Senate seat left open due to Harry Reid's retirement.
52.
Joe Heck easily defeated primary opponent Sharron Angle, who had narrowly lost to Harry Reid in 2010.
53.
Joe Heck's campaign received millions of dollars of indirect support from the Koch brothers, according to the New York Times.
54.
Joe Heck was, in the 3rd quarter of 2016, the House member receiving the largest amount of political donations.
55.
Joe Heck's opponents, including organized labor and environmental groups, spent significant sums on advertising against him.
56.
Joe Heck supported Donald Trump's candidacy for president until the Donald Trump and Billy Bush recording controversy of October 2016.
57.
Joe Heck lost to Catherine Cortez Masto in the 2016 general election, held on November 8,2016.
58.
Joe Heck carried 16 of Nevada's 17 counties and county equivalents.
59.
Joe Heck believes that employers have the right to deny health coverage for contraception if they have moral objections to it.
60.
Joe Heck is active with the American Legion Paradise Post 149, the Knights of Columbus Council 13456, and Catholic War Veterans Post 1947.
61.
Joe Heck is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.