John Carter (Texas politician)

Carter retired from the bench in 2001 in order to run for Congress in the newly created Texas 31st District. After finishing second in the Republican primary, he defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff, which was tantamount to election in what was then reckoned as a heavily Republican district.[5]

For his first term, 2003–2005, Carter represented a district that stretched from the suburbs of Austin to far western Houston, and included College Station, home of Texas A&M University. From the 2003 Texas redistricting until 2013, Carter represented a district stretching from the fringes of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex through more rural portions of Central Texas. Redistricting after the 2010 census, which first affected the 2013–2015 term, reduced the 31st to Bell and Williamson counties. The 31st District now includes Fort Hood, home of the U.S. Army's 3d Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Cavalry Division.

In the November 2016 general election, Carter won his eighth term in Congress. With 166,060 votes (58.4 percent), he defeated Democrat Mike Clark and Libertarian Scott Ballard, who received 103,852 votes (34.5 percent) and 14,676 (5.2 percent), respectively.[6]

In the November 2018 general election, Carter defeated Democrat MJ Hegar, getting 144,680 votes (50.6%) to her 136,362 votes (47.7%), the 3% margin was the smallest victory margin of his nine terms in Congress.[7]

Carter is best known as the author of a law that made it easier to prove identity theft and provides stiff penalties for the offense. It was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2004.[8]

In the 110th Congress, Carter sponsored and co-sponsored a number of bills including the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, the Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 2008, and a bill condemning the vandalism of the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall.[9]

On June 12, 2009, Carter signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1503, which would require the production of a birth certificate from presidential candidates. The bill was introduced as a result of conspiracy theories which claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.[10]

On September 15, 2009, in an opinion piece published in The Hill, Carter called the 111th Congress a "house of hypocrisy" after the House of Representatives voted to rebuke South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson for an outburst, but would not go after New York Representative and House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel, who had been the subject of numerous ethical problems involving taxes and property.[11] Carter is also a proponent of the "Rangel Rule," where IRS penalties and interest would be eliminated if one paid back taxes, similar to the treatment Rangel, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and former South Dakota Senator (and one-time Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee) Tom Daschle received after their tax problems were made public.[12]

Carter introduced a "Privileged Resolution" that would have forced the resignation of Rangel from his position as Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee after he declined to resign voluntarily,[13] citing the inaction of the House Democratic Caucus and the ongoing investigations as reasons. The resolution failed along a largely party-line vote, with two Democrats and six Republicans breaking ranks.[14][15][16]

Carter amended his financial disclosure forms in mid-October 2009 to list nearly $300,000 in capital gains from the sale of ExxonMobil stock in 2006 and 2007. Though Carter listed the sale of the assets, he did not list the actual amount of capital gains, on which he did pay taxes.[17]

On November 16, 2009, Carter introduced legislation to give combatant casualty status to the victims of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, similar to those who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.[18]

On May 16, 2018, Carter was named the new chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Appropriations following the retirement of Charlie Dent. He had previously served as chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations.[19]

Carter signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act of 2018, which failed to pass the House.[20]

On December 18, 2019, Carter voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump. Of the 195 Republicans who voted, all voted against both impeachment articles.

• Committee on Appropriations
  • United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member)[21]
  • United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense

• House Army Caucus (Co-Chairman)
• House Republican Conference (Secretary)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus[22]
• Republican Steering Committee
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Tea Party Caucus
• Congressional Cement Caucus
• I-14 Caucus
• Republican Study Committee