Larry Bucshon

Early life, education, and early career

Bucshon was born in Taylorville, Illinois on May 31, 1962 and raised in Kincaid, Illinois. His father, Ronald, was a coal miner, Navy serviceman, and lifelong Democrat while his mother, Barbara, was a nurse.

Bucshon graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and got his medical degree from the University of Illinois Medical School at Chicago. Following medical school, Bucshon completed a residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he served as chief resident in surgery and remained there to complete a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery. He also received training at the Milwaukee Veterans Affairs Hospital. During this time, he enlisted with the United States Navy Reserve, where he served for almost a decade.

Medical career

Bucshon specialized in cardiothoracic surgery and has performed hundreds of heart surgeries. From 1995 to 1998, he was in private medical practice in Wichita, Kansas. Bucshon joined Ohio Valley HeartCare in 1998, where he served as the group's president. He was named St. Mary’s Medical Staff Physician of the Year in 2007. He also served as Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Medical Director of the open heart recovery intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital.

2010

Bucshon faced Democratic nominee State Representative Trent Van Haaften in the race to fill the seat vacated by Congressman Brad Ellsworth, who was running for Senate.

Bucshon received support from the National Republican Congressional Committee and was named a GOP Young Gun. During the campaign, Bucshon was endorsed by several conservative interest groups and elected officials, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce Congressional Action Committee, United States Chamber of Commerce, National Right to Life Committee, Indiana Right to Life, Indiana Manufacturers Association, Campaign for Working Families, House Minority Leader John Boehner, U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Bucshon received significant campaign contributions from medical groups.

Bucshon defeated van Haaften by a margin of 21 points, winning all 18 counties in the district.

2012

Bucshon again faced Kristi Risk in the 2012 Republican primary. Buschon edged out Risk in the 2010 GOP primary, with 16,262 votes to Risk’s 14,273.

In the general election, Bucshon defeated former state Rep. Dave Crooks.

2014

The conservative Club for Growth announced that it would target Bucshon for defeat in the 2014 Republican primary, but he was re-elected nonetheless.

Bucshon is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Taxes and spending

Bucshon supports lower corporate and individual taxes. He has called for freezing spending at 2008 levels, extending the Bush tax cuts for all income brackets, and reviewing all government programs for places to reduce spending. He has stated that Republicans need to "first admit we were partially to blame for the increased government spending over the past decade." Bucshon supports simplifying the personal and corporate tax codes.

Bucshon voted for the Budget Control Act of 2011, which created a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Bucshon also supported a balanced budget amendment that would require the federal government to spend no more than it collects in revenue each year. During his 2010 campaign, Bucshon said one of his campaign goals was to lower taxes for all Americans.

In 2010 Bucshon signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Health care

Bucshon supports the repeal of the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Bucshon supports reforms that expand and reform high-risk pools and federal reinsurance programs and lower costs. Bucshon wants to increase transparency in medical care costs. Bucshon has called for cuts in health care programs.

Gun laws

Bucshon, who describes himself as "an ardent supporter of protecting the Second Amendment", has supported several bills that loosen restrictions on gun ownership. Bucshon co-sponsored the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, which requires all states to honor concealed carry permits from other states within their borders, irrespective of their own gun laws. The National Rifle Association and the Gun Owners of America have both given Bucshon an “A” rating.

Abortion

Bucshon is pro-life. During his time in Congress, he has supported bills that seek to establish a legal framework for challenging the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. He has said he believes that abortion should be legal in cases where the mother's life may be in danger. Bucshon co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, which declares that life begins at the moment of conception and is entitled to legal protection from that point forward.

In October 2015, Bucshon was named to serve on the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood.

Social Security

Bucshon supports a comprehensive strategy to ensure the long-term sustainability of Social Security for current and future beneficiaries.

Energy

Bucshon describes himself as a "long term friend of coal." His biggest contributors include Koch brothers, Murray energy. He supports the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Transportation

On November 2, 2011 the Evansville Courier & Press reported that Bucshon planned to introduce an amendment to the transportation funding bill that would allow governors to re-allocate federal transportation funding from designated programs to projects they designate as emergencies.

Federal grants

On July 10, 2014, Bucshon introduced the Research and Development Efficiency Act (H.R. 5056), a bill that would instruct the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish a working group under the authority of the National Science and Technology Council to review federal regulations affecting research and research universities and make recommendations on how to streamline them and reduce the regulatory burden on such researchers. Bucshon said that his goal is "to alleviate some of the burden placed on our research universities so they can get back to their main goal of conducting basic science research."

Climate change

During a September 17, 2014 hearing of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Bucshon was questioning John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. When Holdren encouraged Bucshon to read the scientific literature on global warming, Bucshon replied "Of all the climatologists whose careers depend on the climate changing to keep themselves publishing articles -- yes, I could read that, but I don’t believe it."

Committee assignments

Personal life

Bucshon met his wife Kathryn, who is also a physician and a practicing anesthesiologist in Evansville, during his medical residency. They now live in Newburgh, Warrick County, Indiana with their four children.He is a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Evansville.