Mark Meadows (North Carolina politician)

Early life, education, and business career

Meadows was born at a United States Army hospital in Verdun, France where his father was serving in the Army and his mother worked as a civilian nurse. His mother was from Sevierville, Tennessee, and his father from Pineville, Arkansas.

He grew up in Brandon, Florida and graduated from the University of South Florida in 1981 after briefly studying at Florida State University. During his collegiate years, Meadows joined Sigma Chi Fraternity.

In 1987, Meadows started "Aunt D's", a small restaurant in Highlands, North Carolina. He later sold it and used the proceeds to start a real estate development company in the Tampa, Florida area.

While living in Highlands, Meadows served as chairman of the Republican Party in Macon County, and was a delegate to several state and national Republican conventions.

Meadows previously served on North Carolina's Board for Economic Development in Western North Carolina. In 2011 he moved to Cashiers, North Carolina, where he now lives. He is currently the owner of Highlands Properties, which specializes in construction and land development.

2012 election

In late 2011, Meadows announced he was running for Congress in North Carolina's 11th congressional district, for the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Heath Shuler. The district had been significantly altered in redistricting. New lines were drawn straight through the middle of Warren Wilson College. Notably, it lost most of Asheville to the 10th district, while picking up some heavily Republican territory in the foothills. The old 11th had a slight Republican lean, but the new 11th was on paper the most Republican district in the state. In 2011, the North Carolina state legislature re-drew the congressional districts in 2011 based on updated population information from the 2010 census. As a result, the district is now 91.2% White, 3.0% Black, 1.4% Native American and 1.0% Asian. District 11 now includes the counties of Buncombe (Asheville), Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood (Waynesville), Henderson (Hendersonville), Jackson (Sylva), Macon (Franklin), McDowell (Marion), Madison, Polk, Swain, Transylvania (Brevard) and Yancey (Burnsville).

He won the Republican primary runoff, in July 2012, and in the general election in November, faced the Democratic candidate, Hayden Rogers, who had been Shuler's chief of staff. During the campaign, on August 28, 2012, Meadows spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Meadows won the general election with approximately 57 percent of the vote and took office, in January 2013.

Tenure

Meadows has signed the Contract from America, a list of ten policies assembled by the Tea Party movement.

Meadows voted against relief for Hurricane Sandy along with a group of other Republicans who cited pork barrel spending in the relief bill that had nothing to do with hurricane relief.

Meadows introduced the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2014, a bill that would impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions that facilitate transactions or money laundering on behalf of Hezbollah or its agents. Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization in the United States. The bill passed in the House on July 22, 2014. Meadows said that "we must pass this legislation to make sure that we can do is cripple their ability to finance and put people out of harm's way."

On July 23, 2014, Meadows introduced the Federal Records Accountability Act of 2014, a bill that would change the record-keeping requirements about some types of communications to ensure that information is not lost. The bill would make it easier to fire a person who willfully and unlawfully concealed, removed, mutilated, obliterated, falsified, or destroyed any record, book, or other thing in the custody of such employee. It would also ban federal employees from using instant messaging for work purposes.

Meadows served as Chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations up until June 20, 2015, when fellow Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz removed him from the position. Rep. Chaffetz, a member of the House Republican leadership, removed Meadows due to Meadows' vote against a procedural motion presented by Republican leadership. Meadows was one of 34 Republicans that voted against the motion to allow for consideration of President Barack Obama's request for fast-track authority on trade agreements. Speaker John Boehner supported the measure, but many Republicans felt that the move gave too much power to Democrats and President Obama, specifically. This action was seen as controversial with many prominent Republican politicians, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, speaking out against the punishment.

On July 28, 2015, Meadows filed a motion to vacate the chair in order to force Speaker of the House John Boehner from his leadership position. The action was widely seen as an escalation of the feud between a faction of conservatives and the GOP leadership. Conservatives had long urged a coup against Mr. Boehner, who they viewed as too eager to make deals with Democrats and unwilling to go to the mat fighting for conservative principles.

2013 Federal Government Shutdown

Meadows has been described as playing an important part of the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. On August 21, 2013 Meadows wrote an open letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor encouraging them to "affirmatively de-fund the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare in any relevant appropriations bills brought to the House floor in the 113th Congress, including any continuing appropriations bill." The document was signed by 79 of Meadows' colleagues in the House. Heritage Action (which opened operations in North Carolina in January 2011), ran critical Internet advertisements in the districts of 100 Republican lawmakers who failed to sign the letter by Meadows. The letter has been described as being controversial within the Republican Party.

The New York Daily News said Meadows put the federal government on the road to shutdown, saying calls to defund "Obamacare" through spending bills languished until Meadows wrote his letter. Meadows downplayed his influence, saying "I'm one of 435 members and a very small part of this." CNN described Meadows as the "architect of the brink" for his letter suggesting that "Obamacare" be defunded in any continuing appropriations bill. Meadows said that was sensationalizing his role.

John Ostendorff of the Asheville Citizen-Times wrote Meadows "said it's best to close the government in the short term to win a delay on 'Obamacare', despite the potential negative impact on the economy." Ostendorff wrote that Meadows said he was doing what Tea Party members in Western North Carolina wanted him to do. Meadows said his constituents wanted him to fight against "Obamacare" "regardless of consequences." Jane Bilello, head of the Asheville Tea Party and political action committee said Meadows "truly represents us" on the issue of "Obamacare". Meadows reportedly holds conference calls with members of the Asheville Tea Party, telling them what's going on in Congress, and about challenges he faces promoting their agenda.

In public comments, Meadows stated he was working on a compromise that involved passing appropriations bills that would fund only parts of the government, such as a bill to fund the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and a bill to fund the National Institutes of Health. However, partial or "mini" funding bills were rejected by the Democratic majority in the United States Senate.

Resolution to vote to remove Speaker Boehner

On July 28, 2015, Meadows filed a resolution to vote on whether to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the House. If the resolution were successful, the House would then vote to elect a replacement Speaker of the House.

Because Meadows filed it as a nonprivileged resolution, it was sent to the House Committee on Rules for a vote first, rather than the House floor. The Committee on Rules was considered to have many members who were loyal to Speaker Boehner, so the resolution was seen as unlikely as moving forward.

Meadows said he filed the resolution because Speaker Boehner has "endeavored to consolidate power, bypassing the majority" of Congress; "through inaction, caused the power of Congress to atrophy," "uses the power of the office to punish Members who vote according to their conscience"; "has intentionally provided for voice votes on consequential and controversial legislation to be taken without notice and with few Members present"; "uses the legislative calendar to create crises for the American People"; allows members less than three days to review legislation before voting; and limits meaningful debate on the House floor.

The resolution received support from Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr.

Boehner responded, "Listen, you have a member here and a member there who are off the reservation. No big deal ... Listen, this is one member. All right. I've got broad support amongst my colleagues. And frankly, it isn't even deserving of a vote."

Despite this, on September 25 John Boehner announced his intention to resign as Speaker. He officially resigned on October 31, 2015.

Committee assignments

Abortion

Meadows is a pro-life supporter and has called abortion a 'tragedy'. He opposes any federal funding for abortion and believes parents should be notified of underage abortion procedures. He also opposes churches and other religious sites providing birth control options.

Budget

Meadows is a fiscal conservative and is part of a group that has advocated for a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. In addition he opposed the recent federal stimulus spending and has expressed desire for the federal spending growth rate to be capped at the inflation rate. He supports a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget has been balanced. Meadows opposes any cuts to military spending levels.

Climate change

In December 2016, Meadows presented to Donald Trump a wish list of regulations that must be repealed. It included a demand to get rid of all federal funding to study climate change. He also requested Trump repeal several environmental regulations including the Renewable Fuel Standard, stop the prohibition of drilling oil on federal lands, and pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Civil rights

In February 2013, Meadows voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. The conservatives who opposed the measure cited the protections to same-sex couples and provisions which would allow battered illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas.

Energy

Meadows has stated that cap-and-trade emission policies are ineffective and have minimal impact on the global environment. He has proposed that the United States should tap into oil and gas reserves to keep energy prices low, and to develop energy independence. He supports tapping into off-shore oil and gas supplies.

Gay marriage

Meadows opposes same-sex marriage. In March 2013 he stated that if the Supreme Court allowed gay marriage, it would cause a constitutional crisis if the Federal government decided to dismiss state decisions and thus infringe on state's rights. In September 2013, Meadows voted for protecting anti-same-sex marriage opinions as free speech.

Gun control

Meadows opposes any restrictions on gun purchases and opposes a national gun registry that would list detailed information about firearm ownership.

Healthcare

Meadows opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), and states that it should be replaced by private enterprise.

Meadows, who at the time has been in office for less than a year, wrote the letter which initially urged House Speaker John Boehner to shut down the government unless the ACA was defunded. He has been criticized by some constituents for being responsible for the government shutdown and has been labeled its "chief architect" by the Washington Post. His district in North Carolina lost up to $1 million per day during the shutdown from the national parks being closed.

In January 2017, Meadows voted yes on a budget resolution that initiated the process of repealing Obamacare.

On May 4, 2017, Meadows voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would partially repeal and replace Obamacare.

However, after the CBO released numbers about the AHCA's effects on Americans on May 24, 2017, there were several reports that Meadow became emotional after reading about the AHCA's likely effects on those with pre-existing conditions. Others reported he only cried after bringing up his family members who had dealt with pre-existing conditions, including his sister who had died of breast cancer, and his father who had died of lung cancer. Meadows said he wouldn't "make a political decision today that affects somebody's sister or father because I wouldn't do it to myself." When asked about the CBO numbers by reporters, Meadows said the government should ensure people with pre-existing conditions can afford health care, saying, "The president is committed to making sure pre-existing conditions are covered in principle and in practice, which means that funding has to be there to make it work." He continued, "One of the critical things that we are going to make sure of is there is the appropriate funding to do that."

Jobs

Meadows supports lowering corporate tax rates as a strategy to promote new employment and thus create more jobs. In addition he has called for free trade.

Net neutrality

Meadows opposes regulations that enforce all internet providers provide internet at equal speeds to all parties. He delivered a list of regulations to repeal to Trump in 2016, which included net neutrality regulations by the Federal Communications Commission.

Taxes

Meadows has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and he opposes a raise in all taxes, including the income tax. Meadows supports a flat-rate income tax for all income-earners, and a repeal of the raise in the capital gains tax. He also supports the elimination of the estate tax.

Wages

Meadows presented a letter to Donald Trump in 2016 which demanded the repeal of the federal requirement that public works projects must pay laborers and mechanics the local prevailing wages, which was initially made to protect traveling black workers in the south from being paid far less than local workers. The letter also demanded the repeal of the overtime rule from the Obama administration, which said people making less than $47,000 a year must be paid for overtime hours, compared to the previous requirement that those making over $23,000 a year could be denied overtime pay if the worker's duties could be considered "managerial." The letter also demanded the end of regulations requiring federal contractors to be paid for sick leave.