Steve Chabot

Early life, education, and pre-political career

Chabot was born in 1953 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Gerard Joseph and Doris Leona (née Tilley) Chabot; paternally, he is of French-Canadian descent. He graduated from La Salle High School in Cincinnati in 1971, and then from the College of William and Mary in 1975, earning a B.A. in history. He went on to obtain a Juris Doctor degree from Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law, in Highland Heights, Kentucky, in 1978. He worked as an elementary school teacher in 1975–1976 while taking law classes at night.

As a practicing attorney from 1978 to 1994, Chabot handled domestic disputes and the drafting of wills as a sole practitioner. He operated out of small law office in Westwood.

Early political career

Chabot ran unsuccessfully for the Cincinnati City Council as an independent candidate in 1979 and as a Republican in 1983. Then, running as a Republican, he won a seat in 1985 and was re-elected in 1987 and 1989. In 1988, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives against seven-term incumbent Democrat Tom Luken, who defeated Chabot 56–44%. After that, he was appointed a Commissioner of Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1990, and was elected later that year and again in 1992, staying until 1994.

Elections

In 1994, he ran for the U.S. House again and defeated Democratic incumbent David S. Mann of Ohio's 1st congressional district, 56%–44%. In 1996, he defeated Democrat Mark Longabaugh, member of the Cincinnati City Council, 54%–43%. In 1998, he defeated Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, 53% to 47%. In the series of debates during that campaign, Qualls criticized Chabot for not funneling enough federal spending back to his home district. Chabot countered that he would not support "wasteful or unnecessary" federal programs. In 2000, he defeated City Councilman and Harvard graduate John Cranley 53–44%. In 2002, he defeated Greg Harris, with 65% of the vote. In 2004, he defeated Greg Harris again, with 60% of the vote.

He defeated Democratic challenger John Cranley again, this time by a narrower margin of 52–48%.

Chabot was defeated by State Representative Steve Driehaus 52%–48%.

In a rematch, Chabot defeated Democratic incumbent Steve Driehaus, Libertarian Jim Berns, and Green Party nominee Richard Stevenson. Chabot won by a margin 51%–46%.

Steve Chabot defeated Democratic nominee Jeff Sinnard 58%–38%, with Green nominee Rich Stevenson, and Libertarian nominee Jim Berns picking up the balance. He was helped by the 2010 round of redistricting, which shifted most of heavily Republican Warren County to the 1st.

Committee assignments

Political positions

As of 5 April 2017, Chabot voted with his party in 99.1% of votes so far in the current session of Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position in 100% of votes.

Abortion

Chabot opposes abortion. Chabot has voted against allowing embryonic stem cell research.

Chabot authored a bill prohibiting a form of late-term abortion called partial-birth abortion, referred to in some medical literature by its less common name of intact dilation and extraction. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on November 5, 2003.

Capital punishment

Chabot favors capital punishment.

Campaign finance

Chabot opposes the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions.

Economy

Chabot supports a "great increase" in defense spending. He wants to "eliminate" public spending on the arts. He has voted against trade adjustment assistance for workers who have lost their jobs due to globalization.

The Concord Coalition and anti-tax advocacy groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union consistently rated Chabot as one of the most anti-tax members of Congress.

He opposes federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In February 2017, he voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, a regulation that required coal companies to restore streams and mined areas to their pre-development conditions. In February 2017, he voted in favor of repealing a rule that required energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.

The group Republicans for Environmental Protection issued Chabot an "environmental harm demerit" in 2006 for contributing to urban sprawl by sponsoring H.R. 4772, a bill that allows land use disputes to proceed immediately to federal court; according to the organization, the bill "would have undermined local control over local planning and zoning matters, a central principle of America's federal system". In the same year, the group praised Chabot for offering legislation "prohibiting the Forest Service from spending taxpayer dollars to build new logging roads for private interests in the Tongass National Forest. The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters gave Chabot a grade of 10% for the 109th Congress, noting that he voted "anti-environment" on 11 out of 12 issues selected by that organization as crucial; his lifetime grade from the LCV is 23%.

In June 2007, Chabot sponsored an amendment to block federally funded road building in Tongass National Forest. Proponents of the amendment said that the federal timber program in Tongass is a dead loss for taxpayers, costing some $30 million annually, and noted that the Forest Service faces an estimated $900 million road maintenance backlog in the forest. Supporters of the bipartisan amendment included the Republicans for Environmental Protection. Of the bill, Representative Chabot said "I am not opposed to logging when it's done on the timber company's dime...But in this case, they are using the American taxpayer to subsidize these 200 jobs at the tune of $200,000 per job. That just makes no sense".

Financial regulations

Chabot has advocated for a repeal or modification of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed as a response to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

Health care

Chabot favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He supported the March 2017 version of the American Health Care Act, the GOP's replacement bill for Obamacare. On May 4, 2017, Chabot voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act.

In 2007, Chabot voted against the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Plan (S-CHIP) which would have expanded S-CHIP to cover four million more participants. The bill passed the House and Senate, however President Bush vetoed the bill on October 3, 2007. Chabot voted against the veto-override.

LGBT rights

Chabot opposes same-sex marriage. He has voted to ban the adoption of children by homosexuals in Washington D.C.

Net neutrality

He has voted against legislation to establish net neutrality, which refers to the principle that Internet service providers should not discriminate by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

Other

Chabot's work in Congress included the elimination of logging subsidies in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, co-sponsored the Voting Rights Act reauthorization, and promoted relations with Taiwan. In 2002, Chabot helped spearhead the local campaign against building a light rail system in Hamilton County. Chabot was a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, and voted for H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

On March 25, 2014, Chabot introduced the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (H.R. 4292; 113th Congress) into the House. According to a legislative digest provided by House Republicans, the bill "narrowly amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to make it easier for U.S. cultural and educational institutions to borrow art and other culturally significant objects from foreign countries." However, the changes made by the bill would not provide any immunity to art or objects that were "taken in violation of international law by Nazi Germany between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945."

Privacy

In March 2017, Chabot voted to reverse a Federal Communications Commission privacy rule that prevented internet service providers from to selling their customers' browsing data.

Science

In 2002, Chabot advocated teaching intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution by natural selection in Ohio high schools.

Controversy

On August 22, 2011, Representative Chabot asked Cincinnati police to confiscate cameras being used by private citizens to record a town-hall meeting, even as media television cameras recorded the incident. YouTube videos of the incident provided wide awareness of the incident, and the participating police officer was later disciplined.

On October 26, 2016, CityBeat reported on Steve Chabot's world travels using taxpayer money. "[Since] 2011, Chabot has flown to 46 countries on 16 separate excursions, gracing the likes of Mongolia, Myanmar and Moldova with his presence. The tab to taxpayers? Almost $200,000."

Personal life

Chabot and his wife Donna have two children.