Senator William Nelson
Senator
William “Bill” Nelson is a democratic senator in the U.S. Congress. He has served admirably in this position
since his first senatorial election campaign in 2000. As a fellow Floridian, I chose him to be my
senator whom I would research and write about what he does throughout the
semester. To this end, in order to
understand the future actions he may take, one must understand where he has
come from and what influences, and will influence, his decisions.
Born
and raised in Florida, he is originally from Miami but spent most of his youth
in and around Melbourne, Florida. It is
clear through looking at Senator Nelson’s past why he acts in such the manner
he does. Outside of his post-high school
education, he has lived in Florida and spent much of his life trying to help
out the people from the state he loves.
Bill
Nelson currently serves on the United States Committee on Armed Services. His devotion to the armed services
undoubtedly stems from his service in the U.S. Army from 1965-1971. While in the army, he obtained the rank of
Captain, and was in active duty from 1968-1970, otherwise engaging in U.S. Army
Reserves activities. Beyond his military
career, he obtained his license to practice law by passing the bar in Florida,
however that only lasted as his full-time job for a short two years. While maintaining a law practice in
Melbourne, the town of his childhood, he ran for and was elected to the Florida
House of Representatives, where he served from 1972-1978.
Following
his time with the Florida legislature, he ran for and achieved the job as a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he proudly served from
1978-1991. While in this capacity,
Congressman Nelson had the privileged opportunity to do something no one else
in his house of Congress (and became the second person in all of Congress) had
previously done, he went into space on a NASA shuttle as a payload specialist
from January 12-18, 1986. Based on
experiences like this, it is apparent for his reasons on being a part of the United States
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as well as
the Subcommittee on Science and Space, Subcommittee on Aviation Operations,
Safety, and Security, Subcommittee
on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and the Subcommittee on Airland. To this end, he is seen as one of the primary
supporters within Congress of the space programs and has been notably upset
with certain policies by President Obama to cut funds and “starve” NASA and
their space travel and exploration endeavors.
Senator Nelson, throughout
all of his work on a national scale, has never forgotten about his Florida
home. He makes regular visits back to
his home state in addition to having tried (and sometimes succeeded) in gaining
positions of power within the state. For
example, Congressman Bill Nelson served as the Treasure, Insurance
Commissioner, and Fire Marshal of Florida from 1995-2000. However, prior to his election as this
political position, he made an attempt in 1990 to run for Governor of
Florida. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful
in this undertaking.
Nelson has a reputation
on Capitol Hill as a social moderate and an economic liberal. He is known (as I previously stated) as a
strong supporter of space programs of all kinds. In addition, he wants to extend the Bush
taxcuts, supports gay marriage, is pro-choice, and voted in favor of the
Obamacare Acts from 2010.
Bill Nelson is a senator from Florida who has not
forgotten where he has come from. He
continually supports his hometown state and resides in Orlando, Florida. He has served his state throughout his entire
political career and is seen as a congressman of importance for many major
issues that confront the Senate throughout their sessions.
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