Devin Nunes

Devin Nunes
Chair of the House Intelligence Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Mike Rogers
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 22nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Kevin McCarthy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 21st district
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Bill Thomas
Succeeded by	David Valadao
Personal details
Born	Devin Gerald Nunes (1973-10-01) October 1, 1973 Tulare, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Tamariz
Children	3
Alma mater	College of the Sequoias California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (BS, MS)

Devin Gerald Nunes, OIH, (born October 1, 1973) is the U.S. Representative for California's 22nd congressional district, serving since 2003. He is the twelfth and, at 42 years old, youngest Member of Congress in history to serve as chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Nunes' district, numbered as the 21st from 2003 to 2013, is in the San Joaquin Valley and includes most of western Tulare County and much of eastern Fresno County. He is a member of the Republican Party. Nunes is the author of Restoring the Republic, published by WND Books in September 2010. In the same year Time magazine named him one of the "40 under 40" rising stars of American politics—their top forty civic leaders under 40 years old.^[1] The former deputy prime minister of Portugal, Paulo Portas, described Nunes as “one of the eight most influential statesmen” in America.^[2]

Nunes is a member of two top House committees: Ways and Means, where he was chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, of which he is chairman.^[3] He was co-chair of the Brazil Caucus and the U.S.-Mexico Friendship Caucus. Nunes was also co-founder, and past co-chair, of the U.S.-Japan Caucus.^[4]

Early life, education, and business and political career

Nunes was born in Tulare, California, the oldest of two sons born to Anthony and Diane Nunes.^[5] His family has operated a farm in Tulare County for three generations. The Nunes family is of Portuguese descent, immigrating from the Azores to California.^[6]

Nunes graduated from Tulare Union High School. He is the second member of Congress to attend Tulare Union, three decades after Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias, who served in the House from 1967 to 1975. After associate's work at College of the Sequoias, Nunes graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he received a bachelor's degree in agricultural business and a master's degree in agriculture.

In 2009 Nunes wrote in the Wall Street Journal that he became an entrepreneur at 14 years old, when he bought seven head of young cattle, learning quickly how to profit from his investment. "I had cracked open my piggy bank to buy seven head of young cattle to raise and sell," Nunes wrote. "I had two choices: I could buy feed or I could fix fences in exchange for free grazing. Like water flowing down a furrow, my cattle went to pasture where I could make a higher profit."^[7]

Nunes was first elected to public office when he was 22. He unseated an 18-year incumbent on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the College of the Sequoias, earning 65% of the vote.^[8] He served as a trustee from 1996 to 2002.^[9] In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as California State Director for the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development section. He left this post later that year to run for the Republican nomination in the 21st congressional district, a new district created through reapportionment after the 2000 United States census. Before 2002, what is now the 21st district was part of three districts, represented by Bill Thomas, Cal Dooley, and George Radanovich.

Elections 2002–2014

Nunes' principal opponents in the seven-way 2002 Republican primary were former Fresno mayor Jim Patterson and state Assemblyman Mike Briggs. Nunes was the only major candidate from Tulare County, while Patterson and Briggs were both from Fresno. This was critical; 42% of the district's population was in Fresno County and 58% in Tulare County.^[10] Patterson and Briggs split the Fresno County vote, allowing Nunes to win by a four-point margin over Patterson, his nearest competitor. Nunes won 46.5% of the vote in Tulare County and 28.1% of the vote in Fresno County. Nunes was also helped by a strong showing in the rural part of the district.^[11] He won the endorsement of the California Farm Bureau and the Fresno Bee.^[10] The district is solidly Republican, and Nunes coasted to victory in November. He has been reelected five times against only nominal Democratic opposition. During the June 8, 2010, California primary, Nunes actually received more write-in votes in the Democratic primary than the Democratic write-in candidate Ruben Macareno.^[12][13] He ran unopposed in the 2010 general election.

Nunes' district was renumbered California's 22nd congressional district after the 2010 Census. With redistricting, Nunes lost most of eastern Tulare County to the neighboring 23rd District. The 22nd also has an Hispanic plurality (44.8%). Based on recent election totals, it remains predominately Republican. In the 2012 and 2014 elections, Nunes won 61.88% and 70.58% respectively against Democratic opposition.^[14]

U.S. Congress

Committees

During the 108th Congress, his first term, Nunes served on the House Resources Committee where he was chairman of its National Parks Subcommittee. He was also a member of the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs committees. In the 109th Congress, Nunes was named to the House Ways and Means Committee. In January 2013, Nunes was named chairman of the Ways and Means Trade subcommittee.^[15] He was also a member of the House Budget Committee during the 111th Congress. For the 112th United States Congress, Nunes was named to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He was named chairman in the 114th Congress by Speaker John Boehner.

In 2003, Nunes became a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, a caucus of Republican Members of Congress of Hispanic and Portuguese descent.

Tax Reform

On January 13, 2016, Nunes introduced the American Business Competitiveness Act (H.R. 4377), also known as the ABC Act. It would significantly lower taxes on American businesses, regardless of size or legal organization, by lowering federal tax rates on business income to 25% or less, allowing businesses to write off all expenses in a current calendar year, eliminate all business tax loopholes and special provisions in the U.S. tax code, and establish a territorial tax system that would remove penalties U.S. businesses face when returning foreign earnings (repatriation) and reinvesting them in the United States. The Tax and Heritage Foundations forecast significant employment gains and economic growth from the Act.^[16][17] The tax foundation also forecast a loss of $881 billion in federal revenue over a decade.^[18] Bloomberg BNA reported that Nunes' consumption tax model found in the ABC Act was influential in the drafting of the House Republican Tax Plan introduced by Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady in June 2016.^[19] Douglas Holtz-Eakin told Bloomberg BNA of Nunes' work on tax reform, “I think he deserves a lot of credit for someone who is not the chairman for having a tremendous impact on the debate.”^[20]

Water

On May 1, 2011, with the support of other members of the San Joaquin Valley's Republican Congressional Delegation, Nunes authored the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act to stop a project designed to restore a dried-up section the San Joaquin River. This later became the basis for another bill co-sponsored by Nunes, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act, which passed the House of Representatives in February 2014 but was not voted on by the Senate. Nunes co-sponsored a third water bill, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act, which also passed the House of Representatives in December 2014 but was also not voted on by the Senate. Water restrictions have been in place to enforce the Endangered Species Act and other environmental regulations that have seen water allocations decline dramatically even in non-drought years. The result has been what Nunes terms a "man-made drought".^[21] Nunes wrote in National Review in April 2015, "The House of Representatives has passed three bills in the last three years that would have expanded California water supplies by rolling back damaging environmental regulations. These bills died amid opposition from Senate Democrats, Governor Brown, and President Obama."^[22]

In February 2014, during a drought that had hit California, Nunes rejected any link between the drought and global warming, saying "Global warming is nonsense."^[23] He criticized the federal government for shutting off portions of California’s system of water irrigation and storage and diverting water into a program for freshwater salmon and the delta smelt. “There was plenty of water. This has nothing to do with drought."^[24][25] Nunes elaborated on his climate denialism in an April 2015 National Review article. At the time California farmers were criticized for using most of California's water, making the state's drought worse. The agriculture sector uses at least 80 percent of the state's water, often on water-intensive crops such as almonds. Nunes, a third-generation dairy farmer, challenged media criticism of the agriculture industry. He claimed, "Farmers do not use 80 percent of California’s water. In reality, 50 percent of the water that is captured by the state’s dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and other infrastructure is diverted for environmental causes. Farmers, in fact, use 40 percent of the water supply. Environmentalists have manufactured the 80 percent statistic by deliberately excluding environmental diversions from their calculations." ^[22] Nunes added that California's lack of adequate water storage facilities has only made the problem worse. He wrote, "Furthermore, in many years there are additional millions of acre-feet of water that are simply flushed into the ocean due to a lack of storage capacity — a situation partly explained by environmental groups’ opposition to new water-storage projects.^[22] Returning to an argument he has made before regarding California's water storage and irrigation system, Nunes added, "The drought is a genuine problem in California, but our irrigation system was designed to withstand five years of drought."^[22]

National security, foreign affairs and trade

Nunes is a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s national security policies, calling for stronger measures, for example, to fight ISIS, support for Ukraine and other Eastern European countries threatened by Russian actions in the region, and efforts to stop Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.^[26] Nunes is also a prominent critic of the administration’s response to the Benghazi terror attack, Nunes was instrumental in bringing three security officers who fought in Benghazi to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. His actions were recorded in remarkable detail by the Weekly Standard, including controversies within the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) over the Benghazi investigations.^[27]

As chairman of the HPSCI, Nunes has oversight over some 17 military and national intelligence programs, including the CIA and other agency clandestine activities. Nunes travels extensively, like other HPSCI chairmen and members, and often to dangerous and strife-torn parts of the world. However, in the security sensitive and secretive world of intelligence, little is often disclosed in advance where HPSCI members travel to protect their safety, unless reported by HPSCI members themselves, the U.S or foreign governments, or international media.

In June 2015, Nunes attracted national and world media attention, when he said on an CBS' Face the Nation, "We face the highest threat level we have ever faced in this country, today. Even after 9/11.^[28]

When Paul Ryan replaced John Boehner as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee was vacated by Ryan. This set the stage for a committee leadership contest, where Nunes, holding a senior position on the committee, was mentioned as a replacement for Ryan. While Nunes' claim to the committee gavel was strong, he was asked by Ryan to remain chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Ryan said of Nunes, “The world has gotten only more dangerous, and serious times call for serious leaders. That’s why I’ve asked Rep. Devin Nunes to stay on as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee." ^[29] Reflecting on the fact that it was not an easy decision to remove himself from consideration for the powerful chairmanship of Ways and Means, Nunes said, “After careful reflection and in light of the Speaker’s wish for me to continue this important role, I have decided to remain Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.” ^[30] Nunes' decision to remain as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in response to a personal appeal from Ryan for him to stay can be interpreted as the high confidence the House leadership has in Nunes as chairman, in addition to his closeness to Ryan over the years, which Nunes referenced in his book (see Author section below), Restoring the Republic (pp. 62–63).

As co-chair of the Brazil and Mexico caucuses, Nunes was selected by Speaker John Boehner to be a member of a well-publicized congressional delegation that the Speaker led to Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico in January 2012. Members of the delegation were Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI), Ways and Means Committee chairman; Doc Hastings (R-WA), Natural Resources Committee chairman; John Kline (R-MN), Education and the Workforce Committee chairman; Greg Walden (R-OR); and Dan Boren (D-OK). Boren was the sole Democrat on the trip.

As co-chair with Jared Polis (D-CO) of the U.S.-Mexico Friendship Caucus, Nunes along with members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference of the House of Representatives met with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico on April 24, 2012, in what is believed to be Calderón's final trip to Washington, D.C, as President of Mexico. Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Whip, also attended the meeting.^[31]

Energy

In 2006, Nunes authored the "American-Made Energy Freedom Act". In July 2008, the Republican Conference introduced the American Energy Act, which included a key Nunes proposal from the American-Made Energy Freedom Act to establish a renewable energy trust fund from revenues generated by deep ocean and Arctic coastal plain exploration and invest the monies in alternative fuels and technology.^[32]

On July 28, 2010, Nunes introduced H.R. 5899, "A Roadmap for America's Energy Future". It accelerates the exploration and production of fossil fuel; supports the rapid development of market-based alternative energy supplies; and expands the number of nuclear reactors from the current 104 to 300 over the next 30 years.^[33] Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal wrote that "It's a bill designed to produce energy, not restrict it. It returns government to the role of energy facilitator, not energy boss. It costs nothing and contains no freebies. It instead offers a competitive twist to government support of renewable energy."^[34]

Federal spending, healthcare and state pensions

On January 27, 2010, Nunes became an original cosponsor of H.R. 4529, "A Roadmap for America's Future", sponsored by Paul Ryan.^[35] H.R. 4529 proposes major reforms of the U.S. health care system, Social Security, the federal tax code, job training, and the budget process. The "Roadmap" claims to solve the problem of the unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and provides for their long-term financial solvency. With respect to Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the plan would increase costs for States or those States would reduce enrollment; with respect to Medicare, the CBO has said the average senior would pay nearly twice what they currently contribute for the same coverage when the plan is fully implemented. On January 29, 2010, President Obama said that the "Roadmap" is a "legitimate" plan to solve the fiscal crisis facing the United States due to the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Medicaid.^[36] Nunes was also a cosponsor of "Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2008", an earlier version of H.R. 4529.

Also in 2009, Nunes coauthored the "Patients' Choice Act" with Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the House, and Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) in the Senate. The Patient's Choice Act would establish a system of state health insurance exchanges and amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a refundable tax credit for qualified health care insurance coverage. The bill also proposes to adsorb Medicaid programs to the exchange system.^[37] The Patients' Choice Act was incorporated into A Roadmap for America's Future.

On December 2, 2010, Nunes introduced H.R. 6484, the "Public Employee Pension Transparency Act".^[38] Paul Ryan and Darrell Issa (R-CA) are cosponsors. H.R. 6484 enhances transparency for state and local pensions, and would establish a clear federal prohibition on any future public pension bailouts by the federal government.

Transportation

California State Route 99 is a highway running north and south that breaks off from Interstate 5 at Wheeler Ridge in Kern County and continues through the Central Valley until it connects with I-5 again at Red Bluff in Tehama County. In 2005, Nunes introduced H.R. 99, which designated State Route 99 as a congressional High Priority Corridor. The bill also provided federal authorization for Highway 99 to become part of the Interstate Highway System. The bill became law as part of H.R. 3 in August 2005. On February 17, 2011, Nunes introduced H.R. 761, the "San Joaquin Valley Transportation Enhancement Act", which would give the State of California the option to redirect federal high-speed rail funds to finance improvements to Highway 99.^[39] H.R. 761 was cosponsored by Jeff Denham (R-CA) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).^[40]

Veterans

The Hubbard Act of 2008, H.R.5825, was named in honor of the Hubbard brothers of California, Jared, Nathan, and Jason. Jared and Nathan lost their lives serving in Iraq. Jason Hubbard was discharged as a sole survivor, but denied separation benefits on leaving the Army. The Hubbard Act provides sole survivors a number of benefits already offered to other soldiers honorably discharged. Sole survivors also do not have to repay any portion of their enlistment bonus, are entitled to the educational benefits of the Montgomery GI Bill, and can receive separation pay and transitional healthcare coverage.

Controversies

Nunes has been characterized by his opponents as confrontational and sharp-tongued.^[41] He has been an unrelenting critic of the American left, particularly San Francisco Bay Area liberal activists and the environmental lobby.^[42] He wrote in his book that members of the environmental lobby were "followers of neo-Marxist, socialist, Maoist or Communist ideals".^[43] During the debate over President Obama's health care bill in the House of Representatives, Nunes said of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "For most of the 20th century people fled the ghost of communist dictators and now you are bringing the ghosts back into this chamber."^[44] He has also had a long-running dispute with another San Francisco Bay Area Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein, over California water policy and other issues,^[45] even running a series of advertisements against her in California.^[46] This fueled media speculation, later denied, that Nunes would challenge her for the Senate.^[47] He has said of Feinstein, "She is either held hostage by extremists or she is an extremist."^[48] Nunes wrote in April 2015 of "environmental extremists" and the damage he charges they have done in pursuit of an environmental utopia: "Utterly convinced of the righteousness of their crusade, environmental extremists stop at nothing in pursuing their utopian conception of 'sustainability.' The interests of families, farmers, and entire communities — whose very existence is often regarded as an impediment to sustainability — are ignored and derided in the quest for an ever-more pristine environment free from human contamination."^[22]

Nunes has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration's foreign policy, calling it a "complete disaster". He has also called Obama administration officials "wimps" for opposing enhanced interrogation techniques but using drones to attack terrorists. "People complain about harsh interrogation yet are okay with vaporizing people. In reality, they are kind of wimps, because they are not willing to do the hard stuff of capturing and interrogating people to get actionable information. The enemy knows that this administration won't interrogate them," Nunes told the American Thinker.^[49]

Nunes' criticisms are not limited to liberals or the Obama administration. During the October 2013 budget standoff, Nunes famously called certain members of his own Republican Conference who favored a government shutdown "lemmings with suicide vests". "It's kind of an insult to lemmings to call them lemmings" because of their tactics, he said.^[50][51][52] Nunes explained the origin of his remarks, and the climate in the House GOP Conference and floor in an interview and panel discussion on CNN, during the government shutdown, which he posted on his YouTube channel on October 5, 2013.^[53]

In May 2014, Nunes came under fire when he charged that Michigan Congressman and fellow Republican Justin Amash was "al-Qaeda's best friend in Congress" because of Amash's voting record on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance. At the time, Amash had voted in opposition to a Nunes water bill for California "on constitutional grounds." Nunes' statement linked the two issues, adding that Amash was acting as an ally of San Francisco liberals, who were opponents of Nunes' California water bills and NSA policies: “He’s been leading the charge and not telling the truth about [NSA surveillance policies]. He’s been fanning the flames, and it gets to the point where my assessment is this is a guy willing to work with San Francisco Democrats to protect bait fish, and at the same time he’s Al Qaeda’s best friend in the Congress.”^[54]

In February 2015, during debate over Department of Homeland Security funding, Nunes again gave sharp and colorful criticism, this time of certain conservative members of the Republican Conference: "I prefer to be in the arena voting than trying to placate a small group of phony conservative members who have no credible policy proposals and no political strategy to stop Obama’s lawlessness. While conservative leaders are trying to move the ball up the field, these other members sit in exotic places like basements of Mexican restaurants and upper levels of House office buildings, seemingly unaware that they can’t advance conservatism by playing fantasy football with their voting cards."^[55]

Lajes Air Base

Nunes has placed himself firmly in the middle of negotiations between the U.S. and Portuguese governments over the future of Lajes Air Base on the island of Terceira in the Azores. Since 2009, the Obama administration has had plans to reduce U.S. personnel at the air base, but has encountered strong opposition from the Portuguese government for a host of reasons, including future costs to the host government. Nunes, believing he is acting in U.S. interests, has blocked the Pentagon from implementing the plan. There are 650 military personnel and family members at the base. The Pentagon plan would reduce that number to some 150. Nunes' plans for the Azores would actually increase U.S. personnel. He is also proposing relocating Africa Command and European Command intelligence centers to the Azores, also contrary to plans by Pentagon and NATO to create a larger intelligence "fusion" facility in Britain. Nunes' plan would locate 1,000 intelligence personnel to the Azores. He maintains that this would save the U.S. money because cost of living and construction costs are less in the Azores than the U.K.^[56] The Pentagon has a different view; writing, for example, on one of their websites, officials report, "Moving to Lajes Field is very expensive and living is expensive as well." Officials have also criticized the weather in the Azores, which only adds to the controversy of moving intelligence personnel to the U.K., a country not known for ideal weather conditions.^[57] Whistleblowers have now come forward at the Pentagon, prompting Congress to investigate their allegations of manipulation and distortion of cost estimates of locating a new intelligence fusion center at the British airfield at Croughton,^[58] near London, instead at Lajes. The result was to make relocating personnel near London appear cheaper than the Azores. Nunes has called the Pentagon cost estimates "laughable." He remarked, when asked about the congressional investigation, "You have the nicest base that you have in all of the Department of Defense, with cheaper annual costs on the cost of living, the housing allowance, not to mention the size and scope of the base. It was built to house 2,000 airmen. With Croughton you would have to build or rent this housing out."

The negative strategic implications of U.S. withdrawals from Lajes have been pointed out by Gordon G. Chang and Michael Rubin. Rubin, in a November 2015 article in Commentary, wrote that the primary beneficiary of Obama administration policy could be the Chinese, who, as Gordon Chang reported in 2012, were showing high level interest in the Azores, and Lajes, which would give them a vital strategic foothold in the Atlantic.^[59]

Author

On September 13, 2010, Nunes' book, Restoring the Republic: A Clear, Concise, and Colorful Blueprint for America's Future, was published by WND Books, an imprint of WorldNetDaily. He also wrote a foreword to the bestselling 1951 novel Home Is An Island by Portuguese-American author Alfred Lewis. Nunes' foreword is in the 2012 edition by Tagus Press, an imprint of the Center for Portuguese Culture and Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. In it, Nunes writes about the experience of Azoreans immigrating to America: "Lewis’ classic book remains relevant today. Home Is An Island says a lot about America and immigrants in the early twentieth century, and how they decided to come to America. It describes in countless ways how Azoreans viewed themselves as Americans long before they left the Azores.^[60]

Committees 112th Congress

• House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Trade
  • Subcommittee on Health

Committees 114th Congress

• House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence - Chairman.^[61]

Personal life

Nunes is married to Elizabeth Nunes (née Tamariz), with whom he has three daughters—Evelyn, Julia, and Margaret.^[5]

References

External links

• Congressman Devin Nunes official U.S. House site
• Devin Nunes for Congress
• Devin Nunes at DMOZ
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Smart Voter's election results for 2002, 2004, 2006

Chairmen of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Nedzii Pikei Boland Hamilton Stokes Beilenson McCurdy Glickman Combest Goss Hoekstra Reyes Rogers Nunes
(i) - Select Committee chairs