Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Dave Camp" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Dave Camp | |
|---|---|
| Chair of theHouse Ways and Means Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Sander Levin |
| Succeeded by | Paul Ryan |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan | |
| In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Bill Schuette |
| Succeeded by | John Moolenaar |
| Constituency | 10th district (1991–1993) 4th district (1993–2015) |
| Member of theMichigan House of Representatives from the102nd district | |
| In office January 11, 1989 – January 3, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Michael D. Hayes |
| Succeeded by | James R. McNutt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Lee Camp (1953-07-09)July 9, 1953 (age 72) Midland, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Nancy Camp |
| Education | Albion College (BA) University of San Diego (JD) |
Camp supporting theSGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014. Recorded March 14, 2014 | |
David Lee Camp (born July 9, 1953) is a former American politician who served as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2015. Camp representedMichigan's 4th congressional district since 1993, and previously served one term representingMichigan's 10th congressional district. A member of theRepublican Party, Camp was chairman of theHouse Committee on Ways and Means, serving from 2011 to 2015. In March 2014, he announced that he would not run for re-election.[1]
Camp was born inMidland, Michigan, the son of Norma L. (Nehil) and Robert D. Camp.[2] He graduated fromH.H. Dow High School in 1971. He attended theUniversity of Sussex,Brighton, England, 1973–1974 and earned hisBachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in 1975 fromAlbion College inAlbion, Michigan. He earned aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of San Diego School of Law in 1978. From 1979 to 1991, he was a partner with the law firm Riecker, Van Dam & Barker in Midland, Michigan.[citation needed]
Camp was diagnosed with early-stage non-Hodgkin'slarge B-cell lymphoma in 2012. After several months of chemotherapy, Camp announced he was cancer-free in December 2012.[3][4]
Camp worked as a member of theMidland County, Michigan board of canvassers and a member of the Midland CountyRepublican executive committee[when?]. For 4 years he was special assistant to theMichigan attorney general from 1980 to 1984. He served another 4 years on the staff of his boyhood friendU.S. RepresentativeBill Schuette (R-MI) from 1984 to 1987, before running and winning the102nd District of theMichigan House of Representatives in 1988 and serving one term.[5]
When U.S. Congressman Schuette ofMichigan's 10th congressional district decided in 1990 to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent U.S. SenatorCarl Levin, Camp ran to replace him and won the endorsement of his former boss. In the Republican primary he faced former U.S. CongressmanJames Dunn and former State SenatorAlan Cropsey. Despite trailing Dunn in early polls, Camp won the Republican primary with a plurality of 33%.[6] He defeated Cropsey (30%), Allen (19%), Dunn (18%), and Simcox (1%).[7] He won the general election with 65% of the vote.[8]
After redistricting, he decided to run inMichigan's 4th congressional district. He won the general election with 62% of the vote.[9] He never won re-election with less than 61% of the vote and never had a primary challenge.[10]

Camp served on theHouse Committee on Agriculture.[11] Camp received the Golden Plow Award in 1998 from theAmerican Farm Bureau Federation.[12]
In the108th Congress, he served as a deputymajority whip and served on theHouse Ways and Means Committee. SpeakerDenny Hastert chose Camp to serve on the SelectUnited States House Committee on Homeland Security, which had been created by the House of Representatives on January 7, 2003.[citation needed] While on the committee Camp was the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security, where he helped develop policies to secure U.S. land and maritime borders in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[citation needed]
Camp was the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health, and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, respectively. He served seven terms as a Member of the Subcommittee on Human Resources, and six terms as a Member of the Subcommittee on Trade. As a junior Member of the committee in 1996, Camp played a role in the passage of thePersonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.[citation needed]
Camp served as Ranking Member of the full committee on Ways and Means. Camp was one of three House Republicans appointed by then-Minority LeaderJohn Boehner (R-OH) to serve on theNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, known as the Bowles-Simpson Commission, formed in February 2010. It was charged with identifying policies to improve the U.S. fiscal situation in the medium term, and to achievefiscal sustainability over the long term. While on the Commission, which failed to achieve its aims and did not see enactment of any of its proposals, Camp co-led the Tax Reform Working Group and was a member of the Mandatory Spending Working Group.[citation needed]
Camp introduced thePromoting Adoption and Legal Guardianship for Children in Foster Care Act into the House on September 27, 2013.[13] The bill reauthorized the Adoption Incentives Program that focuses on helping states to find adoptive parents for foster children and passed the House on October 22, 2013. Camp later introduced thePreventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980; 113th Congress) which passed the House on July 23, 2014.[14]
On June 26, 2014, Camp introduced theImproving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (H.R. 4994; 113th Congress), a bill intended to change and improveMedicare's post-acute care (PAC) services and how they are reported on.[15]

"I'm a conservative on fiscal policy, but I'm a moderate on some other issues," he told Congressional Quarterly in 2006. He told National Review in 2007 that he feels "more at home" with the conservative Republican Steering Committee. Camp is part of the moderate bloc through his participation in the Main Street Partnership. He generally voted along party lines in the House, siding with Republicans 93.7 percent of the time during the 111th Congress.[16] TheAmerican Conservative Union gave him a lifetime rating of 89 percent, his score with theClub for Growth is considerably lower. Camp voted for both theNorth American Free Trade Agreement and theCentral American Free Trade Agreement. In August 2013 Camp announced his support for cutting benefits to theTemporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.[17]
Camp introduced the Tax Reform Act of 2014 on February 26, 2014.[18] The congressional nonpartisanJoint Committee on Taxation calculated the bill would allow 95 percent of filers to get the lowest tax rate possible by claiming the standard deduction,[19] would create up to 1.8 million jobs and increase gross domestic product by up to 1.4% in 2023.[20]
When the Chicago office of theEnvironmental Protection Agency took action againstDow Chemical regarding dioxin pollution of waterways leading into the Saginaw River, he had regional EPA director Mary Gade fired in 2008. The resulting reluctance of that EPA regional office to take action regarding major environmental issues led to their inaction in theFlint Water Crisis. Camp's wife was Dow's attorney.[21]
Approximately one year after announcing his decision not to run for re-election to Congress, it was announced that Camp would be joining prominent accounting firmPricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior policy advisor.[22]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 10th congressional district 1991–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 4th congressional district 1993–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Ways and Means Committee 2009–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Ways and Means Committee 2011–2015 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |