Tom Harkin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, c. 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States Senator fromIowa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Roger Jepsen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Joni Ernst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's5th district | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1985 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | William J. Scherle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jim Ross Lightfoot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Thomas Richard Harkin (1939-11-19)November 19, 1939 (age 86) Cumming, Iowa, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Iowa State University (BA) Catholic University (JD) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1962–1967 (active) 1967–1989 (reserve) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Commander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unit | Naval Air Facility Atsugi Guantanamo Bay Naval Base | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Harkin on the lack of scheduling forstem cell research legislation. Recorded May 8, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as aUnited States senator fromIowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of theDemocratic Party, he previously was theU.S. representative forIowa's 5th congressional district from 1975 to 1985. He is the longest-serving senator to spend the entire tenure as a state's junior senator.
Born inCumming, Iowa, Harkin graduated fromIowa State University andThe Catholic University of America'sColumbus School of Law. He served in theUnited States Navy as an active-duty jet pilot (1962–1967). After serving as a congressional aide for several years, he made two runs for theU.S. House of Representatives, losing in1972 but winning in1974. He went on to serve five terms in the House.
Harkin won a race forU.S. Senate in1984 by a wide margin. He was an early frontrunner for his party'spresidential nomination in 1992, but he dropped out in support of eventual winnerBill Clinton. He served five Senate terms and at the end of his time in the Senate served aschair of theSenate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. He authored theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and was its chief sponsor in the Senate. Harkin delivered part of his introduction speech in sign language, saying it was so his deaf brother could understand.[1]
On January 26, 2013, Harkin announced that he would not seek reelection in2014.[2]
Harkin was born inCumming, Iowa. His father, Patrick Francis Harkin, anIrish American,[3] was acoal miner, and his mother, FranciskaFrances Valentine (née Berčič), was aSlovene immigrant[4] who died when he was ten. Harkin has three half-siblings on his mother's side from her first marriage in Iowa to fellow Slovenian Valentine Brelih. Frances was born in Suha, Slovenia to Jakob and Marija (born Jugovec). He still maintains his childhood house, where he and his five siblings were raised without hot running water or a furnace.[5] He attendedDowling Catholic High School which is located inWest Des Moines, Iowa.[6]
Harkin attendedIowa State University on a Navy ROTC scholarship and became a member ofDelta Sigma Phi fraternity. He graduated with a degree in government and economics in 1962,[7] and served in theUnited States Navy as an active-duty jet pilot from 1962 to 1967. Harkin was stationed atNaval Air Facility Atsugi in Japan, where he ferried aircraft to and from the airbase that had been damaged in theVietnam War and in operational and training accidents. He was also stationed for a time atGuantanamo Bay, where he flew missions in support ofU-2 planes reconnoiteringCuba. After leaving active duty in 1967, he spent three years in the Ready Reserves, and transitioned into the Naval Reserves in 1970. He retired in 1989 with the rank of commander.
In 1969, Harkin moved toWashington, D.C., and began work as an aide to Democratic U.S. CongressmanNeal Smith. During his work for Smith, he accompanied a congressional delegation that went to South Vietnam in 1970. Harkin published photographs he took during the trip and a detailed account of the "Tiger cages" atCôn Đảo Prison inLife Magazine on July 17, 1970. The account exposed shocking, inhumane conditions and treatment to which prisoners were subjected. He received hisJuris Doctor (J.D.) degree fromThe Catholic University of America'sColumbus School of Law in 1972.
In 1972, the same year that he graduated from law school, Harkin returned to Iowa and immediately ran against an incumbent Republican Congressman,William J. Scherle. Scherle represented the southwestern portion of Iowa, which (with one brief exception) had not elected a Democrat to Congress since the end of theGreat Depression. While winning a higher percentage of votes than any of Scherle's previous opponents, Harkin nevertheless lost the race.[8]After his 1972 defeat, Harkin practiced law in Ames before seeking a rematch against Scherle in 1974. In what was generally a bad year for Republicans due to theWatergate scandal, Harkin defeated Scherle by only 3,500 votes. He was re-elected four more times fromIowa's 5th congressional district without serious difficulty.
In1984, Harkin won the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate and defeated freshman RepublicanRoger Jepsen by 152,502 votes.[9] He was re-elected in1990,1996,2002, and2008.[10]
Harkin served in the United States Senate longer than any Democrat in Iowa's history. In 2009, he passedNeal Edward Smith as the longest-serving Democrat in either chamber from Iowa.[11] Notably, he spent his entire tenure as Iowa'sjunior Senator, due to his colleagueChuck Grassley having served in the chamber since 1981. He and Grassley had a fairly good relationship, despite their often sharp ideological differences, and their seniority made Iowa influential in national politics. Indeed, during his tribute to Harkin shortly before his departure, Grassley got notably choked up as Harkin entered the chamber.[12]
Harkin andBarbara Boxer were the only Senate Democrats to supportWisconsin SenatorRuss Feingold's 2006 resolution tocensure PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[13]
Harkin (in addition to U.S. SenatorsDick Lugar,Tim Johnson,Byron Dorgan,Joe Biden andNorm Coleman), introduced theBioFuels Security Act (S. 2817/109th) on March 16, 2006.[14]
Harkin came out in favor of theFairness Doctrine during an interview withBill Press. (February 11, 2009)[15]
Harkin has been influential in increasing research funding foralternative medicine. He was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Office of Alternative Medicine in 1992, which later became theNational Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. His efforts and the center's results, however, have been criticized.[16][17]
On July 16, 2013, Harkin introduced theCooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act (S. 1302; 113th Congress) into the Senate.[18] The bill would make changes to theEmployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and theInternal Revenue Code of 1986 to alter the funding requirements of certain private pension plans that are maintained by more than one employer where the employers are eithercooperatives orcharities.[19] The bill would make permanent an existing exemption from thePension Protection Act of 2006 for a few small groups.[20]
On November 19, 2013, Harkin introduced theMinimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737; 113th Congress).[21] The bill would amend theFair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase thefederal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 per hour over the course of a two-year period.[22] The bill was strongly supported by PresidentBarack Obama and many of the Democratic Senators, but strongly opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House.[23][24][25]
Harkin introduced theAmericans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into the Senate. Harkin delivered part of a speech insign language so his deaf brother could understand.[26]
Harkin has taken issue with the Supreme Court's handling of a number of cases related to ADA, concerned that the judgments severely limited the scope of the legislation's effectiveness:
"Together, these cases, as handled by the nation's highest court, have created a supreme absurdity: The more successful a person is at coping with a disability, the more likely it is for a court to find that he or she is no longer sufficiently disabled to be protected by the ADA. If that is the ruling, then these individuals may find that their requests for reasonable accommodations at work can be denied. Or that they can be fired—without recourse."[27]
In order to address these issues Harkin proposed the ADA Amendments Act, which in his words "will restore the proper balance and application of the ADA by clarifying and broadening the definition of disability, while increasing eligibility for ADA protections."[27]
Harkin has also been a vocal critic of what he describes as the biased nature of theMedicaid program: "The current Medicaid system is unacceptably biased in favor of institutional care. Two-thirds of Medicaid long-term care dollars are spent on institutional services, with only one-third going to community-based care. It's time to rebalance the system."[28]
During his political career, Harkin has generally supported the Supreme Court rulingRoe v. Wade, which decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion. He has opposed most efforts to place legal restrictions onRoe v. Wade, including voting against a ban onlate-term abortion, while supportingcontraception and education to reduce teen pregnancy. As of 2003[update], Harkin received a 100 percent rating fromNARAL, thepro-choice advocacy organization.[29] He was very critical of theStupak-Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009Affordable Health Care for America Act.[30]
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Harkin has come out in favor ofembryonicstem cell research.[31] In July 2006, Harkin made a speech from the Senate floor in response toGeorge W. Bush's veto of the embryonic stem cell research federal funding bill.[32]
In May 2009, Harkin announced he opposed any effort to overturn anIowa Supreme Court decision in April 2009 that legalizedsame-sex marriage in Iowa. "We all grow as we get older; we learn things, we become more sensitive to people and people's lives," said Harkin. "The more I've looked at that, I've grown to think differently about how we should live. I guess I've got to the point of live and let live."[33]
On December 18, 2010, Harkin voted in favor of theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.[34][35]
In September 2014, Harkin was one of 69 members of the US House and Senate to sign a letter to then-FDA commissionerSylvia Burwell requesting that the FDA revise its policy banning donation ofcorneas and other tissues by men who have had sex with another man in the preceding 5 years.[36]
Harkin has also been active in combating the worst forms ofchild labor. The Trade Development Act of 2000 "contains important child labor protections authored by Senator Harkin."[37] After reports of child trafficking and child slavery associated with cocoa plantations in West Africa surfaced in the media,[38][39][40] Harkin, along with U.S. RepresentativeEliot Engel and with the support of U.S. SenatorHerbert Kohl, sponsored a voluntary agreement by major players in the cocoa and chocolate industry signed in 2001 and often referred to as theHarkin–Engel Protocol.[41] The purpose of this "Protocol for the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products" was to bring practices in West Africa into line withConvention 182 of theInternational Labour Organization concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.[41] (Some difficulties in meeting the deadlines set in this Protocol have been encountered.[42][43][44]) Harkin has worked in other ways to combat the import of child labor-made products.[45]
Harkin believes America faces a retirement crisis, saying "Pensions have gone by the wayside. Savings are down as people are just scraping by, so the only thing left is Social Security."[46]
Harkin supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for theAffordable Care Act (Obamacare) in December 2009,[47] and he voted for theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.[48] PolitiFact rated Harkin's 2009 claim regarding the number of Americans losing health insurance coverage "false."[49]
However, in 2014 Harkin expressed some second thoughts. He criticized health reform as being too complex and convoluted. "All the prevention stuff is good but it's just really complicated. It doesn't have to be that complicated," he said of the Affordable Care Act. He also believes the new legislation rewards the insurance industry. He said important reforms such as preventing insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions and keeping young adults on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26 were laudable, but he believed that Democrats should not have settled for a solution he believed was inferior to government-provided health insurance. In retrospect, he believes the Democratic-controlled Senate and House should have enacted asingle-payer healthcare system or apublic option to give the uninsured access to government-run health plans that compete with private insurance companies.[50] He repeated his comments in a 2024 interview, saying "President Obama wouldn't fight for [a single-payer system]. I still think we could have gotten it".[51]
In 2014, Harkin said thathealthcare in Cuba produces lower child mortality rates and higher life expectancy than the United States;PolitiFact rated this comment "half true", expressing skepticism about the reliability of Cuban government statistics.[52]
Harkin has been a staunch supporter ofIsrael as a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, which appropriates about $2 billion annually for military financing for Israel.[citation needed] As of 2010[update] he was the third-largest career recipient of pro-IsraelPolitical Action Committee contributions in the Senate.[53]
In May 2006 Harkin voted in favor ofSenate Bill 2611, also known as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. Among the bill's many provisions, it would increase the number ofH1B visas, increase security along the southern United States border withMexico, allow long-timeillegal immigrants to gain citizenship with some restrictions, and increase the number ofguest workers over and above those already present in the U.S. through a new "blue card" visa program.[54] The bill ultimately failed to pass.
Harkin ran forPresident in1992 as apopulist withlabor union support. He criticizedGeorge H. W. Bush for being out of touch with working-class Americans.[55] Harkin was an early favorite in a small field of five candidates. Harkin won theIowa caucus and those inIdaho andMinnesota (with help from SenatorPaul Wellstone), but he ran poorly inNew Hampshire and other primaries and ultimately lost the Democratic Party nomination to GovernorBill Clinton ofArkansas. Harkin was the first Democratic primary contender to drop out and throw his support behind Clinton — a favor that led to a close relationship throughout the Clinton presidency.
Harkin figured in running mate searches multiple times after his 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton considered Harkin in 1992 because of his ties to labor and strong support for Clinton after withdrawing from the presidential race.[58] In 2000, Harkin was considered byAl Gore before Gore selectedJoe Lieberman.[59] In 2004, presidential nomineeJohn Kerry considered Harkin as a running mate, though Harkin worked to promote the candidacy of then-GovernorTom Vilsack.[60] In 2008,Barack Obama considered Harkin for vice president because of his senior statesman status within the party and his personal closeness to bothBill Clinton andHillary Clinton. Harkin endorsed Obama's choice ofJoe Biden for the nomination, and campaigned for the Obama-Biden ticket.[61]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1972[62]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1974[63]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1976[64]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1978[65]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1980[66]
Iowa's 5th congressional district, 1982[67]
United States Senate election in Iowa, 1984[68]
United States Senate election in Iowa, 1990[69]
DemocraticIowa caucuses, 1992[70]
1992 United States presidential election (Democratic primaries)[56]
IowaUnited States Senate election, 1996 (Democratic primary)[71]
United States Senate election in Iowa, 1996[72]
IowaUnited States Senate election, 2002 (Democratic primary)[73]
United States Senate election in Iowa, 2002[74]
United States Senate election in Iowa, 2008[75]
On July 6, 1968, Harkin, then aged 28, married the formerRuth Raduenz, who was 23.[76][77] The couple has two children: Amy (born 1976), and Jenny (born 1981). Ruth Harkin is an attorney and was one of the first women in the United States to be elected as a prosecutor when, in 1972, she was elected to the office of county attorney ofStory County, Iowa. She served as a deputy counsel for theU.S. Department of Agriculture before joining the Washington law firm ofAkin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in 1983. In 1993, President Bill Clinton named her chairman and chief executive officer of theOverseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Ruth Harkin left the government and becameUnited Technologies' senior vice president for international affairs and government relations in April 1997, leading their Washington DC office. In 2002, Mrs. Harkin became a director ofConocoPhillips. Mrs. Harkin sat on theIowa Board of Regents, the body responsible for overseeing the state's public universities.
Senator Harkin made a briefcameo appearance as himself in the political satireDave (1993), as did his fellow senatorsChristopher Dodd,Howard Metzenbaum,Paul Simon andAlan K. Simpson.
The Harkins' daughter Amy appeared on theNBC daytime reality seriesStarting Over from 2003 to 2004, and his voice was heard in several episodes when his daughter spoke to him on the phone. She is a 2004 graduate ofPrinceton University, and received hermaster of business administration degree from theUCLA Anderson School of Management in 2007.
In 2015 New York City held its firstDisability Pride Parade, and Tom Harkin was its grand marshal.[78] He was also the grand marshal for the Chicago Disability Pride Parade that same year.
As of 2024[update], Harkin lives in Virginia, and also owns his childhood home in Cumming, Iowa.[51]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIowa's 5th congressional district 1975–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Response to the State of the Union address 1984 Served alongside:Max Baucus,Joe Biden,David L. Boren,Barbara Boxer,Robert Byrd,Dante Fascell,Bill Gray,Dee Huddleston,Carl Levin,Tip O'Neill,Claiborne Pell | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromIowa (Class 2) 1984,1990,1996,2002,2008 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Iowa 1985–2015 Served alongside:Chuck Grassley | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Agriculture Committee 1997–2001, 2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Agriculture Committee 2001, 2001–2003 | |
| Preceded by Thad Cochran | Ranking Member of theSenate Agriculture Committee 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Saxby Chambliss | Chair of theSenate Agriculture Committee 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Chris Dodd Acting | Chair of theSenate Health Committee 2009–2015 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Senator | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Senator | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Senator |
| Education/Education and Labor (1869–1947) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Labor and Public Welfare (1947–1977) | ||
| Labor and Human Resources (1977–1999) | ||
| Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (1999–present) | ||
| Agriculture (1829–1857; 1863–1881) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Forestry (1884–1977) | ||
| Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (1977–) | ||
| Class 2 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
