Joe Lieberman's Biography

A thoughtful legislator. A principled man. An effective leader. This is the reputation that Joe Lieberman earned himself after four terms as the representative of Connecticut in the United States Senate. He retired in January 2012.

Perhaps best known as the Democratic candidate for Vice President in 2000, Senator Lieberman has established himself as a national leader — one who works across party lines to find common ground, a person who speaks his conscience and who gets things done for the good of all people in America.

That reputation is based on a long and distinguished record. Senator Lieberman was one of Congress's most influential voices on security issues. He was the Senate's leading champion of legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security to better protect the nation from terrorist attacks. He has been at the forefront of efforts not only to increase our investment in defense, but to transform our armed forces to better meet the threats of the 21st Century. Senator Lieberman has been a strong and consistent advocate for using America's military might to defend America's interests and values when they are seriously endangered.

Here at home, Senator Lieberman has believed in equal opportunity for all Americans. He supported economic policies that spark business growth, encourage innovation, open the doors of opportunity for all, expand markets for American products, and keep the government's budget books in balance. He has also been a champion for the ordinary investor and consumer, fighting to ensure that public and private watchdogs meet the highest standards of independence and integrity. Moreover, he led the successful legislative effort to repeal the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibits patriotic gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in our armed services.

Throughout his more than 20 years in the United States Senate, Senator Lieberman proved himself a true environmental champion. From helping to negotiate the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, to consistently working to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska from oil and gas drilling and exploration, to fighting to better fund conservation efforts along Long Island Sound and authoring several bills to combat climate change – including the first one to ever make it to the Senate floor for a vote, Senator Lieberman has committed himself tirelessly to the preservation of our air, land and water.

Senator Lieberman has been a strong advocate for investing in our public schools, empowering parents, and challenging all students to meet higher academic standards. He sought to give all Americans, regardless of income, the chance to go to college and develop the skills they needed to succeed in our global information economy. He works to expand quality and affordable healthcare to all Americans and to safeguard Medicare and Social Security for future generations.

Senator Lieberman has been a vocal advocate for campaign finance reform and has written extensively on the dignity and nobility of public service. He urged America to be true to its tradition of tolerance by giving faith and its practitioners a place at the national table. Senator Lieberman was dedicated to strengthening America's families and renewing our common values by working with parents to improve the culture in which they raise their children.

Senator Lieberman was Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is responsible for oversight of the Department of Homeland Security and assuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal Government. In addition, he was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Airland and sat on the Personnel and Seapower Subcommittees; and the Small Business Committee.

Senator Lieberman was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on February 24, 1942, and attended public schools there. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale College in 1964 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1967. Senator Lieberman was elected to the Connecticut State Senate in 1970 and served there for ten years, including the last six as Majority Leader. In 1980, he returned to private legal practice for two years, and from 1983 through 1988, he served as Connecticut's 21st Attorney General. As Attorney General he took on polluters of Connecticut's environment, went after deadbeat dads by strengthening child support enforcement, and earned a strong reputation as a defender of consumers' rights.

Senator Lieberman was first elected to the United States Senate in 1988, scoring the nation's biggest political upset that year by a margin of just 10,000 votes. Six years later, he made history by winning the biggest landslide victory ever in a Connecticut Senate race, drawing 67 percent of the vote and beating his opponent by more than 350,000 votes. In 2000, Senator Lieberman was elected by another overwhelming margin to a third term.

In 2006, Senator Lieberman was elected to a fourth term as an Independent, because of the strength of his record and his accomplishments for the state. He won the general election by more than 100,000 votes. 

John Boehner's Biography

A former small businessman, John Boehner served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for nearly five years (January 2011-October 2015), during which he led the drive for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable federal government. Boehner represented the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio in the U.S. House from 1991 to 2015. He now serves as Senior Strategic Advisor for Squire Patton Boggs LLP, one of the world’s foremost law and public policy firms.

The son of a bartender and second oldest of 12 brothers and sisters, John grew up mopping floors at the family tavern and playing football at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School. While working to pay his way through Xavier University, he met Debbie – his wife of 41 years – and started his own small business. He and Debbie still live in the home where they raised their two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia. John got involved in state and local government after seeing firsthand how high taxes and red tape impact entrepreneurs. Then in 1990, the voters sent John to the U.S. House, where he took a strong stand against pork-barrel spending and, as part of the reform-minded “Gang of Seven,” forced the closure of the scandal-ridden House Bank and House Post Office.

John’s reputation as a reformer grew as he worked alongside then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), helping to craft the historic 1994 Contract with America and helping to lead the effort to enact the first balanced federal budget in a generation. Later, as Chairman of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, he wrote legislation to expand school choice, strengthen America’s pension system, and reform the federal education bureaucracy to demand results for students and parents. Elected as House Majority Leader in 2006 and chosen to become House Republican Leader later that year, Boehner led the opposition to job-crushing proposals such as President Obama’s “cap and trade” initiative and ObamaCare while promoting better solutions to the challenges facing American families. On January 5, 2011, Boehner took the gavel as Speaker of the House following the historic 2010 election in which Congressional Republicans, under Boehner’s leadership, picked up 63 seats in the U.S. House. Guided by the Pledge to America – a new governing agenda reflecting the priorities of the American people – Speaker Boehner focused on removing government barriers to private-sector job creation and economic growth, addressing the drivers of America’s debt, eliminating pork-barrel “earmarks” and reforming Congress, and rebuilding the bonds of trust between the American people and their representatives in Washington.

Boehner, who became a first-time grandfather during the summer of 2015, left the United States Congress on October 31, 2015, after nearly 25 years of serving the people of Ohio’s 8th Congressional District and the nation. Boehner joined Squire Patton Boggs in the autumn of 2016 as the firm’s Senior Strategic Advisor.  In this role, he provides strategic advice to Squire Patton Boggs’ clients in the U.S. and abroad, and focuses on global business development.

His new book On The House: A Washington Memoir released in the Spring of 2021.