Senator Tim Hutchinson
Former United States Senator from Arkansas
Biography
Tim Hutchinson is a former Republican US senator from the state of Arkansas.Hutchinson graduated from Bob Jones University and secured a masters degree in Political Science from the University of Arkansas in 1990. Hutchinson served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1985 to 1992. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in 1992 and served in the House until 1997, at which point he he became the first Republican ever popularly elected to the U.S. Senate from the State of Arkansas. While in the House, Senator Hutchinson served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Education and Labor Committee, and the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He was the original sponsor of child tax credit legislation, a key figure in reauthorizing the 1996 welfare reform law, and he chaired the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, which has jurisdiction over one of the largest hospital and healthcare delivery systems in the nation.
In the Senate, Senator Hutchinson continued his leadership on educational issues. While serving on the Health, Education, Labour, and Pensions Committee, he helped shape the Leave No Child Behind legislation and took a leading role in the passage of Education Savings Accounts. Senator Hutchinson also has played an active role on health care issues. He served on the Patient’s Bill of Rights Conference Committee, was the Chief Senate Sponsor of legislation creating Association Health Plans, and co-sponsored legislation addressing the nation’s nursing shortage. In addition, his interest in the cutting-edge issue of biotechnology led him to form the Senate Biotechnology Caucus. Outside of his political career, Senator Hutchinson has also worked as a History Instructor at John Brown University in Arkansas, and as a Baptist pastor.
Senator Hutchinson was deputy whip in the Republican Party leadership teams in both the House and the Senate, and has received numerous awards over the years for his work on behalf of veterans and the military, including the prestigious L. Mendel Rivers Legislative award. He was named “Legislator of the Year” in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization. On January 25, 2008, Senator Hutchinson spoke at the National Press Club on United States policies in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hutchinson has Co-authored “Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Hoekstra and Former Speaker Hastert Provide Insight on the Middle East Crisis and its Effects on Business Interests in the Region” Hutchinson joined the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Dickstein Shapiro in January 2003 as a senior adviser in the firm’s Public Policy & Law Practice division.
He currently works as a lobbyist and is a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
"The Impact of the Tea Party in US Politics"
A Lecture by Senator Tim HutchinsonUnited States meets Europe
(5 January 2011)
