Current Position: U.S. Senator (since January 1983)
Credit: Melina Mara/TWP
Why He Matters
Bingaman isn’t one to grab the spotlight, but this six-term senator’s logical, cerebral approach gets things done. The son of educators has spent years working on education, energy, and other less glamorous issues such as nuclear waste storage. Though a member of the Democratic Party, Bingaman’s non-partisanship is hailed in the Senate as “sensible” and productive. He’s reached across the aisle to form compromises, especially on environmental issues.
Bingaman typically shuns the media in favor of working behind the scenes.
"He never seeks to advance himself; he never says, 'Look at me,' " Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said, according to Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America. "I find him to be one of the colleagues I respect the most."
The chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee regularly jogs four or more miles at a time around the National Mall.
At a Glance
Current Position: U.S. Senator (since January 1983)
Career History: New Mexico Attorney General (1979-1982); Private practice (1970-1979);
Assistant New Mexico Attorney General (1969)
Birthday: Oct. 3, 1943
Hometown: Silver City, N.M.
Alma Mater: B.A., Harvard, 1965; LL.B, Stanford University, 1968
Spouse: Anne
Religion: United Methodist
Committees: Energy and Natural Resources (chairman); Finance; Joint Economic Committee
DC Office: 703 Hart Senate Office Bldg., United States Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510, (202) 224-5521 (202) 224-5521
State Offices: Albuquerque, (505) 346-6601 (505) 346-6601 ; Las Cruces, (575) 523-6561; Roswell, (575) 622-7113; Santa Fe, (505) 988-6647 (505) 988-6647
Email
Website
Path to Power
Bingaman was born in El Paso, Tex., but grew up in Silver City, N. M. He received his undergraduate degree in government from Harvard in 1965 and his J.D. from Stanford in 1968. While at Stanford, Bingaman worked on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. He also met his future wife, Anne, while in law school.
Bingaman credits his interest in politics as coming from the time he spent with his uncle, John Bingaman, who worked on former Sen. Clinton Anderson’s (D-N.M.) campaigns.Jeff Bingaman has called Anderson a role model, especially for his work on the 1964 Wilderness Act.
In 1969, Bingaman was appointed an assistant New Mexico attorney general. Between 1970 and 1978, he worked in the private sector as an attorney alongside his wife. He was elected New Mexico State Attorney General in 1978 and served three years.During his time in the post, his office also investigated the 1980 prison riots in the New Mexico State Penitentiary, and left the prosecution to the district attorney’s office because he felt he could not prosecute those he had just investigated. Later, when running for Senate, he would face accusations that he was too soft on the instigators of the riots.
U.S. Senate
In 1982, Bingaman defeated former astronaut and first-term senator Harrison Schmitt (R-N.M.), 54 to 46 percent. He ran, like many Democrats of the day, on an anti-Reagan policy platform and was boosted into office by disenchantment with the then-president’s policies as well as a series of negative campaign ads run by his opponent.,Since then, the popularity of the media-shy senator has remained high, with “no ugly sex scandals, no shady dealings,” the Associated Press wrote in 2006.
According to Congressional Quarterly's "Politics in America," he keeps such a low profile that some reporters on Capitol Hill have trouble recognizing him.
Despite this, Bingaman has established himself as an expert on energy; New Mexico is abundant in gas, oil, and uranium. Bingaman has been Chairman twice of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (once from 2001 to 2003, and again starting in 2006) and also serves on the Energy subcommittee of the Finance committee.
He sits on the following subcommittees: International Trade and Global Competitiveness; Health Care; Children and Families; Retirement and Aging.
The Issues
Bingaman has voted with his party about 91 percent of the time in the current Congress. He supports a cap and trade program to reduce carbon emissions, more funding for education, and background checks at gun shows. He was one of the 23 senators who voted against authorizing the war in Iraq.
The Economy
Bingaman voted for President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package, calling it “a good start.” An amendment he proposed that would have allocated some stimulus money for national park projects did not pass.
Energy
In the 106th Congress, Bingaman became the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He and then-chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) worked closely on everything from forest preservation to rural electrification projects, and Bingaman’s nonpartisan tactics served him well. One hundred forty-seven of the committee's bills were enacted--the highest of any Senate committee.
In May of 2001, when then-Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vt.) left the GOP to become an independent, Senate control went to the Democrats, and Bingaman took over as chairman. Just a few months later, he was crafting national energy policy.
Created in response to President George W. Bush’s and Vice President Richard B. Cheney’s energy recommendations, the Energy Policy Act of 2002 differed from Bush’s recommendations by suggesting drilling in the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, by focusing on clean coal (many of New Mexico’s research labs study coal technology) and by focusing more efforts on renewable fuels.
When the 108th Congress convened in January 2003, Bingaman relinquished his chairmanship to then-Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), until the Democrats regained control of the Senate in 2006. In 2007, he and then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) introduced a cap and trade bill which did not pass committee. A similar bill is being offered this year under Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
Education
Bingaman says his interest in education stems from his parents, who were both teachers. He served as only one of two Senators on the National Education Goals Panel,supports more funding for advanced placement programs, and typically votes for education grants and other related funding. He sponsored bills to pay for technology education and discourage dropouts, a perennial problem in New Mexico.
Border Issues
New Mexico shares a border with Mexico and Bingaman has spent much of his career focusing on border issues. Bingaman voted for the immigration reform bill of 2006 that passed the Senate but did not become law; he voted against the building of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Health-Care Reform
Bingaman is the only Democrat to sit on both Senate committees with jurisdiction over health care, the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) asked Bingaman to join his "Gang of Six," a group of Finance member from both sides of the aisle who sat down to try to hash out a deal on health-care reform in the summer of 2009. Joining Baucus and Bingaman were Republican Sens. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Democrat Kent Conrad (N.D.).
Baucus' bill, released in September, included Conrad's proposal for non-profit health insuracne cooperatives, an idea more palatable to Republicans that the administration's preference for a publicly-run health insurance option.
Bingaman was tasked with negotiating amendments to the bill before its debut, which made him key to how the bill would fare in mark-up.
Insiders said Bingaman was in favor of a public option, but willing to compromise.
The Network
Bingaman works with New Mexico’s junior senator,
Tom Udall (D), and spent much time with former Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska). He was part of a “message group” that met weekly with former Majority Leader
Tom Daschle.
