Michael McCaul

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Michael McCaul
Michael McCaul official photo.jpg
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Preceded by Peter King
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 10th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2005
Preceded by Lloyd Doggett
Personal details
Born Michael Thomas McCaul
(1962-01-14) January 14, 1962 (age 62)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Linda McCaul
Children 5
Alma mater Trinity University
St. Mary's University
Religion Roman Catholicism

Michael Thomas McCaul, Sr. (born January 14, 1962) is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 10th congressional district, serving since 2005. Since the beginning of the 113th Congress, he has been the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district stretches from Austin to Houston. As of 2015 he is the second wealthiest member of Congress.

Early life, education, and law career

McCaul was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Frances Jane (Lott) and James Addington McCaul, Jr. He has English, Irish, and German ancestry.[1] He graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from San Antonio's Trinity University in 1984 and his Juris Doctor from St. Mary's University in 1987. McCaul also attended Harvard University, taking courses in the Kennedy School of Government.[2]

McCaul worked as an attorney and a federal prosecutor before entering politics. He was the Chief of Counterterrorism and National Security for Texas's branch of the US Attorney's office also worked under the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section. After he left the USDOJ, McCaul took a position as a Deputy Attorney General in 1998 with the Texas Attorney General's Office and served in this capacity until 2002.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004. He won a crowded Republican primary in the newly created 10th District. The district was thought to be so heavily Republican that no Democratic candidate even filed, effectively handing the seat to McCaul.

In 2006 he defeated Democratic candidate Ted Ankrum and former Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik with 55% of the vote. McCaul won re-election once again in 2008, against Democratic candidate Larry Joe Doherty and Libertarian candidate Matt Finkel[3] by a 54% to 43% margin.

In 2010, he was re-elected to a fourth term by a wide margin (76%) against Democratic candidate Ted Ankrum (22%) and Libertarian candidate Jeremiah “JP” Perkins (1%).

Controversy

In August 2011 AlterNet reported that McCaul, along with John Culberson and Ted Poe, was attempting to remove the right of deceased soldiers families to choose which prayers, if any, were to be read at a soldier's funeral.[4][5] The three politicians were said to be attempting to impose Christian ceremonies on the military funerals of everybody who has served in the military, regardless of whether or not the deceased was Christian and with or without the consent of the family of the deceased. The three politicians stated their demands were a response to Veterans Affairs (VA) banning Christian prayers at military funerals, however, VA state this claim is "blatantly false" as VA respects a families "rights to pray however they choose at our national cemeteries".[4][5]

In September 2013, McCaul said that he would trust Russians rather than Americans to account for Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.[6] He did say that the monitoring and destruction of the chemical weapons in Syria would have to be overseen by an international commission of the United Nations, emphasizing that Putin and Russia have superior leverage over Syria to better accomplish the removal of WMD from the Syrian arsenal.

Legislation

On December 11, 2013, McCaul introduced the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013 (H.R. 3696; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct cybersecurity activities on behalf of the federal government and would codify the role of DHS in preventing and responding to cybersecurity incidents involving the Information Technology (IT) systems of federal civilian agencies and critical infrastructure in the United States.[7][8] McCaul said that the bill was "an important step toward addressing the cyber threat."[9] According to McCaul, the bill "establishes a true partnership between DHS and the private sector to ensure the distribution of real-time cyber threat information in order to secure our nation in cyberspace without burdensome mandates or regulations."[9]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Personal life

McCaul is married to Linda Mays McCaul. She is the daughter of Clear Channel Communications chairman Lowry Mays and sister of its CEO Mark Mays. In 2011, Roll Call named McCaul as one of the wealthiest members of the United States Congress, surpassing then U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA). His net worth was estimated at $294 million, which is approximately 300% higher than it was in the previous year ($74 million).[10] In 2004, Roll Call estimated his net worth at just $12 million. His wealth increase was due to large monetary transfers from his wife's family.[11] Michael and Linda live in the city of West Lake Hills, Texas which is a wealthy suburb of Austin, Texas with their children, daughters Caroline, Jewell, Avery, and Lauren, and a son, Michael.[citation needed]

See also

References

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External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 10th congressional district
2005–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
2013–present
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Representatives by seniority
153rd		 Succeeded by
Patrick McHenry
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