Biography
Reelected to a third term in the United States Senate in 2004, Senator
Bob Bennett continues to serve the citizens of Utah with distinction. In
his position as Chief Deputy Majority Whip and a member of the Senate Republican
leadership team, Senator Bennett joins Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
and Majority Whip Mitch McConnell in managing strategy and schedule in
the Republican-led Senate. As Vice Chairman of the distinguished Joint
Economic Committee and a senior member of the Senate
Banking Committee, the Utah
senator is at the center of national economic policy discussions.
From his seat on the powerful Senate
Appropriations Committee, where
he chairs the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Bennett works to balance fiscal
discipline in government while also representing the needs of Utah in
the distribution of federal funds. The Utah Republican also serves on
the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the Senate
Rules Committee. Named an "Emerging Leader in a Post-September
11 Senate" by
Congressional Quarterly Magazine, Bennett has received numerous awards
for his contributions in the U.S. Senate.
Since he was named chairman of the special committee responsible for
the relatively glitch-free Year 2000 computer switch, Senator Bennett
has been at the forefront of high-tech issues. Bennett takes pride in
results of Y2K preparations promoted by the work of the Senate committee,
including a modernized technology base, the creation of emergency contingency
plans and networks, and a better understanding of the vulnerabilities
of America's high-tech infrastructure.
A past chairman and current member of the Senate Republican High-Tech
Task Force, Bennett remains immersed in technology issues. Recognizing
the seamless nature of the public and the private sector, interconnected
through advances of the Information Age, Bennett’s now working
to ensure that the nation’s critical infrastructure, 90 percent
of which is privately owned, can be protected and U.S. national security
bolstered.
Prior to his election to the Senate in 1992, Bennett earned distinction
in entrepreneurial and government activities. For his success as chief
executive officer of the Franklin International Institute Bennett was
named Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year" for the Rocky
Mountain region. His Washington, D.C. experience includes service as
chief congressional liaison at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Born September 18, 1933, in Salt Lake City, Bennett is the son of former
four-term U.S. Senator Wallace F. Bennett and Frances Grant Bennett.
He is a 1957 graduate and former student-body president of the University
of Utah. Senator Bennett and his wife Joyce, are the parents of six children
and a rapidly growing brood of Bennett grandchildren.
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