The Honorable Ric Keller
United States Congressman (R-FL)
Biography
Ric Keller, 41, represents Greater Orlando in the U.S. House of Representatives. His district stretches from Celebration to Ocala and includes the world's top tourism destinations.
Rep. Keller was named chairman of the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee on March 1, 2006. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over higher education programs, including Pell Grants, technology in education, teacher training, job training, and welfare reform.
As the only Floridian in the House or Senate to sit on the education and workforce committee, Rep. Keller is the state’s point man on those issues in Washington, D.C. His top priority upon election was to support fully funding Pell Grants, a program that helps kids from poor families go to college. Rep. Keller, a Pell Grant recipient himself when he was in school, led the fight to boost support for the program, now providing needy students enough money to pay for tuition, books and fees at the University of Central Florida.
He also sits on the House Judiciary Committee where he has played a key role in crafting anti-terrorism legislation. After the events of September 11th, Rep. Keller sponsored “The Keller Amendment,” a plan that links airline passenger manifests to the FBI’s Terrorist Watch List. Since the Keller Amendment’s passage, airlines now do a computer check on everyone who boards a plane to make sure they’re not wanted for ties to terrorist organizations.
At the start of the 109th Congress, Rep. Keller also took a seat on the House Small Business Committee. As the only Florida Member of the Committee, Rep. Keller works to help small businesses grow by ensuring the government recognizes the importance of America's entrepreneurs and the millions of workers they employ.
Rep. Keller is the author of "The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act," a bill that passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming, bi-partisan margin. The so-called "Cheeseburger Bill" prohibits lawsuits by obese customers who blame restaurants, supermarkets, and grocery manufactures for their own overconsumption of food.
Rep. Keller has been an avid supporter of President Bush's tax cuts for working families and is now leading the fight to make those tax cuts permanent.
Rep. Keller has been seen on television programs such as NBC’s “The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno”; The Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor”; ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings"; CNN’s “Inside Politics”; COURT TV’s “The Crier Report”; CNBC’s “Wake Up Call”; and has been a frequent guest on MSNBC’s regular newscasts.
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