Congressman Henry Hyde Will Not Seek Another Term in Congress

Legislative History

Partial List of Enacted Laws, 1975-Present

U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde

Chicagoland

• School & home soundproofing – More than $200 million in federal aviation funds for schools and homes affected by O’Hare noise.
• Flood Control – More than $300 million for flood control tunnels and reservoirs in the Des Plaines River watershed. More than $50 million in various flood control retention ponds on Salt Creek and tributaries.
• Homeland Security - Since fiscal 2004, more than $1 million to purchase bulletproof vests for state and local law enforcement agencies; $1 million for new equipment and better training for local fire departments; and federal funding for many other projects in the district.
• Health Care --  More than $9 million for Marklund Children’s Home; $1.2 million to expand Marian Joy Hospital; more than $1 million for renovations at the DuPage County Convalescent Center; $330,000 for renovations at the Ray Graham Association for People With Disabilities; and more than $500,000 for Midwestern University in Downers Grove, IL.
• Recent Transportation projects – $14.3 million for Irving Park Road realignment; $1 million for pedestrian tunnel in Winfield; $400,000 for Dupage River Greenway Trail; $300,000 for Illinois Prairie Path Bridge in Glen Ellyn. Also, $255,000 to provide vans for disabled clients of the Ray Graham Association for People With Disabilities.
• Community Projects: $600,000 for the construction of the Addison Neighborhood Resource Center; $300,000 for renovation of the DuPage Theatre; $1 million for projects at the Chicago Field Museum; $650,000 for renovation of the Salt Creek Sanitary District water treatment plant.

International Relations

• HIV/AIDS – (Enacted) Commits U.S. to invest $15 billion over next five years to reduce infections from HIV/AIDS worldwide and provide lifesaving care and drugs to millions already infected.
• Millennium Challenge – (Enacted) Establishes U.S. aid program to poor countries that have established functioning anti-corruption laws, accountability and transparency in budgeting, rule of law, a functioning judiciary, free press, free speech, and free and fair elections.
• Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act (Enacted) – Continues efforts to reform U.S. foreign assistance programs by targeting loan and grant assistance toward small enterprises in underdeveloped countries.
• 9-11 Recommendations Implementation Act – (Enacted) Includes important Hyde provisions to curb use of bogus visas and passports, identify and halt growth of terrorist sanctuaries; mandate hiring of hundreds of consular officers worldwide and improve public diplomacy programs in the muslim world.
• Aid to Freedom Fighters in Nicaragua/Central America − (Enacted in various appropriations bills, 1982-1988)
• Foreign Aid Effectiveness Act of 2004 – (Enacted) Requires periodic reports to Congress assessing the success of U.S. foreign assistance based on measurable criteria (see Millennium Challenge).
• Nuclear Freeze - Hyde led effort in early 1980s to defeat legislation to enact so-called nuclear freeze that was designed to undermine Reagan’s successful peace-through-strength diplomacy.
• Oil-for-Food Investigation & UN Reform Legislation (Pending) - UN administered program to feed the people of Iraqi during the years of international sanctions against the Saddam Hussein regime was rife with corruption. Ongoing investigation by Hyde has led to identifying numerous weaknesses in the UN management which is now the subject of reform legislation expected to be introduced in May 2005.
• OTHER: Now pending are legislative initiatives to rewrite and reform U.S. arms export laws to further restrict export of weapons, components and technologies to foreign countries; Hyde received House approval in ’04 for doubling the size of the Peace Corps and reforming U.S. public diplomacy efforts, two issues expected to resurface in 2005 during consideration of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act.

Judiciary – Rule of Law

• Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 1999 − (Enacted) Hyde initiative establishes national standard for seizure of private property suspected of being used in the commission of a crime. Hyde standard requires as pretext for seizure that government prove by clear and convincing evidence that property was used in commission of crime. Previously, standard in some states was probable cause.
• Attorney fees − (Enacted) Permits a judge to award reimbursement of legal fees to defendant found not guilty in criminal or civil case brought by U.S. government where the proceeding was found to be unjustified. Fees paid from Department of Justice asset seizure fund.
• Brady Bill – (Enacted) Original supporter of legislation to provide five-day waiting period for gun purchases.
• Elimination of the practice of race-norming − (Enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1991) Race-norming required standardized tests used in employment to be graded on a curve using race as a criterion.
• Antiterrorism Act of 1996 − (Enacted) Established: new penalties for providing material support to terrorist organizations; creation of cybercrime unit within the FBI.
• American Inventors Protection Act (Enacted) – Most comprehensive rewrite of patent law in more than 50 years. Protects consumers against deceptive practices of invention marketing companies, and extends the patent term from 17 years to 20 years from the filing of a patent application.
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Enacted) – Comprehensive rewrite of copyright law to protect authors, artists and others from Internet piracy of legally protected materials.
• Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 − (Enacted 1985) Initially skeptical of the need to reauthorize the venerable law, Hyde supported reauthorization following weeks of field hearings in the South to examine ongoing efforts to suppress registration and voting by African-Americans. Declaring that, “It’s too soon to take the South out of the penalty box,” Hyde was instrumental in blunting opposition by those in the Reagan Administration opposed to reauthorization.
• Assault Weapons Ban – Support for Clinton Administration initiative in the Judiciary Committee in June 1994 was instrumental in passage of President’s ’94 crime bill during House consideration. Analysts credit Hyde’s support for the ban in bringing recalcitrant GOPers on board. Asked by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter why he supported the ban, Minority Leader Robert Michel (R-IL) said, “I voted for the ban because Henry Hyde did.”

o       Impeachment − (1998-1999) Lying under oath and obstructing justice can never be a justifiable response in any court proceeding, and is certainly not a private matter. Hundreds of Americans are serving prison terms in federal and state prisons for such crimes. President Clinton bears responsibility for his actions which resulted in his impeachment, suspension of his license to practice law, court fines in excess of $100,000, and the out-of-court settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit of $850,000. Having sworn to tell the truth and then lying repeatedly, Mr. Clinton violated his oath of office to uphold the laws of the United States.

Other Issues

• The Hyde Amendment – Enacted annually since 1976 as an amendment to the Health and Human Services Appropriations Act that restricts the use of federal tax money to pay for abortion procedure.

• Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 – (Enacted) Makes it a federal crime to cross a state line to avoid the payment of child support.
• Family and Medical leave – (Enacted) Protects jobs of individuals who require as much as 14 weeks of leave to cope with personal illness, or to care for ill family member.
• Flag Burning – (Resolution adopted by the House, but not the Senate 1991, 1995)

Legislation Illinois General Assembly (1967-1975)

• Enacted law requiring state, county and city officials to invest all receipts in federally-guaranteed interest-bearing savings accounts.