A fourth generation Nebraskan, born in Hastings, Congressman Tom Osborne represents Nebraska’s Third District in his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. A member of the Committees on Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, and Transportation and Infrastructure, Rep. Osborne is working to increase economic development and diversity in the Third District by making agriculture more profitable, expanding access to high-speed Internet access, and strengthening rural education.

Since being elected to Congress, Rep. Osborne has made several significant legislative gains. Rep. Osborne's Mentoring for Success Act amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to establish a national mentoring funding program. Rep. Osborne's Rural Education Initiative Act Amendment also amended the ESEA reauthorization to allow rural schools to combine selected funds from federal grant money and to establish a baseline of $20,000. Additionally, Rep. Osborne was a lead cosponsor of legislation signed into law that works to offer a comprehensive strategy toward addressing suicide, suicide prevention, and mental and behavioral health in high schools and on college campuses.

As a member of the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Osborne worked closely on the Farm Bill as it moved from committee to the President’s desk. Rep. Osborne has also introduced and championed legislation that would establish a Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), a provision that increases the use of renewable fuels to 5 billion gallons by 2012. The RFS provision is included in a comprehensive energy measure passed by the House of Representatives in the 108th Congress.

In addition, Rep. Osborne spearheaded two measures signed into law to protect youth in the athletic arena. Rep. Osborne’s Anabolic Steroid Control Act would list steroid precursors as controlled substances, thereby prohibiting the over-the-counter sale of such substances. Rep. Osborne’s Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA) legislation protects student-athletes and punishes deceptive sports agents.

A major concern for Rep. Osborne is to boost economic development as well as find opportunities that keep more of Nebraska’s talented young people in the state. In response to the growing need within the Third District of Nebraska, Rep. Osborne has prepared an Entrepreneurship Handbook and a Youth Entrepreneurship Brochure. These publications follow the Rural Economic Development Handbook prepared during his first term in office. In his ongoing efforts to educate Nebraskans, particularly youth, about the dangers of methamphetamine (meth) use, Rep. Osborne has developed a media presentation, entitled “Methamphetamine: One of Rural America’s Greatest Challenges.”

Congress is not Rep. Osborne’s first competitive arena. He retired as Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1997 after the longest tenure for a Nebraska coach—36 years, with 25 as head coach. Under his leadership, the Huskers played in a bowl game every year, averaged over 10 wins per season, and never won less than 9 games in a season. Prior to returning to Nebraska as an assistant coach to Bob Devaney, Rep. Osborne played professional football for the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers.

In 1991, Rep. Osborne and Mrs. Osborne first developed the TeamMates program that connects young people with mentors in the Lincoln area. TeamMates has since grown to a statewide, school-based mentoring program that pairs adult volunteers one-to-one with middle school students.

Rep. Osborne earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Hastings College, and his Master’s and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Nebraska.

Rep. Osborne and Mrs. Osborne have three children and four grandchildren.