Biography

Ron Lewis has represented Kentucky’s Second District since first being sworn in to Congress on May 26th, 1994. The Second District is home to Fort Knox, Mammoth Cave National Park, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, and over 50,000 people who depend on agriculture for a living.

The son of a tobacco farmer, Ron Lewis was born Sept. 14, 1946, in the eastern Kentucky county of Greenup. Raised in South Shore, KY, Lewis graduated from McKell High School in 1964. Lewis now resides in Cecilia, a small community west of Elizabethtown.

Lewis entered Morehead State University before transferring to the University of Kentucky, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science in 1969. He returned to Morehead State and earned a Master of Arts degree in Higher Education in 1981. Lewis also attended the Southern Baptist Seminary prior to being ordained a minister.

Lewis' varied job experience reflects the people of the Second District. He worked his way through college at Morehead State as a laborer with the Armco Steel Corporation. He also worked with the Kentucky Highway Department, at Eastern State Hospital, and began training in the U.S. Navy's Officer Candidate School before a kidney ailment forced his honorable medical discharge in 1972. Lewis worked in sales for several companies, including Ashland Corp., coal division, before a five-year teaching stint at Watterson College beginning in 1980. He also became a Baptist minister that year, serving as pastor for the historic White Mills Baptist Church. In 1985, he opened and operated his own small business in Elizabethtown before being elected to the U.S. House.

Lewis is a member of the prestigious Ways and Means Committee and its Social Security and Trade Subcommittees. In this capacity, he hosted a nationally recognized symposium in Campbellsville to highlight that communities’ remarkable economic revitalization and has traveled abroad to explore trade agreements beneficial to the Commonwealth.. In previous terms, Lewis served on the Agriculture, Government Reform and Veterans and Armed Services committees. He traveled to Iraq in February 2004 as a member of the Government Reform National Security Subcommittee to access the progress being made by coalition troops.

Lewis advocates a quality national defense and has worked in Congress to enhance Fort Knox’s position as a premier military instillation. Lewis was heavily involved in the successful effort to defend Fort Knox’s future viability during BRAC consideration in 2005. Lewis’ efforts were instrumental in keeping Fort Knox open along with Ireland Army Hospital and the Patton Museum. During the 108th Congress, he spearheaded funding for numerous facility improvement projects including construction of a new state of the art barracks and upgrades to computer training infrastructure. He has also been a consistent advocate for our nation’s veterans, working hard to increase funding for veteran programs, protect benefits and support concurrent receipt.

He has been a consistent leader in preserving a way of life for family tobacco farmers in Kentucky through efforts to stop new taxation, regulation and litigation. In 2004, Lewis coordinated a bipartisan congressional delegation, representing nine tobacco producing states, to combine elements of the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act with the American Jobs Creation Act, restoring hope to thousands of farmers nationwide who have faced increasing financial challenges due to the outmoded New Deal quota system that regulates tobacco production and pricing.

His diligent work steered the tobacco buyout through the legislative process winning approval by members of the House and Senate and signed into law by President Bush in November. The approved buyout eliminates the federal quota, enabling tobacco growers to better compete with foreign producers. The bill additionally allocates $10.14 billion dollars over 10 years to compensate farmers for their losses.

Mindful of potential security threats at home, Lewis introduced The Agricultural Business Security Tax Credit Act of 2004, proposing a tax incentive to agricultural retailers, manufacturers, formulators or distributors of fertilizers and pesticides. While important to farmers and agricultural businesses, these agents can also be used to manufacture illegal drugs such as methamphetamine and develop explosive devises, making these sites a potential target for foreign and domestic terrorists. Qualified businesses would be able to receive a tax credit of up to $100,000 per site for security measures to protect locations where agricultural chemicals and fertilizers are manufactured and stored.

Family-friendly tax issues are also important to Lewis. In the last session of Congress, the House has approved his legislation that adds simplicity and fairness to tax treatment for foster care families. He was a strong supporter of legislation developed in 2001 in the Ways and Means Committee that reduces individual tax rates, ends the marriage penalty tax and eliminates the death tax and the 2003 Jobs and Economic Growth Tax Relief Act recently signed into law by President Bush.

Lewis is a member of the House’s Conservative Opportunity Society. In the 106th Congress, Lewis chaired this group of House members that meet weekly to discuss national issues from a conservative viewpoint. He also serves on the House Republican Policy Committee and the House Pro-Life Caucus. In the 105th Congress, he was chairman of the House Family Caucus.

Lewis has always been active in community affairs, serving as a member of the Elizabethtown Chamber of Commerce and as past-president of the Hardin and LaRue County Jail Ministry. He is also a member of the Severns Valley Ministerial Association.

Since taking office, Lewis has been honored for his voting record by a wide variety of organizations, including the following: Farm Bureau, the Christian Coalition, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, League of Private Property Rights, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, The Coalition to Save Medicare, The 60-Plus Association, National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business.

Lewis is the author of the "Precision Agriculture, Research, Education and Information Dissemination Act of 1997," which allows farmers to take advantage of high-tech equipment to increase yields and remain profitable in the global market. Lewis has also co-authored legislation in the fiscal year 1996 and 1997 Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bills to help keep college loans available for students borrowing from small banks and credit unions. In 1998, Lewis authored the Family Impact Act, which will require federal regulatory agencies to discuss how their proposed regulations will impact American families.

In 2000, Lewis worked with the Ways and Means Committee to add a section to Medicare legislation to help notify senior citizens when they qualify for extra assistance with Medicare premiums and co-payments, saving seniors money on their health care. In 2002, Lewis’ legislation to add simplicity and fairness to tax treatment for foster care families was approved and signed into law, along with legislation that adds Edmonson and Hart counties to the Appalachian Regional Commission. Lewis’ Medical Adult Day Care Demonstration Act was included in the House’s Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2004, as well as a provision to support rural hospitals.

Lewis has introduced two bills in the 109th Congress to encourage more business investment and home ownership in rural America: The Rural Communities Investment Act (H.R 4854) makes the interest income on farm real estate and certain rural housing loans exempt from federal taxation to facilitate lower-cost financing for qualified individuals. The New Markets Tax Credit Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3957) extends a federal program created to provide capital for business and economic development ventures in low income and rural communities.

Lewis married the former Kayi Gambill in 1966. They have two children, Ronald Brent and Allison Faye.