Biography of Congressman Don SherwoodCongressman Don Sherwood (R-Tunkhannock) represents Pennsylvania’s 10th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, elected to his fourth term in November 2004. The 10th District includes the counties of Bradford, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Union, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming, and also parts of Lackawanna, Luzerne and Lycoming counties. Sherwood has helped bring new jobs to northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania, with businesses including CIGNA, Mills Pride, Tobyhanna Army Depot, General Dynamics, Wells Cargo and others establishing new missions and new jobs in the 10th District. Sherwood successfully passed his legislation to create a Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to help northeastern states combat sudden supply disruptions or price spikes. Sherwood was instrumental in establishing a new U.S. Department of Agriculture program to provide a federal safety net for dairy farmers (the MILC program), similar to programs available to other farmers. Sherwood’s bills to provide federal designations to the Lackawanna Heritage Valley and Grey Towers were passed by Congress and signed into law. He has written legislation to protect U.S. dairy farmers against unfair imports of foreign milk protein concentrates (MPCs) and has more than 60 co-sponsors of his bill. Sherwood is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which writes the laws funding all the departments, agencies and programs of the federal government each year. In January 2005, Sherwood was named Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. Sherwood is also a member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education, which controls more than $100 billion in annual appropriations for those three federal departments. He also is a member of the Subcommittee on the Interior, which oversees funding for national parks and forests, as well as important conservation and energy research programs. On the Appropriations Committee, Don Sherwood has worked to bring home millions of dollars for highways, hospitals, military industries and other institutions in every county of the 10th District. He helped secure a special $12 million appropriation for environmental reclamation projects in Pennsylvania's Anthracite Region, and has obtained more than $16 million for local communities to improve water and sewer infrastructure. He has secured $2.3 million for the Northeast Pennsylvania Community Forestry program, which has provided grants to local communities for 165 projects in the region. He obtained more than $20 million for highways, airports, and bus systems. He has secured new facilities for the Pennsylvania National Guard and Tobyhanna Army Depot. In the Medicare reform law establishing a new prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, Sherwood secured changes that will mean more than $76 million in additional Medicare reimbursements to hospitals in the region over the next five years, helping to keep down charges to patients. In addition, he has secured more than $6.5 million for area hospitals to modernize facilities and buy new equipment. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Don Sherwood had active duty service as a First Lieutenant at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., Pueblo Army Depot, Co., and in Panama. After his military service, he founded Sherwood Chevrolet of Tunkhannock. He also has been involved in the truck and forestry equipment business. Among many local organizations in which he served, he was on the Tunkannock Area School Board for 22 years. Don and Carol (Evans) Sherwood have been married for 33 years. They have three daughters: Jesse, Dana and Maria. A sixth-generation resident of northeastern Pennsylvania, Don Sherwood was born March 5, 1941, to the late Doris Williams Sherwood and the late Walter A. Sherwood of Nicholson. He attended Lackawanna Trail High School and completed his secondary education at Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1963. Don Sherwood was first elected to the 10th District seat on November 3, 1998, succeeding Joseph M. McDade. In his first term, Sherwood served on the Armed Services Committee, the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Resources Committee. | |