Pete Visclosky won his first election to represent Indiana's First Congressional District in 1984.

Since then, he has been a strong leader in fighting crime, cutting class sizes, balancing the budget, reforming health maintenance organizations, and backing Northwest Indiana's steelworkers.

Visclosky is a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, where he serves as the ranking member on the Energy & Water Development Subcommittee. He is also on the Defense Subcommittee. Additionally, he is the vice-chairman of the Congressional Steel Caucus, a member of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition, and a member of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.

Visclosky has led the fight against crime in Northwest Indiana. In 1997, he had Lake County designated as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), which opened up federal funding for crimefighting activities there. Since that time, he has secured more than $21 million to battle illegal gangs and drugs in Northwest Indiana. He has also secured more than $16 million since 1994 to put 256 new police officers on the streets of our communities. His efforts have funded drug-prevention programs for kids and provided Northwest Indiana police departments with state-of-the-art technology to fight crime.

As the father of two sons, Visclosky believes in ensuring an excellent public education for all children. To cut class sizes, he secured more than $9 million to hire approximately 215 new teachers for Northwest Indiana public schools from 1999-2001. He also cosponsored a bill to help local schools renovate and modernize their facilities. In addition, he secured $2.7 million for the Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana, a space simulator that helps boost student interest in the sciences and focuses on teamwork and problem-solving skills. Since March, 1999, students from 24 Northwest Indiana school districts have participated in the Challenger Learning Program.

A lifelong Northwest Indiana resident, Visclosky understands the importance of the steel industry to our region. He has fought aggressively to save the domestic steel industry and the thousands of good-paying jobs it provides in Northwest Indiana. He authored H.R. 4646, the Steel Industry Legacy Relief Act of 2002, which was introduced on May 2, 2002. He lined up a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives in support of H.R. 808, the Steel Revitalization Act he wrote and introduced on March 1, 2001. He has pushed to protect retiree pension and health care benefits, and to provide federal funding and government-backed loans to keep Northwest Indiana's steel mills running.

In addition to fighting for steelworker jobs today, Visclosky is also looking toward the future. That is why he worked together with Purdue University to fund a technology center in Merrillville that will attract and support new high-tech companies. This proposed "business incubator" will open up brand-new career possibilities at home for Northwest Indiana's bright young people.

Visclosky graduated from Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana. He earned a B.S. degree in Accounting from Indiana University Northwest in 1970, a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1973, and a Master's degree in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University in 1982. He later taught budgetary policy at Georgetown University. His son John is 16, and his son Timothy is 13.

Rep. Peter Visclosky's Official Website

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The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of polluted water. (Sierra Club)