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Biography
From Educator to Congressman
Representative David Price currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is Chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice & Science and on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
Price, a lifelong educator, is working to improve education by recruiting our nation's brightest young people to go into teaching. He is a recognized leader in foreign policy, serving as Chairman of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, which he initiated to strengthen parliaments in emerging democracies.
Among Price's other priorities are ensuring personal and national security, providing affordable housing, making health care accessible and affordable, and accelerating highway and transit development in the Triangle.
Personal Background
Born in 1940, Price grew up in the small town of Erwin in East Tennessee. His father was a high school principal and his mother was an English teacher.
Price studied at Mars Hill College and was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). He earned his B.A. there in 1961, and continued his education at Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree (1964) and a Ph.D. in Political Science (1969).
Price and his wife Lisa were married in 1968. Lisa is the former Executive Director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. They have two grown children: Karen, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles; and Michael, who teaches evolutionary psychology at Brunel University in London. Michael is married to the former Jade Gibson of Fredericksburg, VA, and they are the parents of the Prices’ first grandchild, Charles Albert, who was born on June 2, 2006.
Price is a member of Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, where he has taught Sunday School and chaired the official board.
Professional Activities
Price taught political science and public policy at Duke University. He is the author of four books on Congress and the American political system.
Price serves the House Democratic Caucus as Assistant Whip. He co-chairs the Democratic Budget Group, a forum on national fiscal priorities and policies, as well as the Democratic Caucus Faith Working Group.
Price was named a “Champion of Science” by the Science Coalition in 2002 and 2004, and he received the 2003 ASEE Engineering Deans Council Award for his support of engineering education and research. He was awarded the Charles Dick Medal of Merit from the North Carolina National Guard, and he has been recognized with the American Political Science Association's Hubert H. Humphrey Public Service Award. He has also been honored by Voices for AmeriCorps, the NC Low-Income Housing Coalition, the NC Public Transportation Association, the Association of Community College Trustees, the National Association of Land-Grant Colleges and State Universities and other organizations for his work in housing, education, and transportation policy. He was honored at the 31st Annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the Durham NAACP in 2005 and received the William Sloane Coffin Award from Yale Divinity School in 2006 for his contributions to the work of peace and reconciliation in his lifetime.
Legislative Accomplishments
Education & Research -- Currently, Price is working to pass his Teaching Fellows Act, which encourages our nation's best and brightest students to become teachers. The Advanced Technological Education program at the National Science Foundation, established by a Price-authored bill in 1993, upgrades training for jobs in high-tech fields. He also sponsored the Price Education Affordability Act, enacted in 1997, which allows families to deduct the interest on student loans and to withdraw money from an IRA for education expenses without penalties. Price has promoted increased federal investment in biomedical, environmental, and other research, much of it based in North Carolina.
Foreign Policy – Price has emerged as one of Congress’s leaders on foreign policy. He leads the House Democracy Assistance Commission, a 16 member-panel he initiated in 2005, that works directly with leaders of emerging democracies in every region of the world. He has taken the lead on pushing legislation to regulate use of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Price has introduced legislation to require the Bush Administration to implement a realistic strategy to bring our occupation of Iraq to an end. He also continues to be active in the effort to negotiate a just peace in the Middle East.
Campaign and Election Reform – Price‘s “Stand By Your Ad” Act, which requires candidates to appear in their ads and take responsibility for the ad’s contents, was included in the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act. Price is currently working to extend the "Stand By Your Ad" bill to Internet ads and automated phone calls and to reform the presidential public financing system so that more candidates will participate. He also helped author legislation that enables local jurisdictions to “buy out” inaccurate voting machines and replace them with new, improved equipment. That legislation was included in the Help America Vote Act, signed into law in 2002.
Housing -- Price helped make home financing available to many more low-income families by securing capital reserves for a program that successfully demonstrated how to make more families eligible for mortgages. He also has successfully pushed for increased housing opportunities for senior citizens and first-time home buyers. He initiated the 1988 Home Equity Loan Consumer Protection Act, requiring lenders to disclose the full terms of home equity loans to consumers.
Transportation -- Price has consistently advocated for expedited construction and expansion of US 1, US 64, NC 55, and the Raleigh Outer Loop and has pushed for an improved rate of return on North Carolina's federal gas tax money. He is a longtime proponent of transportation alternatives to ease clogged roadways in the Triangle.
Environment -- In addition to supporting improvements in the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, Price secured planning and construction funds for the state-of-the-art Environmental Protection Agency facility in Research Triangle Park. He also was instrumental in requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to raise the Falls Lake dam level to ensure Raleigh's future water supply and in securing grants for stream restoration and wastewater processing in North Carolina communities. |
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