Biography
As a registered nurse, small businesswoman and former educator, Congressman Diane Black brings a unique and dynamic perspective to her work in Congress. Diane’s faith in America’s promise was shaped from an early age. The middle daughter of Great Depression era parents, Diane spent the earliest years of her life in public housing and, upon the encouragement of a high school guidance counselor, would go on to become the first person in her family to attain a college education.
Named among the 25 most influential women in Congress by Roll Call, Black was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and represents Tennessee’s 6th district, comprised of 19 counties across middle Tennessee. Prior to that, Black served in the Tennessee state legislature, where she built her legacy on fighting back against a state income tax proposal and successfully passing legislation to make home healthcare more accessible for Tennessee seniors.
In Congress, Black serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and has quickly established herself as a leader in the efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code for the first time in 30 years. Black is fighting for a flatter, fairer and simpler tax code to help create the conditions for economic growth, job creation, and higher wages for American workers.
Through her over 40 years of experience working in the health care field, Black learned first-hand about the importance of high-quality care and the obstacles faced by patients, health care providers and employers. Black’s real world experiences as a nurse have uniquely positioned her as a credible and effective leader on health care policy in Congress. She is focused on fully repealing the president’s disastrous health care law and advancing true market-based, patient-centered reforms that will bring down the rising cost of care by increasing private sector competition and consumer choice.
In 2011, Black was the first member of Congress to have legislation signed into law that repeals a health care provision in Obamacare, which saved taxpayers $13 billion dollars. Black is a cosponsor of the American Health Care Reform Act, legislation offering a conservative, comprehensive alternative to the President’s health care law.
Black is also a member of the House Budget Committee, where she has worked alongside her colleagues to draft budget resolutions that root out wasteful spending and confront the crippling $19 trillion debt burden in Washington. Black is a firm believer that getting America’s fiscal house in order also requires serious reforms of the broken Congressional Budget process. That is why she is a cosponsor of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution and a strong supporter of zero-based budgeting. Black is additionally a cosponsor of the No Budget, No Pay Act, which withholds pay from Congress if an annual budget is not passed by the legal deadline.
Black’s staunch fiscal conservatism earned her the prestigious “Award for Conservative Excellence” from the American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest, largest grassroots conservative organization and host of the annual “CPAC” gathering in Washington.
A former Tennessee Right to Life legislator of the year, Black is a steadfast champion for the rights of the unborn. The first bill that she introduced as a member of Congress would have defunded Planned Parenthood in a short-term spending bill. Since that time Black also authored and fought for the House passage of the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, a more comprehensive bill to block all federal funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider. Black additionally sponsored the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, legislation that would protect the religious freedom of health care providers who refuse to perform abortions and offers full exemption from Obamacare’s Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that requires coverage for abortion inducing drugs.
Black and her husband of over 35 years, Dr. David Black have three grown children and six grandchildren. They live in Gallatin and attend Community Church in Hendersonville.
Download high resolution photo of Congressman Black.
Download a PDF version of Congressman Black's biography.
