Robert P. Casey Jr.

As the first Pennsylvania Democrat elected to a full Senate term since 1962, U.S. Senator Bob Casey knows that public service is a privilege and that he was elected to fight for Pennsylvania priorities and Pennsylvania values. He is working to foster financial security for American families, protect our children and invest in their futures and ensure safety at home and respect abroad.

Bob Casey is striving to restore our belief that the lives of our children can and will be better than our own lives. With the strong support of leading advocates, he has introduced two expansive bills to increase access to early childhood education and reverse the chronic underfunding of child care. Senator Casey is an outspoken proponent of expanding children’s health insurance and was a vocal opponent of President Bush’s two vetoes of a bill that would have expanded coverage to an additional 10 million children.

Senator Casey has been at the forefront of the congressional response to the subprime mortgage crisis. In May 2007, he joined Senators Chuck Schumer and Sherrod Brown to introduce the first major piece of legislation to address this crisis. Last year, Senator Casey helped secure $180 million in foreclosure prevention counseling funding. He also helped to secure an additional $150 million that is included in the housing legislation signed into law in July 2008.

His first amendment introduced in the Senate, to make participation in the K Street Project a federal crime, was passed into law as part of the ethics reform legislation. This program was used by some in Washington as a vehicle to fill high-profile lobbyist positions with loyalists. And he is the top Senate freshman in bringing appropriations back to Pennsylvania.

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Casey has worked to bring accountability on the Iraq war and to contractors in Iraq. He has outlined a new U.S. policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to target terrorists and to halt the reverse in progress we have seen in the region.

He passed legislation calling for Iraq’s neighbors to follow through on their pledges to provide reconstruction assistance. Senator Casey has also been a leader in marshalling opposition to any permanent U.S. security assurances to the Iraqi government without the explicit consent of the Congress.

After learning that one of his constituents was killed while taking a shower in Iraq, Senator Casey began pressing the Department of Defense and KBR for answers and assurances that U.S. troops will be safe from further accidental electrocutions.

A provision authored by Senator Casey to close loopholes to help ensure returning reservists keep their jobs and employment benefits was signed into law as part of the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act.

Senator Casey helped pass a bipartisan measure to create a reserve fund to help pay for a program to guarantee that veterans who are wounded in combat are able to receive full payment of bonuses and incentives.

As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Casey played a key role in passing provisions vital for Pennsylvania agriculture, conservation and nutrition programs. He also supported reforms to save money and close loopholes while maintaining a real safety net for farmers when they need one.

In addition to his strong support for food stamps and other nutritional program in the Farm Bill, Senator Casey has been a strong advocate for increased assistance for food banks that have suffered shortages after being hit with rising food prices and increased demand during this economic downturn.

Senator Casey helped secure more than $1.8 billion in emergency international food aid and related disaster assistance in the supplemental spending bill approved by the Senate. His bipartisan Jubilee Act, that would expand existing debt cancellation programs for the world’s poorest countries, passed the Foreign Relations Committee in June 2008.

In eight years as Pennsylvania Auditor General and two years as State Treasurer, Bob Casey compiled a record that focused on making government more accountable and responsive to the needs of Pennsylvanians. He has been a fiscal watchdog who made nursing homes safer, child care more affordable and government more accountable. He led the fight to reform Megan's Law to better protect Pennsylvania communities and children.

As Auditor General - the Commonwealth's independently elected fiscal watchdog - Casey aggressively fought to stop waste and fraud involving tax dollars and improve the effectiveness of government services and agencies. His efforts directly resulted in changes that saved Pennsylvania taxpayers more than $1 billion.

Senator Casey was elected to the U.S Senate on November 7th, 2006 with 2,392,984 votes or 58.7% of the vote. His 708,206 vote margin of victory is the second highest ever against an incumbent Senator in all U.S. Senate elections since 1920.

Casey serves on five Senate committees: Foreign Relations; Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Special Committee on Aging and the Joint Economic Committee. He is also the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs
Born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Bob Casey, 48, graduated from The College of the Holy Cross in 1982 and spent the following year teaching fifth grade and coaching eighth grade basketball in inner city Philadelphia for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He received his law degree from Catholic University in 1988 and entered the practice of law in Scranton.

Casey and his wife, Terese, were married in 1985 and live in Scranton. They have four daughters: Elyse, Caroline, Julia and Marena. Casey is the eldest son of the late Governor Robert P. Casey and his wife, Ellen. Throughout his public career, Bob Casey has been guided by the legacy of his father, and the principle that: "All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor."