Jay Dickey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jay Dickey
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 4th district |
|
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | Beryl Anthony Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Mike Ross |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jay Woodson Dickey Jr.
December 14, 1939 Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | April 20, 2017 (aged 77) Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Betty Clark (div 1987) |
| Children | John, Laura, Ted, and Rachel |
| Education | Pine Bluff High School |
| Alma mater | Hendrix College University of Arkansas at Fayetteville University of Arkansas School of Law |
Jay Woodson Dickey Jr. (born December 14, 1939 – died April 20, 2017) was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party. He served as a U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 2001.
Jay Dickey is known for two important changes he helped make to laws. One is called the Dickey Amendment (from 1996). It stopped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using government money for research into preventing injuries if that research might lead to rules about guns. The other is the Dickey–Wicker Amendment (from 1995). This rule stopped federal money from being used for research that involved destroying human embryos.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jay Dickey was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He finished high school at Pine Bluff High School in 1957. After that, he went to Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. He earned his first college degree in 1961 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
In 1963, he earned his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He started his career working as a lawyer in his own office. Later, he became the city attorney for Pine Bluff, serving from 1968 to 1970. In 1988, the Governor of Arkansas at the time, Bill Clinton, asked Dickey to be a special judge for a case in the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Time in Politics
On November 3, 1992, Jay Dickey won an election to become a U.S. Representative. This was the same day that Bill Clinton was elected U.S. President. Dickey won against a Democratic candidate named William J. "Bill" McCuen. Dickey was the first Republican to hold this House seat in his district. He was re-elected three more times, serving a total of four terms.
While in Congress, he was part of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations. This committee decides how the government's money is spent. He also worked on five smaller groups within this committee, focusing on areas like agriculture, national security, and transportation.
The Dickey Amendment
Jay Dickey strongly supported the Second Amendment, which protects the right to own guns. In 1996, he believed that some research on gun injuries and deaths by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (part of the CDC) was biased. He thought their research was trying to push for gun control, not just find scientific facts.
Because of this, Dickey successfully added a change to a bill. This change, known as the Dickey Amendment, removed $2.6 million from the CDC's budget. This amount was what the CDC had spent on gun research before.
Losing Re-election
Jay Dickey was known for being outspoken and conservative. Over time, his popularity in his district, which was generally more moderate, started to go down. In 2000, he lost his re-election campaign to the Democratic candidate Mike Ross. It was a very close election. Even the House Speaker Dennis Hastert came to Arkansas to try and help Dickey win. President Clinton also put a lot of effort into helping Mike Ross.
In 2002, Dickey tried again to win back his seat from Ross, but he lost by a larger margin.
After Congress
After leaving Congress, Jay Dickey started a company called JD Consulting. This company mainly worked as a lobbying firm. Lobbyists try to influence government decisions for their clients. His company helped clients with things like children's health care, water projects, and tax issues.
Years later, after a terrible mass shooting happened in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012, Jay Dickey changed his mind about gun violence research. He said that he should not have been "the NRA’s point person in Congress" to stop important and valuable research. He then called for new scientific studies on gun violence.
Death
Jay Dickey passed away on April 20, 2017. He had been battling Parkinson's disease for a long time.
