Kevin Brady facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kevin Brady
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| Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Richard Neal |
| Succeeded by | Richard Neal |
| Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee | |
| In office November 5, 2015 – January 3, 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Paul Ryan Sam Johnson (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Richard Neal |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 8th district |
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| In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Jack Fields |
| Succeeded by | Morgan Luttrell |
| Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 15th district |
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| In office January 10, 1991 – January 3, 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Mike McKinney |
| Succeeded by | Tommy Williams |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kevin Patrick Brady
April 11, 1955 Vermillion, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Cathy Patronella
(m. 1991) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of South Dakota (BA) |
Kevin Patrick Brady (born April 11, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for TX's 8th congressional district from 1997 to 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes northern Houston, including The Woodlands. He retired after the 2022 election cycle.
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Early life, education, and early political career
Brady was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, one of five children of William F. and Nancy A. Brady. His father, a lawyer, died in 1967 when Brady was 12 and his mother was in her early 30s. He graduated from Central High School in 1973. Brady has a degree in mass communications from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.
Brady worked for the Rapid City area Chamber of Commerce. He was elected to the Rapid City common council at age 26. In 1982, he moved to Texas to work for the Beaumont, Texas Chamber of Commerce. In 1985, he went to work for the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.
Texas House of Representatives
In 1990, Brady was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, district 15, representing The Woodlands, parts of Montgomery County, and five other counties west and north of Houston. He succeeded Mike McKinney as a representative of the 15th district in the Texas House of representatives on January 10, 1991.
U.S. House of Representatives
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Brady is known as the author of a federal "sunset law" that would require every federal program not specifically written into the Constitution to justify its existence to taxpayers within 12 years or face elimination.
In March 2012, Brady proposed the Sound Dollar Act, legislation to require the Federal Reserve to monitor gold and the foreign-exchange value of the U.S. dollar. The bill would also repeal the Federal Reserve's dual mandate (controlling unemployment and inflation) and replace it with a single mandate for U.S. dollar price stability.
In November 2015, Brady was elected the 65th chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, serving until 2019.
In March 2017, Brady introduced an amendment to the American Health Care Act (the House Republican proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act) that would allow health insurance providers to fully deduct all forms of compensation to their most highly compensated executives without limit, repealing the current law, which capped the deduction at $500,000 per executive.
Brady and Representative Richard Neal introduced the bipartisan SECURE Act of 2019, which contained a number of provisions to expand access to retirement planning options and to encourage employers to set up retirement plans for workers. The bill, originally introduced in March 2019, was passed into law in December 2019 as part of the fiscal year 2020 federal appropriations bill.
In December 2020, Brady indicated that he supported a second round of Paycheck Protection Program funds to assist small businesses suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a negotiator during the discussions to pass the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
On April 14, 2021, Brady announced that he would not run for a 14th House term and would retire in 2022.
Committee assignments
During his time in Congress, Brady chaired the Joint Economic Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Caucus memberships
- Army Caucus
- Congressional Missing and Exploited Children Caucus
- Congressional Rural Caucus
- United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Congressional Constitution Caucus
- Congressional Western Caucus
- Republican Study Committee
Political positions
Taxation
Brady believes policies enacted by the Trump administration, including the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, helped put the U.S. economy in a robust position going into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medicare
Brady strongly opposes Medicare for All.
Energy
In 2012, Brady voted for the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, which rescinded Obama administration policies on coal mining and energy infrastructure. In January 2021, he expressed concern that the Biden administration's drilling ban Executive Order 13990 on federal leases would "kill" 120,000 Texas jobs.
Personal life
Brady lives in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston, with his wife, Cathy, and two sons.
