- For the Australian rugby union footballer see Bill Young (rugby player), for the former Australian rules footballer and Coleman Medallist (b. 1931), see Bill Young (footballer).
Charles William "Bill" Young, also known as C.W. Bill Young, (born December 16 1930), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1971, representing the 10th District of Florida. Young is currently the most senior Republican member of the House of Representatives. From 1999 to 2005, he was the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations; he gave up the position because of Republican-set term limits. He is currently chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Young was a member of the Florida Senate for 10 years before being elected to Congress.
Personal
Young was born in Harmarville, Pennsylvania, moved to the St. Petersburg area at the age of 15. He served in the Army National Guard from 1948 to 1957. [1]
In 1985, Young divorced his first wife, with whom he had three children, and married his current wife, Beverly, 25 years his junior. They met when she went to work as a secretary in his congressional office. They have had two children together, Billy, and Patrick, and the couple raised Beverly's son, Robbie, from her first marriage. [2][3]
2006 State of the Union address
At the State of the Union address on January 31, 2006, Bill Young's wife was asked to leave shortly after anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was ejected for wearing an anti-war T-shirt. Beverly Young's T-shirt had the opposite message: "Support the Troops — Defending Our Freedom." She argued with Capitol Hill police in the hallway outside the House chamber. "They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, 'Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, 'We consider that a protest.' I said, 'Then you are an idiot.'"
Bill Young was angry about the way she was treated. "Because she had on a shirt that someone didn't like that said support our troops, she was kicked out of this gallery," Young said on the House floor the following day, holding up the gray shirt. "Shame, shame," he said. [4]
Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer apologized in a statement late that same day. [5] Bill Young said he was not necessarily satisfied. “My wife was humiliated,” he told reporters. He suggested that “sensitivity training” may be in order for the Capitol Police. [6]
Earmarks
In 2005, Young received 3,570 earmark requests from members of Congress, because of his position on the appropriates committee. He believes that requests for earmarks should not be publicly disclosed. In March 2006, Young spokesman Harry Glen said "This has been the policy of the committee for years. It's internal correspondence from one member to another." [7]
2006 re-election
There was speculation that Young planed to retire rather than running again in 2006 [8], as well as speculation that if Young did decide to retire, his wife would run to replace him. In fact, neither happened; he was the only Republican to file in his district by the deadline of May 12, 2006. [9] He will face Democrat Samm Simpson, a cable TV show producer and progressive activist, in the November election; she was the only Democrat to file. [10]
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