Tim Roemer

Timothy John Roemer (born October 30, 1956) is an American diplomat and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2003 as a Democrat from Indiana's 3rd congressional district.

Subsequently, he was the president of the Center for National Policy (CNP), a Washington, D.C.-based national security think tank.

Tim Roemer was born in 1956 in South Bend, Indiana.

His grandfather, William F. Roemer, was a philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame; and his grandmother was an elementary school teacher.

Roemer's parents, James and Mary Ann Roemer, also worked at Notre Dame as dean of students and coordinator of volunteer activities, respectively.

His uncle, William F. Roemer Jr., was an FBI agent who battled organized crime.

Roemer graduated from Penn High School in 1975 and worked at various jobs from the age of 14 to help pay for college.

Tim Roemer entered politics by serving on the staff of U.S. Representative John Brademas of Indiana (1978–1979) while still in college.

Tim Roemer graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.A. degree in 1979.

He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame; his 1985 dissertation was titled The Senior Executive Service: Retirement and Public Personnel Policy.

After completing his doctorate, he served on the staff of U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona (1985–1989).

In 1990 Roemer ran and won as a Democrat in 1990 to represent Indiana's 3rd congressional district, his boss' former district, serving six terms in Congress from 1991 to 2003.

While in the House, Roemer served on the Intelligence, Education and Workforce, and Science committees.

Roemer was criticized as too conservative for the post, due to his anti-abortion stance and his oft-mentioned vote in 1993 against the President Bill Clinton economic plan.

Roemer is a moderate Democrat, voting more liberally on some foreign policy issues and conservatively on social issues.

He did not run for reelection in 2002.

Tim Roemer voted in favor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the Caribbean Basin Initiative.

He opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), feeling it provided incentives for businesses to move out of the country (as may have happened in his district).

Roemer voted against presidential fast-track trade promotion authority, believing that the United States should have been stricter in its enforcement of existing agreements.

Much of Roemer's efforts during his congressional career were related to improving education.

He was the principal author of the Ed-Flex bill, which encouraged states to seek innovative approaches to education.

Roemer was the chief sponsor of the "Transition to Teaching" bill that helped address teacher shortages by recruiting and training professionals to become teachers.

Roemer was also the lead sponsor of the five-year reauthorization of Higher Education Act, which reduced interest rates on student loans, increased Pell Grants, increased funding for teacher training, and expanded aid to families.

Tim Roemer was a principal sponsor of the AmeriCorps national service program, and a co-author of a bill to expand Head Start services to provide childcare coverage for women moving from welfare to work.

He co-wrote legislation on reauthorizing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and wrote an amendment to tax relief legislation for teacher certification of professionals in outside fields.

He co-authored "School-to-Work" legislation to help non-college-bound high school students learn skills to prepare them for the workforce.

In his final term in Congress, Roemer was instrumental in passing the No Child Left Behind Act and pushed for full funding for the program.

Roemer was one of the first members of Congress to call for a Cabinet-level federal executive department to oversee national security, and was an original sponsor of the legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security.

Eventually he opposed the revisions proposed by the Bush administration, because of concerns about bureaucratic inefficiencies, and voted against the creation of DHS.

Roemer advocated a "civilian reserve corps" to train more fluent speakers in foreign languages for the Intelligence Community.

Roemer was an original sponsor of bioterrorism legislation and legislation aimed at creating the 9/11 Commission, upon which he later served.

Tim Roemer was appointed as a member of the 9/11 Commission to investigate the terrorist attacks on the US.

He was a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee (gaining the support of Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid).

He lost to Howard Dean, who had unsuccessfully sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.

Roemer endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and campaigned vigorously for him, particularly in his home state of Indiana, where he joined Lee H. Hamilton in support of Obama.

Roemer's moderate, bipartisan politics, and national security experience led to speculation (from Chris Cillizza and Ben Smith) that Roemer was considered a possible vice presidential running mate for Obama.

Roemer served as a distinguished scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

He became a partner at Johnston and Associates, a public and legislative affairs consultancy.

He served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 2009 to 2011.

Roemer currently serves on the advisory board of Washington, D.C. based non-profit America Abroad Media.