John Breaux

John Berlinger Breaux (/ˈbroʊ/; born March 1, 1944) is an American lobbyist, attorney, and retired politician from Louisiana. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987 and as a United States Senator from 1987 to 2005. A Southern Democrat, he was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party. Breaux was a member of the New Democrat Coalition.

After his congressional tenure, he became a lobbyist, co-founding the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group. The firm was later acquired by law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs, now Squire Patton Boggs.

Breaux was born in Crowley, Louisiana, on March 1, 1944. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1964 and with a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University in 1967. After graduation, he practiced law, and then served as an assistant to U.S. Representative Edwin Edwards. He is also an alumni member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Breaux was elected as a Democrat to the 92nd United States Congress in a special election on September 30, 1972, to fill the vacancy created by Edwards' resignation in order to become governor. Breaux's campaign manager was Ron Faucheux, later a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. At the age of twenty-eight, Breaux was the youngest member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Breaux was re-elected with ease to the seven succeeding Congresses and served until January 3, 1987.

He was not a candidate for re-election to the House of Representatives in 1986, but was instead elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate.

Breaux opposed Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 23, 1987, he voted with all but two Democrats, and six Republicans to defeat his nomination by a vote of 42-58.

On October 15, 1991, Breaux was one of seven Southern Democrats who voted to confirm the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 52 to 48 vote, the narrowest margin of approval in more than a century.

Breaux was seen as a centrist in a Senate divided along partisan lines, and was frequently sought out by Republican leaders to corral a few Democratic votes when they needed them; conversely he also often served as the Democratic emissary in attempts to gather a few moderate Republicans to win votes on their proposals. He was pro-life and a supporter of Second Amendment rights, though he gradually moderated his position on gun control. He was more conservative on taxes than most in his party and challenged many environmental protections. He voted in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), welfare reform, the balanced budget amendment, and tighter bankruptcy laws. He was a key Democratic supporter of Republican attempts to abolish the estate tax and in 2001 was among the minority of Democrats to support Bush's tax cut and opposed virtually all attempts by Democrats to alter it. However Breaux had voted with the majority of Democrats in favor of the 1993 Budget. In 2003 he submitted an amendment to reduce the tax cut to $350 billion. In 1995 he notably voted twice with more liberal elements of his party against the widely approved lawsuit reform measures, the Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Both acts were vetoed by President Bill Clinton, although the second act was passed over his veto.