Lack of a Degree Is No Problem for Members

Print

E-Mail

Reprints

Text Size

Latest News

• Democratic Leaders Party With Fence-Sitters at White House Reception
• Obama Defends Use of Procedural Maneuver for Passing Health Care
• Report: Justice Department Subpoenas Nevada Businesses in Connection With Ensign Inquiry
• Health Reform Inches Closer
• Sunday Health Care Vote Increasingly Likely

Rep.-elect Harry Teague (D-N.M.) went to work on an oil rig at the age of 17 for $1.50 an hour. He had to drop out of high school and become his family’s primary wage earner to take care of his ill parents. With hard work and good fortune, he eventually worked his way up through the ranks to build a company that employs 250 people.

Teague, 59, ran for Congress this year because he wanted to work to represent those employees and working families whom he felt were ignored by his predecessors. His background makes him uniquely suited to address the needs of those constituents, many of whom work in mines or on farms, Teague said.

“I felt like they needed to be represented by someone who had been where they had been and done what they were doing,” he said.

Teague is one of two incoming Members without a four-year bachelor’s degree. The other is Rep-elect Bill Posey (R-Fla.), who has a two-year associate’s degree. Posey went to work right after graduating high school and said he expects his background to provide an important perspective while dealing with the troubling economic times.

In total, the 111th Congress will have 31 Members without degrees. Five Members without college degrees — Reps. John Peterson (R-Pa.), Thelma Drake (R-Va.), Jon Porter (R-Nev.), Terry Everett (R-Ala.) and Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) — are departing at the end of this Congress.

Deputy House Historian Fred Beuttler said he expects the number of Members without degrees to continue shrinking.

The increase of Members with bachelor’s degrees follows the trends of education growth in the general population. There was a significant increase when the generation who grew up with the GI bill — which allowed for returning World War II veterans to access education — came to Congress.

The number has stayed around the same level for the past few Congresses, only decreasing by a few Members in the past couple of years. There were 41 Members without bachelor’s degrees in the 105th Congress and 34 in the 110th Congress.

Beuttler said he doubts the number will ever get to zero, but the reduction trend will persist. “It will shrink a little bit as the needs of a high-tech economy requires at least some mastery of college-level skills,” he said.

It’s a situation that some in Congress feel shuts out the working class. “If we had more Members of Congress that would come from the working class, I think we would actually see a different approach in how we deal with real-life issues here in Washington,” said Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine). “All too often people tend to forget where they came from and not really focus on what’s important to the working people here in this country.”

Michaud, who only has a high school diploma, worked at a paper mill for more than 28 years before being elected to Congress.

When he first decided to run for office in 2000, Michaud said he hoped to add diversity to a Congress that had a large proportion of lawyers and professional politicians. In the 110th Congress, there were 179 Members of the House and 56 Senators with law degrees. Michaud, hoping to provide a voice to blue-collar workers, helped establish a Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus.

It’s a perspective that he has found beneficial and has informed much of his lawmaking. For instance, Michaud was able to refute testimony by a truck driver at a hearing earlier this year on the issue of weight limits for trucks. Through his experience loading trucks at the mill, Michaud found flaws in the argument against increasing them.

“That’s something that real-life experience was able to make a difference,” he said.

Rep. Phil Hare’s (D-Ill.) own experiences have helped him address some top concerns for Americans during the economic decline. His parents lost a house because of foreclosure when he was a kid.

“That’s a big learning experience. That’s something you can’t really understand until it happens to you,” he said. “There’s no amount of college in the world that can prepare you for what that can do to a family.”