Aaron Schock

Aaron Schock has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 18th district of the State of Illinois, since 2009.

Positions
During the 2008 campaign, Aaron Schock took the following positions:

Agriculture
According to Schock, agriculture is the largest industry in his district. Schock said that he will introduce legislation increasing the proportion of ethanol in gasoline from 10% to 15% and then 20%. Schock also said that Congress should fund its recent authorization to rebuild dams and locks on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, as better transportation will help farmers be more competitive. Schock favors an "income safety net" for farmers covering years when prices and yields are low. Schock opposes the estate tax, which he says often leads to family farms being broken up and sold.

Veterans
Schock said that if elected he would make the new veterans' clinic in Peoria, plans for which were running behind schedule, a priority. He is also committed to providing constituent service to veterans and to working to clear up the backlog of claims in the Veterans Administration system. He also plans to introduce legislation that would provide pension benefits to veterans who were discharged early because of severe injuries.

Health
Schock supports placing a higher priority on giving people access to preventative health care. He has outlined ten steps for reform:


 * 1) Reform the insurance market to enable better-value products for consumers.
 * 2) Establish non-discriminatory tax treatment for all individuals.
 * 3) Allow full tax deductibility of all qualified medical expenses (premiums, out-of-pocket spending, deductibles, and co-payments.
 * 4) Help low-income people purchase private health insurance.
 * 5) Push enrollment of those currently eligible for public health care coverage who are not enrolled.  In the Illinois Legislature I have learned there is a very large number of people eligible for programs that do not sign up.
 * 6) Create mechanisms to control costs (i.e. generic drugs).
 * 7) Provide portability of health insurance as people go through different jobs.
 * 8) Enact federal medical liability reform.
 * 9) Promote Medicaid innovation so that States can implement creative reforms.
 * 10) Establish medical savings accounts.

Schock also supports the use of electronic medical records along with research, based on those records, into health care efficiency and best practices.

Energy
Schock believes that in the long run the U.S. needs to eliminate its dependence on oil. In the shorter run, he supports shifting oil consumption towards a higher percentage of oil from domestic sources. He supports energy conservation, higher standards for car fuel economy, and tax credits for energy efficiency. He would eliminate all taxes on the production of renewable energy. In an interview with the Peoria JournalStar, he described the transition in the following terms: "But to power America, we need more nuclear power, domestic oil and gas drilling offshore and in ANWAR in Alaska, streamlined approval process for wind farms, hydroelectric, more refineries, and many more clean coal power plants, until we transition to a preponderance of mass produced, sustainable, renewable energy such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen power."

Economy
Schock believes that the Bush tax cuts should be made permanent but that otherwise taxes do not need to be raised or lowered. . Schock says that he probably would have voted for the financial bailout plan that passed Congress in October 2008.

Schock supports maintaining Social Security for senior citizens but favors "exploring voluntary add-on accounts" for younger people. He places a higher priority on reforming Medicare's finances.

Earmarks
Schock does not oppose Congressional earmarks altogether, but supports bringing a higher level to the earmark process: "Earmarks and the process that allows them need to be taken out of the shadows by shining a spotlight on each one with full disclosure and a proscribed amount of time after they are included before the bill is passed so that they may have time to be scrutinized fully in public."

Controversies
In November 2007, Schock generated controversy when he suggested that the U.S. should sell nuclear weapons to Tawiwan in order to pressure the Chinese to go along with U.S. policy towards Iran. According to the Springfield Journal-Register, Schock stated: "“If China continues to be irresponsible about nuclear proliferation in Iran, we should tell them that if they do not care about proliferation — and since they are enablers of it in Iran — that if they don’t change their position, we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense.”""“Non-proliferation will either be enforced universally or not at all — it is their choice,” Schock continued. “The Chinese will come around, I have no doubt.”" Schock later retracted the suggestion, saying that it had been a mistake.

Bio
Aaron Schock grew up on a farm where he and his siblings sold strawberries from their strawberry patch. At age fifteen, Schock started working in a gravel pit and earned up to $18,000 per year in his teens. He bought his first piece of real estate on his eighteenth birthday. After completing a degree in Finance in only two years at Bradley University, Schock and a partner started a business together.

At age 19, Schock decided to run for school board because he wanted to reform some of the high school's policies. Though more than enough people signed his petition to be placed on the ballot, Schock was thrown off the ballot because some people wrote in ditto marks for part of their addresses. After improvising as a write-in candidate, Schock defeated the school board president by garnering 60% of the vote.

Illinois State Representative
In 2004, Aaron Schock ran for and won election as an Illinois State Representative, making him at age 23 the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly. He passed eleven of his bills during the first five months in office, and over his first three years, eighteen bills he sponsored were passed. The bills' matters varied, relating to education reforms, child protection, prescription drug savings, helping veterans, road construction, and fighting identity theft. Schock also opposed many of Governor Rod Blagojevich's economic policies. He was part of a group of representatives that defeated Blagojevich's proposed Gross Receipts Tax and employer tax. Schock also participated in community gatherings, and met with neighborhood organizations and non-profits.

Committees on Illinois General Assembly
Aaron Schock served on the following committees: Financial Institutions; Environment and Energy; Appropriations-Human Services; Veterans Affairs; Gaming; Approp-Elementary & Secondary Education; and Committee of the Whole.

Community Service

 * Big Brother mentor for several years
 * Board of Directors for Youth for a Cause
 * Peoria's Vision 2020 Youth Education and Learning Committee
 * Chamber of Commerce's Education Task Force
 * Heart of Illinois Kid's Count board of directors
 * St. Jude Telethon V.I.P.
 * Volunteer on medical missions in the most impoverished areas of Mexico
 * Former President of the Peoria Public Schools Education Foundation

Awards

 * Jaycees Good Government Award, 2004
 * Illinois Committee for Honest Government Outstanding Service Award for Outstanding Legislative and Constituent Service, 2007
 * Peoria's 40 Leaders Under 40, 2004
 * Guardian Angels Arc-Angel Award, 2005
 * Community Workshop and Training Center Advocacy Award, 2005
 * Richard Mautino Excellence in Government Award, 2005
 * Life Services Network Legislator of the Year, 2006
 * Illinois Health Care Association, Legislator of the Year, 2005, 2006, 2007

2008 elections
He won the Republican primary on February 5, 2008 to replace incumbent Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.). Schock then went on to defeat Democratic nominee Colleen Callahan in the general election.

Money in Politics
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Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)
Schock has not yet been assigned to committees in the 111th Congress.

External resources

 * 2008 Race Tracker page on Illinois’s 18th Congressional District

External articles

 * Beth Fouhy, "DES MOINES: Clinton describes health care reform plan," PJStar, September 17, 2007.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Prairie State Blue - Statewide Illinois Progressive Politics Blog