Parker Griffith

Parker Griffith has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 5th district of the State of Alabama, since 2009.

Health Care
Griffith supports providing access for at least basic health care coverage for any American family. He supports hospitals and working with medical schools to educate more doctors. In Congress, Griffith seeks to develop a program to help pay for medical school tuition for doctors who will pledge to work in undeserved areas or enter areas of medicine where there is a shortage of providers.

Education
Griffith supports expanding early education programs to include pre-kindergarten instruction. Griffith supports fully funding and expanding programs such as the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative. He supports providing scholarship incentives to students to encourage them to pursue degrees in engineering, the sciences, and basic research. He believes in expanding support for research universities, national labs, the National Science Foundation, and NASA.

National Defense
Parker supports a strong national defense and believes that providing for that defense is the most fundamental of responsibilities of our federal government and supports funding defense programs at the highest levels. Griffith supports continued development of a U.S. Ground Based Missile Defense System as well as THAAD, KEI, and MKV programs. He also supports full funding of the BRAC budget.

Energy
Griffith supports removing the 27-year-old federal moratorium on exploratory drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Parker supports a crack down on speculators who continue to inflate oil prices. Griffith will work toward creating tax incentives for businesses that are involved in alternative fuel R&amp;D. Additionally, he seeks to have tax credits extended to automakers that boost fuel efficiency in their vehicles. Parker supports research and develop of biofuels to make our vehicles more efficient on the road.

Immigration
In Congress, Griffith seeks to ensure the federal government responds to the illegal immigration crisis and works to close U.S. borders to illegal aliens, drug trafficking, and possible terrorists. He supports increasing border patrols, building new fences, and developing technology to further assist in closing the borders.

Bio
Griffith was born August 6, 1942 in Shreveport, La. He and his wife, Virginia, have five children and ten grandchildren. Griffith taught middle-school math before going to medical school at Louisiana State University, and he later became the first Board Certified Radiation Oncologist in Alabama. In 2004, he ran against the incumbent mayor of Hunstville, Ala., and lost. He ran for the State Senate in 2006 and served there until retiring after he had won the 2008 race for Alabama's Fifth Congressional District.

2008 elections
Griffith was the Democratic nominee to replace retiring incumbent Rep. Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) in the 2008 congressional elections. He received the Democratic nomination in the June 2008 primaries and challenged the winner of the GOP run off that took place on July 15, 2008. Griffth defeated Republican challenger Wayne Parker in November 2008 general elections.

Money in politics
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External resources

 * 2008 Race Tracker page on Alabama’s 5th Congressional District
 * Parker Griffith website