Tenure George W. Bush and U.S. Senator
Bill Frist aboard Air Force One in 2001 ,
Richard Burr,
Lamar Alexander, and Congressman John Duncan (third from right) among others at the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009 Duncan voted against authorizing the 2003
War in Iraq based on opposition to what he believed to be an unnecessary foreign involvement. He also opposed and voted against a June 2006 House declaration in support of the war. He was one of the most
conservative Republicans to do so. Duncan later remarked that the
Iraq War vote had been Duncan was among only six Republicans to vote against funding for the
Iraq War on May 24, 2007. Duncan voted, along with three other Republicans, to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by April 2008 on July 12, 2007. On March 10, 2010, Duncan again joined three other Republicans in voting for the removal of troops from Afghanistan. Duncan and
Ron Paul were the only members of Congress to vote for the removal of troops from Afghanistan and against all recent bailout and stimulus bills. He has criticized
neoconservatism and supports a
non-interventionist foreign policy. Duncan was a member of the
Liberty Caucus, a group of
libertarian-minded congressional Republicans. Other members included
Walter B. Jones of
North Carolina,
Roscoe Bartlett of
Maryland,
Scott Garrett of
New Jersey, and
Jeff Flake of
Arizona. A former neighbor of his district,
Zach Wamp of the 3rd district, also belonged to the group during his tenure in the House. Duncan voted against the
Wall Street bailout. In a column he explained his vote stating he "thought it would be better in the long run not to adopt the socialist approach." The American Conservative Union gave Duncan a 96% score for his voting record in 2013, higher than any other federal Representative in Congress from Tennessee. The
Family Research Council has rated Duncan as a 92% or above since 2002 In April 2016, Duncan endorsed
Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. On 5 January 2017, he was one of only four Republicans to oppose the House's resolution 11 condemning the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
Controversies In February 2017, Duncan refused to hold any town halls in his district after the election of then recently inaugurated President
Donald Trump. Duncan said that he preferred one-on-one meetings rather than town halls, adding that he was not willing to give a platform to "extremists, kooks and radicals."
Misuse of campaign funds In 2017, Duncan was accused of misuse of campaign funds for using them to pay his son almost $300,000 over the course of five years, for work not done or for fees that were too high. Duncan denied the charges. However his son, John Duncan III (R) a Knox County Trustee, pled guilty to a felony charge of official misconduct for handing out bonuses to his own staff for training they had not received. Duncan III resigned from office and was given one year of probation. His charges are now expunged.
Retirement from Congress On July 31, 2017, Duncan announced that he would not run for reelection in 2018, citing to spend more time with his family.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (Vice Chair) •
Subcommittee on Aviation (Former Chair) •
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit (Former Chair) •
Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials •
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform •
Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets •
Subcommittee on National Security Caucus memberships • Congressional Friends of Scotland Caucus (Founding Co-chairman) • Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus •
Liberty Caucus •
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus • Sportsmen's Caucus •
Veterinary Medicine Caucus •
Congressional Constitution Caucus •
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus •
U.S.-Japan Caucus ==Post-congressional career==