U.S. House of Representatives
Elections In 1979, he won a special election to finish the term of the late U.S. Congressman
William A. Steiger, who had died shortly after being re-elected in 1978. He defeated fellow state senator
Gary Goyke by only 1,200 voters. He won the seat in his own right in 1980, taking 57 percent of the vote in a rematch with Goyke. Petri was reelected 16 times. The only time he faced a race anywhere near as close as his 1979 contest came in 1992. That year, he defeated State Representative
Peg Lautenschlager 53% to 47%. It would be the only reelection contest in which he won less than 65 percent of the vote. He won ten of the district's thirteen counties. He lost
Manitowoc,
Brown, and
Outagamie counties. He ran unopposed in 1990, 1994, 2002, and 2006. He faced no major-party opposition in 1986 and 1998. In April 2014, Petri announced he would not seek re-election in November 2014.
Tenure Petri was a member of the
Republican Main Street Partnership and supports
stem-cell research, although he generally opposes
abortion. He called for a moratorium on the
death penalty, but voted against other restrictions on it. Petri was a member of the moderate
Tuesday Group conference of Republicans, and received $10,000 from the group in 2008 and $5,000 in 2012. Petri's three largest contributors in the 2012 campaign cycle were labor unions. He voted for
Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and twice voted to allow the use of PLAs in government contracts. Petri also voted to permit the use of taxpayer funds to comply with the
Davis-Bacon Act, voted to use federal funds for collective bargaining by the
Transportation Security Administration, and voted in favor of $233 million in taxpayer funding for the
National Labor Relations Board. In 1994, Petri introduced H.R. 4469, "The Multicare Act of 1994". This bill would have established federally funded government-run health insurance programs, and would have authorized states to require an individual to purchase insurance from one of these government-run insurance plans. Petri continued to push for the passage of Multicare until 2004. In 2005, Petri voted to fund the "
Gravina Island Bridge", and voted to prevent the
drilling for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 2005, Petri introduced the Direct Loan Reward Act, and in 2006 introduced the Student Aid Reward (STAR) Act. On November 2, 2005, Petri voted against the Online Freedom of Speech Act. On January 18, 2007 Petri voted in favor of HR 6, which made it more difficult to obtain a lease to drill for oil domestically. Petri endorsed
Mitt Romney in the 2008 GOP presidential primary. He subsequently endorsed
John McCain in the
2008 presidential election. In 2011, Petri sponsored an amendment to allow Michigan-based
Badger Ferry to continue operating on Lake Michigan dumping more than 500 tons of coal ash a year into the lake. He had received $14,751 in campaign donations from executives of Lake Michigan Carferry, the owner of Badger Ferry. The
Environmental Protection Agency and Badger Ferry came to agreement in 2013 to modifying coal-dumping procedures within two years. Badger Ferry, the oldest continuously operating coal ferry in the United States, announced in 2015 that is would continue operating without dumping coal in Lake Michigan. On August 1, 2011, Petri voted for the
Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the nation's
debt limit and created the
United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Petri headed the Congressional British-American Parliamentary Exchange Group, which coordinated annual meetings between members of Congress and Parliament. In the 112th Congress and the 113th Congress, Petri introduced the ExCEL Act, which would have created a universal income-contingent student loan repayment process, where students repaid loans based on their after college earnings. Petri's bill received bipartisan and bicameral support. In 2012, Petri introduced H.R. 4148, the Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Parkway National Heritage Area Act of 2012, which would place 1,444 square miles of land in Wisconsin under the control of the federal government. In 2014, Petri was investigated for advocating for a constituent company,
Oshkosh Corporation, in which he held stock. He was also under scrutiny in regard to another Wisconsin-based business,
The Manitowoc Company, in which he had a financial interest. Although the
Office of Congressional Ethics found reason to believe Petri violated House rules and standards, the
House Ethics Committee disagreed, voting not to impose sanctions on him.
Committee assignments (2013–2015) •
Committee on Education and Labor •
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education •
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training •
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure •
Subcommittee on Aviation •
Subcommittee on Highways and Transit (Chair) ;Caucus memberships • Congressional Arts Caucus ==Electoral history==