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Alan Simpson (American politician)

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Alan K. Simpson
Official portrait, c. 1970s
Co-Chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
In office
February 18, 2010 – December 1, 2010
Serving with Erskine Bowles
Appointed byBarack Obama
Senate Minority Whip
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
LeaderBob Dole
Preceded byAlan Cranston
Succeeded byWendell Ford
Senate Majority Whip
In office
January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987
LeaderBob Dole
Preceded byTed Stevens
Succeeded byAlan Cranston
United States Senator
from Wyoming
In office
January 1, 1979 – January 3, 1997
Preceded byClifford Hansen
Succeeded byMike Enzi
Member of the
Wyoming House of Representatives
from Park County
In office
January 1965 – November 10, 1977
Personal details
Born
Alan Kooi Simpson

(1931-09-02)September 2, 1931
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
DiedMarch 14, 2025(2025-03-14) (aged 93)
Cody, Wyoming, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Ann Schroll
​
(m. 1954)​
Children3, including Colin
RelativesMilward Simpson (father)
Pete Simpson (brother)
EducationUniversity of Wyoming (BS, JD)
Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1954–1956
RankSecond Lieutenant
Unit5th Infantry
2nd Armored Division
Alan Simpson's voice
Simpson on the contributions of the Hispanic community to Wyoming
Recorded September 16, 1992

Alan Kooi Simpson (September 2, 1931 – March 14, 2025) was an American politician from Wyoming. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1979 to 1997. Simpson was the Republican whip in the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1995, as majority whip from 1985 to 1987 and minority whip from 1987 to 1995. He also served as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with Democratic Party co-chair Erskine Bowles of North Carolina.

Born in Denver, Simpson graduated from the University of Wyoming's law school (1958). Simpson served in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1965–1977) and won election to the United States Senate (1978). His father, Milward Simpson, served in the same seat (1962–1967). Simpson served as the Senate Republican Whip (1985–1995). After serving three terms in the Senate, Simpson declined to seek re-election in 1996.

After leaving office, Simpson practiced law and taught at different universities. He also served on the Continuity of Government Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission, and the Iraq Study Group. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him to co-chair the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which made several recommendations on ways to reduce the national debt. He has been a vocal proponent of amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United v. FEC (2010) and allow Congress to set reasonable limits on campaign spending in U.S. elections.[1]

Early life

[edit]

Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado on September 2, 1931,[2] the son of Milward Simpson and the former Lorna Kooi. His middle name, Kooi, comes from his maternal grandfather, whose parents were Dutch immigrants.[3] Simpson has an older brother, Pete Simpson of Cody, a historian and a former administrator at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, who served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1981 to 1984, having represented Sheridan County, while he was then an administrator at Sheridan College. Pete Simpson was the 1986 Republican gubernatorial nominee, having sought the office while his younger brother was serving in the U.S. Senate.[4]

Simpson had several run-ins with the law during his youth, later remarking, "I was just dumb and rebellious and stupid. And a different person," adding that "you're not who you are when you're 16 or 18. You're dumb and you don't care, and you think you are eternal."[5] For the 2010 Supreme Court case Graham v. Florida on the constitutionality of sentencing juveniles to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses, Simpson submitted an amicus brief explaining his own troubled youth:

In Simpson’s words to this Court, “I was a monster.” One day in Cody, Wyoming, when Simpson was in high school, he and some friends “went out to do damage.” They went to an abandoned war relocation structure and decided to “torch” it. They committed arson on federal property, a crime punishable by up to twenty years in prison if no one is hurt and punishable by up to life in prison if the arson causes a person’s death, Luckily for Simpson, no one was injured in the blaze. Simpson not only played with fire, but also with guns. He played a game with his friends in which they shot at rocks close to one another, at times using bullets they stole from the local hardware store. The goal of the game was to come as close as possible to striking someone without actually doing so. Again, Simpson was lucky: no one was killed or seriously injured. Simpson and his friends went shooting throughout their community. They fired their rifles at mailboxes, blowing holes in several and killing a cow. They fired their weapons at a road grader. “We just raised hell,” Simpson says. Federal authorities charged Simpson with destroying government property and Simpson pleaded guilty. He received two years of probation and was required to make restitution from his own funds.[6]

Alan Simpson graduated from Cody High School in Cody, Wyoming in 1949 and attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1950 for a postgraduate year. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1954. Like his brother, he was a member of the university's Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.[7] Simpson served in the United States Army in Germany from 1955 to 1956 with the 10th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division and the 12th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Armored Division.[8]

After graduating from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1958, he joined a private law firm and eventually became the city attorney of Cody, Wyoming.[9]

Wyoming House of Representatives

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Simpson was first elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in 1964.[10] During his tenure, Simpson represented Park County and served as the speaker pro tem of the Wyoming State Legislature. He resigned on November 10, 1977, to prepare to run for the U.S. Senate in 1978.[11]

U.S. Senate

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Simpson (second from left) in a Cabinet Room meeting with President Ronald Reagan, Bob Michel and Bob Dole, 1985

Simpson was elected to the United States Senate on November 7, 1978, but was appointed to the post early on January 1, 1979, following the resignation of Clifford Hansen, who had succeeded Milward Simpson, Alan Simpson's own father, in the seat. From 1985 to 1995, Simpson was the Republican whip, Assistant Republican Leader in the Senate, having served with then-Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas. He was chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs from 1981 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 1997 when Republicans regained control of the Senate. He also chaired the Immigration and Refugee Subcommittee of Judiciary; the Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee; the Social Security Subcommittee and the Committee on Aging.[12]

Simpson fishing in Wyoming with President George H. W. Bush (center) and Senator Craig Thomas (left)

Simpson was a moderate conservative. He supported abortion rights and voted against a ban of late-term abortions which did not include an exception for physical health, only for life-threatening conditions, in 1995 and 1996. However, he opposed federal funding for abortions by supporting the Hyde Amendment.[9]

In the early 1980s, illegal immigrants were prohibited from working in the United States, but employers were not penalized for hiring them as unreported employment. Alongside Democratic representative Peter W. Rodino, Simpson sponsored the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which prohibited intentional hiring of illegal immigrants, while providing legal status to those that arrived before 1982.[9] As a ranking minority member of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, he drew criticism for calling Hmong refugees "the most indigestible group in society," which Hmong American scholar Kou Yang said was at the time the "worst of all" comments on Hmong.[13][14]

In his youth, Simpson was a Boy Scout and once visited Japanese American Scouts who, along with their families, were interned near Ralston, Wyoming, during World War II. He developed a life-long friendship with Norman Mineta, who later became a Democratic House Representative from California and the US Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush.[15] Their friendship spurred Simpson to support the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided reparations to Japanese Americans subjected to internment.[16] Aside from their time in Congress, Mineta and Simpson also served on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents.[17]

Simpson voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and initially voted in favor of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (but voted to sustain Ronald Reagan's veto).[18][19][20] Simpson voted in favor of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nominations.[9]

At 6'7" (201 cm), Simpson was the tallest Senator in United States history until overtaken by 6'9" (206 cm) Luther Strange in 2017, 20 years after his retirement.[21] Simpson would later claim to have shrunk to 6'5" (195.5 cm) at age 85.[22]

After Congress

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In 1995, he lost the whip's job to Trent Lott of Mississippi,[23] and he did not seek reelection to the Senate in 1996. From 1997 to 2000, Simpson taught at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and he served for two years as the Director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School.[9]

Simpson then returned to his hometown of Cody and practiced law there with his two lawyer sons (William and Colin) in the firm of Simpson, Kepler and Edwards.[9] The three are also partners in the firm of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine of Englewood, Colorado. Colin M. Simpson, the third generation of his family in Wyoming politics, was a Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives who served as Speaker of the House for the 59th session of the Legislature, 2008 to March 2010. Colin Simpson finished fourth in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary election.

Simpson taught periodically at his alma mater, the University of Wyoming at Laramie, with his brother Pete. He served as chairman of the UW capital "Campaign for Distinction," which raised $204 million. That success was celebrated by the gala event, "An Extraordinary Evening", featuring former President George H. W. Bush (who had reportedly considered Simpson for the vice presidency in 1988) and Vice President Dick Cheney, another UW alumnus, and his wife Lynne Cheney.

In 2001, Simpson became Honorary Chairman of the Republican Unity Coalition (RUC), a gay/straight alliance within the Republican Party.[24] In that capacity, Simpson recruited former President Gerald Ford to serve on the RUC advisory board.

In 2002, Simpson was involved in the Wyoming Republican gubernatorial primary on behalf of former Democrat Eli Bebout of Riverton.[25]

Simpson was one of four speakers chosen to eulogize President George H.W. Bush at his state funeral.[26]

Iraq Study Group

[edit]

In 2006, Simpson was one of ten (five Democratic and five Republican) contributors to the Iraq Study Group Report.[27]

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

[edit]
Simpson and Erskine Bowles meet with President Obama in 2010.

Simpson was appointed in 2010 to co-chair President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with Erskine Bowles.[28]

Simpson spoke extensively about the burden being placed on future generations by the structure of current entitlement programs. In an opinion piece, "Young Americans get the shaft" published in The Washington Post on June 13, 2012, Matt Miller recounted asking Simpson (then a US senator) in 1995 how to fix this problem. Miller stated that Simpson told him "nothing would change until someone like me could walk into his office and say, 'I'm from the American Association of Young People. We have 30 million members, and we're watching you, Simpson. You [mess with] us and we'll take you out.'"[29]

He continued to advocate for fiscal responsibility as a board member of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget[30] and a founder of the Campaign to Fix the Debt.[31]

Simpson in a 2011 CRFB dinner discussion with Judy Woodruff and Erskine Bowles

Campaign finance reform

[edit]

Simpson was a strong critic of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. FEC,[32] calling for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the case. In an interview with Wyoming Public Radio, Simpson said: "I think most Americans would like to see reasonable limits on campaign spending."[33]

Issue advocacy

[edit]

Simpson was an outspoken advocate for abortion rights, stating that the matter should not be a political issue in a party that believes in "government out of our lives" and "the right to be left alone" and "the precious right of privacy".[34] He supported LGBT rights, and equality regardless of race and society, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. In an article in The Washington Post, Simpson criticized the since-ended "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, stating "'Gay' is an artificial category that says little about a person. Our differences and prejudices pale next to our historic challenge."[35]

Civic participation

[edit]

Simpson was on the board of directors at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD). The institute was created at the University of Arizona after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.[36] He was an honorary board member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope[37] and co-chair of the advisory board of Issue One, a nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics.[38] In 2016, he joined the advisory board of American Promise, a national, cross-partisan organization that advocates for a 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that would allow the U.S. Congress and states to set limits on campaign finance in U.S. elections.[39]

Presidential Medal of Freedom

[edit]
Simpson awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden in July 2022

On July 1, 2022, the White House announced that Simpson would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[40]

Personal life and death

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In 1954, Simpson married Ann Schroll, who he had met while studying at the University of Wyoming. Together, they had three children named William, Colin, and Susan.[9]

Simpson's health declined after contracting frostbite in his late eighties, which led to the amputation of his lower left leg and foot.[9] In December 2024, he broke a hip and never fully recovered, and he died under hospice care in Cody, Wyoming, on March 14, 2025. He was 93.[9][41][42]

[edit]

The June 7, 1994, edition of the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News reported that 12 U.S. senators were aliens from other planets, including Simpson. The Associated Press ran a follow-up piece which confirmed the tongue-in-cheek participation of Senate offices in the story. Then-Senator Simpson's spokesman Charles Pelkey, when asked about Simpson's galactic origins, told the AP: "We've got only one thing to say: Klaatu barada nikto".[43] This was a quotation from a classic science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), in which an alien arrives by flying saucer in Washington, D.C.

Simpson also played himself in a cameo appearance for the 1993 film Dave.[44]

In December 2012, Simpson filmed a "Gangnam Style" video for a campaign, with a man in a tin can costume. The video, aimed at young people, is called "The Can Kicks Back," a reference to the tendencies of members of Congress to forever "kick the can down the road" in order to avoid making difficult decisions about lowering the national debt. In the video, Simpson admonishes younger Americans to make better use of their social media than "instagramming your breakfast and tweeting your first world problems." He advises younger people to use their social media skills and resources to rally their friends to join The Can Kicks Back. If younger Americans do not take heed, Simpson says, "These old coots will clean out the Treasury before you get there."[45]

Works

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  • Right in the Old Gazoo: A Lifetime of Scrapping with the Press. (William Morrow & Company, 1997). ISBN 0-688-11358-3)

Recognition

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In 1998, Simpson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[46] In 2011, Simpson and Erskine Bowles were presented the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government for their work on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.[47] In 2022 Simpson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Mullen, Maggie (February 4, 2017). "Former Senator Simpson Working To Reverse Citizens United". wyomingpublicmedia.org. Wyoming Public Media. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  2. ^ "Simpson, Alan Kooi, (1931 – )". congress.gov. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  3. ^ "Congressional Record, Volume 141 Issue 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)". Gpo.gov. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  4. ^ "Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson And Brother To Lecture In Boulder, Denver Nov. 11-12". Colorado.edu. University of Colorado Boulder. October 29, 2002. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  5. ^ Prevost, Ruffin (November 10, 2009). "Simpson speaks out on Supreme Court case". Casper Star-Tribune. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  6. ^ Nos. 08-7412 and 08-7621 IN The Supreme Court of the United States TERRANCE JAMAR GRAHAM Petitioner, v. FLORIDA Respondent. JOE HARRIS SULLIVAN Petitioner, v. FLORIDA Respondent. On Writs of Certiorari from the District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, page 11. July 23, 2009.
  7. ^ "From the Archives: Alpha Tau Omega". Colorado.edu. Regents of the University of Colorado. May 5, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  8. ^ "The Jewish Veteran, Volume 32; Volumes 34-37; Volume 39". The Jewish Veteran. Vol. 32, 34–37, 39. June 1971. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i McFadden, Robert D. (March 14, 2025). "Alan K. Simpson, a Folksy Republican Force in the Senate, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  10. ^ "Younger Simpson Announces". Casper Morning Star. May 7, 1964. p. 5. Retrieved March 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Alan Simpson resigns his legislative seat". Casper Star-Tribune. November 10, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved March 14, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ DiGrappa, Emy (March 14, 2018). "Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson's Passion For Politics, Civility, And Family". wyomingpublicmedia.org. Wyoming Public Media. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  13. ^ Yang, Kou (October 5, 2017). The Making of Hmong America. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-4985-4646-1.
  14. ^ Kaufman, Marc (August 31, 2004). "American Odyssey". Smithsonian Magazine. ProQuest 236855512. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  15. ^ Aratani, Lori. "Behind a WWII internment camp's barbed wire, two Scouts forged a bond. It endured when they both entered Congress". washingtonpost.com. WP Company, LLC. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  16. ^ Brokaw, Tom (August 11, 2017). "Friends Across Barbed Wire and Politics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  17. ^ Matthews, Chris (2002). "A Pair of Boy Scouts". Scouting Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
  18. ^ "TO PASS H.R. 3706. (MOTION PASSED) SEE NOTE(S) 19".
  19. ^ "TO PASS S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE THE BROAD COVERAGE AND CLARIFY FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY PROVIDING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION IS FEDERALLY FUNDED, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE".
  20. ^ "TO ADOPT, OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF S 557, CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORATION ACT, A BILL TO RESTORE BROAD COVERAGE OF FOUR CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS BY DECLARING THAT IF ONE PART OF AN INSTITUTION RECEIVES FEDERAL FUNDS, THEN THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION MUST NOT DISCRIMINATE. TWO-THIRDS OF THE SENATE, HAVING VOTED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE, OVERRODE THE PRESIDENTIAL VETO".
  21. ^ Dowd, Maureen (April 20, 1987). "WASHINGTON TALK: CONGRESS; A Matter of Measurement (Published 1987)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  22. ^ "Alan Simpson Is No Longer the Tallest Senator, and He's OK With That". Roll Call. February 9, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  23. ^ "Party Whips". senate.gov. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  24. ^ Roerink, Kyle (March 5, 2014). "UPDATED: Alan Simpson, Wyoming lawmakers sign Court brief in support of gay marriage". trib.com. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  25. ^ Bohrer, Becky (December 20, 2003). "Former senator Simpson still 'loves the scrap'". billingsgazette.com. Billings Gazette. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  26. ^ Tumulty, Karen. "Alan Simpson cried while writing George H.W. Bush's eulogy—so he wouldn't cry while giving it". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  27. ^ "Compromise Required With the Iraq Study Group". npr.org. National Public Radio (NPR). Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  28. ^ Weisman, Jonathan (February 17, 2010). "Bowles, Simpson to Head Debt Commission". The Wall Street Journal.
  29. ^ Miller, Matt. "Young Americans get the shaft". washingtonpost.com. WP Company, LLC. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  30. ^ "Board Members", Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, October 11, 2019
  31. ^ Sahadi, Jeanne (November 29, 2012). "What is 'Fix the Debt?'". CNN Money.
  32. ^ "We need a 28th Amendment". Casper Star Tribune. August 11, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  33. ^ "Former Senator Simpson Working To Reverse Citizens United". Wyoming Public Media. February 3, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  34. ^ Bedard, Paul (November 26, 2013). "Alan Simpson: Only women should legislate abortion law". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  35. ^ Sturcke, James (March 14, 2007). "US general splits opinion with gay remarks". The Guardian. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  36. ^ "National Advisory Board".
  37. ^ "Start Page". Wings-of-hope.org. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  38. ^ "Campaign Finance Reform is Possible". Issue One. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  39. ^ "Who We Are -- American Promise". American Promise. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  40. ^ "President Biden Announces Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom". whitehouse.gov. White House. July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  41. ^ Gruver, Mead (March 14, 2025). "Former US Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming dies at age 93". Associated Press. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  42. ^ Klingsporn, Katie (March 14, 2025). "Towering Wyoming statesman Alan Simpson dies at 93". WyoFile. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  43. ^ "Senators Jokingly Confirm Tabloid Claim They Are Space Aliens", Associated Press, May 25, 1994
  44. ^ "Alan Simpson (II)". IMDb.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  45. ^ "Must See: Fmr. Sen. Alan Simpson, 81, Dances To 'Gangnam Style'". newyork.cbslocal.com. December 5, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  46. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  47. ^ "Douglas Award Honorees". Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois System. 2011. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Simpson.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Alan K. Simpson.
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Wyoming
(Class 2)
1978, 1984, 1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Senate Republican Whip
1985–1995 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
Clifford Hansen
 United States Senator (Class 2) from Wyoming
1979–1997
Served alongside: Malcolm Wallop, Craig Thomas 		Succeeded by
Mike Enzi
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
1981–1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Ted Stevens
 Senate Majority Whip
1985–1987 		Succeeded by
Alan Cranston
Preceded by Senate Minority Whip
1987–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
1995–1997 		Succeeded by
Government offices
New office Chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
2010
Served alongside: Erskine Bowles 		Position abolished
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