Richard Shelby

Richard Shelby (1934-) is a U.S. Senator from the state of Alabama. First elected in 1986 as a member of the U.S. Democratic Party, he switched to, and remains in, the U.S. Republican Party as of 1994. His current term expires in 2010.

Prior to the Senate, he was a U.S. Representative between 1979 and 1987; an Alabama State Senator from 1970 to 1970, and Legislative Counsel to the Alabama Senate between 1977 and 1980. Before that, he was in the private practice of law from 1963 to 1978, also serving as State Special Assistant Attorney General, 1969-1971; Prosecutor, City of Tuscaloosa, 1963-1971; United States Commissioner, Northern District of Alabama, 1966-1970.

Blanket holds

In February 2010, he placed "holds" on approximately 70 Obama Administration nominees, apparently in an attempt to obtain government contracts for the State of Alabama. The first, for tanker aircraft, is worth up to $65 billion. It had been awarded to a team of Airbus Industries and an Alabama-based branch of Northrop Grumman, but Boeing won the work after it protested the bid.

Committees

• U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
• Ranking minority member, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
• U.S. Senate Committee on Special Committee on Aging

Caucuses and other groups

• Co-Chair, Congressional Privacy Caucus
• Financial Coalition to Fight Child Pornography
• National Republican Senatorial Committee
• Senate Co-Chair, National Security Caucus
• Co-Chair/Co-Founder, Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children
• Senate Centrist Coalition
• Co-Chair, Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus.