John N. Hostettler Bio

Born: July 19, 1961
Evansville, IN

Marital Status: Married

Children: 4

Home Address: Blairsville, IN

Education: Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering (BSME), 1983
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, IN

Professional Status: Registered Professional Engineer (PE)
State of Indiana

Public Office Held: Member, United States House of Representatives
1995-2007

Committees: House Committee on Agriculture (1995-2001)
House Committee on Armed Services (1995-2007)
House Committee on The Judiciary (2001-2007)

Positions/Accomplishments (not exhaustive):
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on
Immigration, Border Security and Claims (2003-2007);
Vice-Chairman, various Subcommittees of the House
Armed Services Committee (1999-2007);
Distinguished Christian Statesman Award presented by the
Center for Christian Statesmanship, a ministry of Coral
Ridge Ministries and Dr. D. James Kennedy (2004);
Numerous commendations for "Friend of Small Business,"
"Friend of the taxpayer," etc. (1996-2007);

Following the first election of Bill Clinton to the Presidency of the United States of America, John Hostettler decided to run for the House of Representatives. The contrast in political ideology between President Clinton and John Hostettler could not have been any greater and the incumbent that represented John Hostettler's home district maintained a voting record supportive of President Clinton's initiatives.
Having never run for public office before, John Hostettler surprised observers by emerging from a field of six (6) GOP candidates who vied to face the twelve (12) year incumbent. With an impressive "grass-roots" campaign organization, John Hostettler defeated the incumbent in November 1994. He did this while refusing to accept any special interest political action committee (PAC) money. This refusal remained in place for every campaign that John Hostettler subsequently engaged.
During his tenure in the United States House of Representatives, John Hostettler distinguished himself as a principled and innovative Conservative. Included in his numerous legislative accomplishments are the following:

- In 1995, in his first year in office, John Hostettler successfully amended the District of Columbia Appropriations Bill to eliminate the "Domestic Partnership" policy of the D.C. government
- In 1998, John Hostettler traveled to Moscow as part of a Congressional delegation to discuss U.S. deployment of a national missile defense system with members of the Russian Duma
- In 2002, John Hostettler was one of only six (6) Republican Members of the United States House of Representatives and one of only three (3) "conservative" GOP Members to vote against the House resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to preemptively engage in military conflict with the nation of Iraq. At the time in October 2002 before the vote was cast, John Hostettler said the intelligence supporting the claim of a program of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was "tenuous at best"
- In 2003, as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, John Hostettler successfully amended the Department of State reauthorization bill to require the State Department to regulate the use of consular cards of foreign nations ("matricula consular" for Mexico) in the U.S.
- In 2003, John Hostettler successfully amended the Commerce, State and Justice appropriations bill to disallow funding of the enforcement of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which called for the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama State Supreme Court House placed there by then-Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore
- In 2004, the United States House of Representatives passed John Hostettler's Marriage Protection Act (MPA) which would disallow federal courts from imposing Massachusetts same-sex marriage licenses on any other state
- In 2006, the United States House of Representatives passed John Hostettler's Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA) which would disallow federal courts from requiring defendants -such as a Board of County Commissioners - to pay a plaintiff's lawyers - such as the ACLU - fees after the federal courts order the removal of a religious symbol - such as the Ten Commandments - from the County courthouse lawn

John Hostettler was defeated in his campaign for a seventh term in the United States House of Representatives in November 2006.