U.S. Rep. Tom Graves

U.S. Representative Tom Graves represents Georgia's 14th Congressional District and is serving in his third term in Congress after first being elected to Congress in a special election in June 2010.
 
The Dalton Daily Citizen said Tom “has emerged as one of the leading young conservative voices in the state” and the AP wrote, “Graves rarely met a tax cut he didn’t’ like.”
 
In Congress, Tom serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, which determines funding for the United States government.  This assignment puts Tom in the center of the spending cut debate, as he works to root out government inefficiency and waste, and reform Congress into a more disciplined body that focuses on saving, not spending, taxpayer dollars.  Within the full Appropriations Committee, Tom serves on three subcommittees: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice and Science; and Financial Services.
 
Tom has been an outspoken leader to cut wasteful Washington spending and for his efforts he’s been awarded the “Defender of Economic Freedom” from the Club for Growth, is a  Citizens Against Government Waste“Taxpayer Super Hero,” a Heritage Action "Sentinel," a FreedomWorks' "Freedom Fighter" and the only Georgian to receive at 100% from Americans for Prosperity.
 
Prior to serving in Congress, Tom served seven and half years as a member of the Georgia General Assembly where he was nationally recognized for authoring legislation designed to help small businesses put Georgians back to work through a series of tax credits, cuts, and incentives for small businesses.  For this work, the American Legislative Exchange Council honored Tom as their 2009 Entrepreneurial Legislator of the Year.
 
In February 2009, he was asked to speak at the first Tea Party Meeting in Georgia because of his strong commitment to empowering the people, not government. Since then, Tom spoke at the Atlanta Tea Party and the National Tea Party on September 12, 2009.  Tom was endorsed by the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.
 
Tom and his family live on their farm in Ranger, Georgia. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, Tom spent his early years in White, Georgia and later attended the University of Georgia, where he graduated with a B.B.A in Finance. Tom and his wife Julie have three children and they are active members of Belmont Baptist Church in Calhoun.