Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan Yu Dayo welcomes
visiting US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul at Taiwan
airport (April 6, 2023)
Rep.
Michael McCaul (R-TX), Chair, House Foreign Affairs Committee will lead a
delegation that will visit Taiwan from April 6-8, 2023 as part of a larger
visit to the Indo-Pacific region. Other members of the delegation include
Rep. French Hill (R-AR), Rep. Michael Lawler (R-NY), Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), Rep.
Young Kim (R-CA), Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA),
and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA). The delegation will meet with senior
Taiwan leaders to discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and
investment, and other significant issues of mutual interest.
For the delegation’s bios, please refer to
the page below.
Representative Michael McCaul
Congressman Michael T. McCaul is currently
serving his tenth term representing Texas’ 10th District in the United States
Congress. The 10th Congressional District of Texas stretches from Lake Travis
to the Brazos Valley and includes Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Colorado,
Fayette, Grimes, Lee, Madison, Travis, Washington, Waller, and Williamson
Counties.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
At the beginning of the 118th Congress,
Congressman McCaul became the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. This
committee considers legislation that impacts the diplomatic community, which
includes the Department of State, the Agency for International Development
(USAID), the Peace Corps, the United Nations, and the enforcement of the Arms
Export Control Act.
In his capacity as the committee’s chairman,
McCaul is committed to ensuring we promote America’s leadership on the global
stage. In his view, it is essential the United States bolsters international
engagement with our allies, counters the aggressive policies of our
adversaries, and advances the common interests of nations in defense of
stability and democracy around the globe. He will continue to use his national
security expertise to work to counter threats facing the United States,
especially the increasing threat we face from nation state actors such as
China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, among others.
Chairman Emeritus of the House Committee on Homeland
Security
Prior to being term-limited, Congressman
McCaul served as the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security
during the 113th, 115th, and 116th Congresses. As Chairman, McCaul introduced
numerous bills to ensure to the Department of Homeland Security has the best
policies and resources to carry out its vital mission of protecting the
American people.
Fighting Childhood Cancer
Shortly after he was first elected to
Congress, McCaul founded the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus to give a
voice to the nearly 16,000 children diagnosed with cancer every year; and the
survivors who face long-term health issues stemming from the treatments they
received as children. In the 115th Congress, there have been two major
accomplishments in the fight against childhood cancer. First, the RACE for
Children Act (Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity for Children Act) was
signed into law in January of 2018. RACE now requires the most innovative adult
treatments for cancer to be studied for use in children.
Then, the Childhood Cancer STAR Act was
signed into law in June of 2018. The STAR Act is the most comprehensive
childhood cancer bill ever signed into law. It addresses the four major
concerns facing the pediatric cancer community: Survivorship, Treatment,
Access, and Research, and will elevate and prioritize the fight against
childhood cancer at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
In the 112th Congress, McCaul’s legislation,
the Creating Hope Act, was signed by the president and became law in October 2012,
creating incentives for pharmaceutical companies to create new treatments for
pediatric cancer patients.
High Tech Leadership
With many NASA employees, universities, and
high tech companies in the 10th District, Congressman McCaul’s leadership as
co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional High Tech Caucus and the
Cybersecurity Caucus provides him the ability to enhance Texas’ role as a
global leader in technology.
Personal
Prior to Congress, Michael McCaul served as
Chief of Counter Terrorism and National Security in the U.S. Attorney’s office,
Western District of Texas, and led the Joint Terrorism Task Force charged with
detecting, deterring, and preventing terrorist activity. McCaul also served as
Texas Deputy Attorney General under current U.S. Senator John Cornyn, and
served as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity
Section in Washington, DC.
A fourth generation Texan, Congressman
McCaul earned a B.A. in Business and History from Trinity University and holds
a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law. In 2009 Congressman McCaul was
honored with St. Mary’s Distinguished Graduate award. He is also a graduate of
the Senior Executive Fellows Program of the School of Government, Harvard
University. Congressman McCaul is married to his wife, Linda. They are proud
parents of five children: Caroline, Jewell, and the triplets Lauren, Michael,
and Avery.
Representative French Hill
A ninth-generation Arkansan, Congressman
French Hill has represented Arkansas’s Second Congressional District since
January 2015. He serves as the Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services
Committee and as Chairman of the new subcommittee tasked with overseeing all
areas related to digital assets and financial technology. Additionally, he is a
member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. He was also elected to the Republican Steering
Committee for the 118th Congress, which determines committee assignments for
Republican members of Congress.
Prior to his congressional service,
Congressman Hill was founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Delta
Trust & Banking Corporation. From 1989 to 1991, he also served as Deputy
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Corporate Finance, where one of his key
assignments was representing the U.S. as a negotiator in the historic bilateral
talks with Japan known as the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII).
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rep. Hill
led the design of U.S. technical assistance to the emerging economies of
eastern and central Europe in the areas of banking and securities. In 1991, at
the age of 34, President Bush appointed Rep. Hill to be Executive Secretary to
the President’s Economic Policy Council (EPC), where he coordinated all White
House economic policy. For his leadership and service at the Treasury and the
White House, Rep. Hill was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady in January 1993. Prior to his
Executive Branch Service, from 1982 until 1984, Rep. Hill served on the staff
of then-U.S. Senator John Tower (R-TX), as well as on the staff of the U.S.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs.
Throughout his career, Rep. Hill has been
active in civic affairs. He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Little
Rock and served as the 2013 chairman of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of
Commerce. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his long-time
support of the Boy Scouts of America, the arts and humanities, tourism, and
historic preservation in Arkansas. He is an avid outdoorsman.
Rep. Hill is a magna cum laude graduate in
Economics from Vanderbilt University. He and his wife, Martha, have a daughter
and a son. The Hill family resides in Little Rock.
Representative Michael Lawler
Congressman Mike Lawler proudly represents
New York’s 17th Congressional District which includes Rockland county, Putnam
county and portions of Westchester and Dutchess counties. Prior to serving in
the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Mike Lawler represented New
York’s 97th District in the State Assembly where he served on the Committees on
Aging, Banks, Education, Housing, and as the Ranking Member on Governmental
Operations.
In the State Assembly, Mike passed more bills
than any other member of his conference, a testament to his bipartisan,
pragmatic approach to government. In just one term, he was able to successfully
pass legislation that included additional funding for law enforcement and first
responders, tax relief for middle class families, and historic funding
increases for our schools in the Hudson Valley.
Mike has a long history of public service.
Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, he served as the Deputy Town
Supervisor in Orangetown and was a Senior Advisor to the Westchester County
Executive.
Mike also served as Executive Director of
the State Republican Party and previously founded his own government affairs
and public relations firm. He graduated from Manhattan College with degrees in
Accounting and Finance and was Valedictorian of his graduating class.
Mike is a lifelong Hudson Valley resident.
He grew up in Rockland County and graduated from Suffern High School. Mike
lives in Pearl River with his wife, Doina, and their daughter Julianna.
Representative Ami Bera
Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. has represented
Sacramento County in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. The 6th
Congressional District is located just east and north of California’s capitol
city, Sacramento, and lies entirely within Sacramento County.
Representative Bera is currently a member of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he serves as Ranking Member of the
Indo-Pacific Subcommittee. He is also a member of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Pandemic. Congressman Bera is also a Leadership Member for the New Democrat
Coalition, a group of over 100 forward-thinking Democrats who are committed to
pro-economic growth, pro-innovation, and fiscally responsible policies.
As a first-generation American born and
raised in California, Congressman Bera grew up believing America was a land of
opportunity, where if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could reach
your full potential. He attended California’s public schools from grammar
school through medical school, earning both his B.S. and M.D. from the
University of California, Irvine. With help from his family, scholarships, and
working part-time, he put himself through medical school while taking advantage
of federally-funded student loans, and graduating with less than $10,000 in
debt. He credits much of his success to his country’s investment in him, and
he’s working to ensure that we continue to invest in hard working Americans to
keep the American Dream alive for the next generation.
During Congressman Bera’s twenty-year
medical career, he worked to improve the availability, quality, and
affordability of healthcare. After graduating from medical school in 1991, he
did his residency in internal medicine at California Pacific Medical Center,
eventually becoming chief resident. He went on to practice medicine in the
Sacramento area, serving in various leadership roles for MedClinic Medical
Group. Chief among his contributions was improving the clinical efficiency of
the practice. He then served as medical director of care management for Mercy
Healthcare, where he developed and implemented a comprehensive care management
strategy for the seven-hospital system.
Congressman Bera went on to put his medical
experience to work for his community, serving Sacramento County as Chief
Medical Officer. In that role, he fought to reduce the cost of health care,
create jobs, and deliver care to tens of thousands of Sacramento residents. He
then moved into education, working as clinical professor of medicine and
associate dean for admissions and outreach at University of California, Davis,
where he taught the next generation of doctors. He also helped the University’s
student-run clinics find innovative ways to engage with the community and
deliver care to those who needed it most.
In Congress, Bera uses the skills he learned
as a doctor to listen to the people of Sacramento County and put people ahead
of politics to move our country forward. His priority is to work alongside
people in both parties to address our nation’s most pressing challenges and
make government work. Bera believes Congress should be a place for service, not
for politicians who only look out to protect their own careers, pay, and perks.
Representative Bera has also made it a
priority for his office to make government work for Sacramento County. His
office has now helped return more than $14 million to local taxpayers –
everything from backlogged veterans’ benefits to Social Security savings. His
office also has helped more than 24,000 Sacramento County residents since 2013.
Congressman Bera is the longest-serving
Indian American serving in Congress. He has lived in Sacramento County for over
20 years with his wife Janine, who is also a medical doctor. They are proud
parents to their daughter, Sydra.
Representative Young Kim
Congresswoman Young Kim is proud to
represent California’s 40th District, which includes parts of Orange, San
Bernardino and Riverside counties, in the U.S. House of Representatives.
An immigrant, small business owner, community
leader, mother and grandmother, Young is proud to be one of the first Korean
American women ever to serve in Congress and help all Americans have the chance
to achieve their dream just like she did.
As an immigrant to the United States, Young
has dedicated her life to giving back to her community. She started her public
service as Director of Community Relations and Asian Affairs for former
Congressman Ed Royce, where she was a key liaison to the district and advisor
on issues pertaining to the Asian-American community and foreign policy.
Prior to serving in Congress, Young was the
first ever Korean American Republican woman to serve in the California State
Assembly. As an Assemblywoman, Young fought to grow jobs, support small
businesses, ensure public safety, promote educational opportunities, support
veterans and protect victims of domestic violence.
Young is a small business owner, a long-time
community leader and has been actively involved in numerous organizations
throughout the 40th District and in Orange County. She and her husband Charles
are the proud parents of four grown children – Christine, Kelly, Alvin and
Hannah.
Representative Nathaniel Moran
Nathaniel Moran became a Texan just a few
months before he turned two years old when his parents moved to rural East
Texas with other families of faith to help start a small Bible College in
southern Smith County. His formative years were spent growing up in a
single-wide trailer home on that Bible College campus, where he learned from his
parents the values of hard work, service to others, and service to God.
Nathaniel spent most of his childhood exploring the woods around the Bible
College, riding bikes on bumpy county roads, and shooting snakes with his BB
gun along the West Mud Creek. Nathaniel and his family eventually moved
to Whitehouse, Texas, where Nathaniel attended Whitehouse I.S.D. and graduated
in 1993, proudly serving as Senior Class President and Captain of the Wildcat
football team. It was during Nathaniel’s fourth grade year at Whitehouse
that a love for public service rooted itself in his heart, as he—guided by his
father—closely followed Ronald Reagan’s bid for re-election as President.
To this day, Nathaniel considers himself to be a Reagan Republican whose
conservative values were shaped primarily by his father, President Reagan’s
service, and by the strong, steady voice of Rush Limbaugh over the talk radio
air waves for more than two decades.
After high school, Nathaniel attended the
United States Military Academy at West Point for two years before transferring
to Texas Tech University, where he ultimately earned a B.A. in Russian Language
and Area Studies, an MBA, and a law degree. It was at Texas Tech that
Nathaniel also met Kyna, whom he married just one week before starting law
school. Upon graduation from law school, Kyna and Nathaniel moved to
Tyler, where Nathaniel began practicing law and Kyna began teaching elementary
school. For the past two decades, Nathaniel’s civil law practice has
focused primarily on business and commercial litigation and transaction
work. Nathaniel and Kyna have now been married for over twenty-three
years and they four school-aged children, who serve as a primary motivation for
his service in Congress.
Nathaniel began his elected public service
as a member of the City Council for the City of Tyler, Texas from
2005-2009. In 2009, just after being re-elected to his third term on the
Tyler City Council, Nathaniel was appointed as Mayor Pro Tem, but resigned
immediately to move his family to Houston, Texas for three years so that his
oldest son could attend a specialized school for the Deaf. The unexpected
opportunity to relocate his family for this purpose led to the miracle of his
son learning to speak by age seven, something they did not think was
possible. Upon returning to Tyler, Nathaniel returned to the practice of
law and began giving back to his community through service with numerous
non-profit organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America, the Discovery
Science Place, Cancer Foundation for Life, and Tyler Area Chamber of
Commerce. He also helped start an education foundation for Whitehouse
I.S.D. At varying times over the past two decades, he has also been a
Sunday School teacher, church deacon, trombone player for the church worship
team, and coach of his daughters’ basketball teams.
In 2016, Nathaniel was appointed as the
Smith County Judge to fill a vacancy in that position. As Smith County
Judge, Nathaniel served as the presiding officer of the Commissioners Court,
Chief Budget Officer, judge of the Constitutional County Court (which had
original jurisdiction over probate, guardianship, and civil mental health
matters), chair of the Juvenile Board, head of emergency management, and chief
administrative officer of the County. In 2018, he was elected to a full
four-year term as County Judge and he continued in that role until he was
elected to Congress in November 2022. Because of his work in the area of
mental health, Nathaniel was appointed to the Texas Judicial Commission on
Mental Health in 2021. Nathaniel is proud of his decades of volunteer and
elected service to his community and looks forward to continuing to fulfill
this calling of service in Congress.
Representative Guy Reschenthaler
Congressman Guy Reschenthaler was sworn into
office for a second term on January 3, 2021 to represent Pennsylvania’s 14th
Congressional District including Washington, Fayette, Greene, and portions of
Westmoreland Counties.
The son of former teachers, Guy was raised
in southwestern Pennsylvania, graduated from Penn State, The Behrend College,
and completed law school at Duquesne University.
After law school, Guy fulfilled a lifelong
dream and joined the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps and volunteered for
duty in Iraq.
In Baghdad, Guy prosecuted nearly 100
terrorists, including some of Iraq’s most dangerous terrorists. He also
successfully defended a Navy SEAL falsely accused by the Obama Administration
of mishandling the Butcher of Fallujah.
Stateside, he served as a Navy lawyer in
Norfolk, Virginia and then as Officer in Charge (OIC) of Naval Legal Service
Office for Texas and Oklahoma, where he was the first uniformed military
officer to ever receive the Southern District of Texas Chapter of the Federal
Bar Association’s prestigious award for outstanding ethics and professionalism.
Back home in southwestern Pennsylvania, Guy
practiced law and developed experience running a small business as a partner in
real estate brokerage and other real estate-related businesses, employing roughly
a dozen employees.
In 2013, he was elected Magisterial District
Judge, winning the nomination of both parties, and in 2015, he was elected to
serve in Pennsylvania’s State Senate representing portions of Allegheny and
Washington County.
Guy currently serves on both the House
Appropriations Committee and the House Committee on Rules. In addition to
serving as the Elected Leadership Committee Representative for the Class of
116, Guy was selected by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to serve on the China
Task Force.
Guy’s priorities include limiting government
and lowering taxes, reforming our criminal justice system, supporting our
nation’s veterans, combatting Communist China, and helping senior citizens. He
is fighting for his constituents in southwestern Pennsylvania every day to
create jobs and preserve every person’s freedom and opportunity to achieve the
American Dream.
Representative Madeleine Dean
Born and raised in Glenside, Pennsylvania,
to Bob and Mary Dean, Madeleine got her start in politics around the dinner
table with her five older brothers and one older sister. She graduated from
Abington High School, and at age 18 won election to serve as a local
committee-person.
Madeleine completed her undergraduate
studies at La Salle University in Philadelphia, and earned her law degree at
Delaware Law School of Widener University. She returned home, practicing law in
a small Philadelphia firm and with the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association
and eventually serving as executive director. Madeleine then opened a small,
three-woman law practice in Glenside.
While she and her husband PJ were raising
three young sons, Madeleine changed careers. From 2001 until 2011 she was a
member of the English Department at LaSalle University — teaching composition,
persuasive writing and rhetoric, business writing, legal writing, and ethics.
She also contributed to The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News, The
Patriot-News, and other publications.
With her children grown, Madeleine took the
chance to enter public service — something she had long wanted — after studying
politics and public service at Penn’s Fels School of Government. In 2011,
Madeleine ran for and served as Abington Township commissioner, before winning
a special election to the Pennsylvania State House in 2012.
During her six-and-a-half years in
Harrisburg, Madeleine was an outspoken champion of public education, healthcare
access, environmental protection, equal rights, ethics, criminal justice
reform, combating addiction, and ending gun violence. Following the Sandy Hook
shooting, Madeleine founded and served as Co-Chair of the PA-SAFE Caucus — an
active coalition of legislators and advocates dedicated to ending gun violence.
Throughout her career in the Legislature,
Madeleine also worked closely with local officials to bring home millions of
dollars in infrastructure projects that promote safer, greener, more livable
communities. And with her extraordinary coworkers, her office served tens of
thousands of constituents with problems big and small.
In 2015, Governor Tom Wolf appointed
Madeleine to the Pennsylvania Commission for Women, advising the Governor on
policies and legislation to improve the lives of women and their families.
Madeleine’s concern for equality — and a
broader desire to expand her public service — eventually inspired her run for
Congress. In 2018, Pennsylvania had 18 Congressional seats — and 0 women. Along
with a cadre of other women from across the state, Madeleine set out to change
that. She ran for the Fourth Congressional District seat and won.
In Congress, Madeleine remains focused on
decency and the common good. That means working hard to address issues that
affect Americans deeply — including stopping gun violence and guaranteeing
health care for all. In Madeleine’s view, building a more compassionate society
means making smart, humane policy choices. It also means working to ensure that
government functions smoothly and delivers the services constituents need.
Madeleine is a lifelong parishioner of St.
Luke the Evangelist Church in Glenside, and has served as a board member for
the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She and her husband PJ Cunnane live in
Jenkintown, Abington Township, and have three grown sons – Patrick, Harry and
Alex; two daughters-in-law – Stephanie and Juliet; and three granddaughters and
one grandson – Aubrey, Ella, Sawyer, and Scottie.
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