Mark Souder

Mark Edward Souder (born July 18, 1950) is an American politician who is serving his sixth term in the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 3rd congressional district (map). The Third District lies in northeast and north central Indiana and includes all of DeKalb, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben and Whitley counties as well as major portions of Allen and Elkhart counties.

Souder was born in Grabill, Indiana and attended Leo High School, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and the University of Notre Dame. While in college, he was a member of the Young Americans for Freedom. Souder is the only Congressman at present to be a member of Church of the United Brethren in Christ, but was raised in the Apostolic Christian Church.

Congressional career
Souder is a member of the Republican Party. His only elected office began when his first term in Congress began in January of 1995.

Souder is the Ranking Member on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism. He is also a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee. Along with U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), he is co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional National Parks Caucus.

Until the start of the 110th Congress, Souder was chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources. The subcommittee had authorizing jurisdiction over the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP, known popularly as "the Drug Czar's Office"), and it oversaw all U.S. Government anti-narcotics operations, both foreign and domestic. In addition, the panel had broad oversight authority (covering the National Park Service, the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, public health programs, the Smithsonian Institution, etc.).

In March 2006, President Bush signed into law the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act, which represented the most comprehensive anti-meth legislation ever passed by Congress. Souder authored much of this law, which targets meth trafficking at local and state, national, and international levels.

In December 2006, the President signed into law the ONDCP Reauthorization Act, which Souder had authored and introduced. The law reauthorizes office of "the Drug Czar" for five years.

Influence of religion
In 2004, Souder said in an interview that "the closer to the clearness of the Bible, the less ability I should have to compromise. So I view, on abortion, there's really not much room to compromise." He said, regarding Israel, "[T]he bottom line is, they're God's chosen people. He's going to stand with them. The question is: Are we going to stand with them?" Souder also applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War on religious grounds.

Position on illegal drugs
Souder is an ardent supporter of War on Drugs. He authored and championed the Drug-Free Student Loan amendment, enacted in 1998 as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The provision suspends eligibility for federal financial aid to college students convicted of drug-related offenses. The law has thus far affected more than 175,000 students, including 9,000 Indiana students — one in every 200 applicants from that state. (This is the highest percentage of students affected among all 50 U.S. states.) In almost all cases, the suspensions of eligibility for aid are based on applicants checking a box saying that they have a drug conviction, or failing to check the box saying that they do not, rather than an actual check of criminal records. Only students who are enrolled in college at the time of their conviction may have their aid suspended. Students may resume eligibility after a period of time (for example, after one year if convicted of possession of a controlled substance) or if they complete a drug rehabilitation program approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Before the 2006–2007 academic year, the provision could also apply to high school students, but this changed with the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act in 2001.

In early 2006, Souder added, to a bill about the office of the drug czar, a provision calling for the fungus Fusarium oxysporum to be used as a biological control agent against drug crops in foreign countries. Several federal and state agencies have previously rejected such use of the fungus because it is highly prone to mutation.

During the consideration of the Supreme Court case Gonzales v. Raich, Souder and several other congressmen such as Katherine Harris jointly filed an amicus brief in support of the federal government to uphold the use of the Constitution's "commerce clause" to prosecute patients who use medical marijuana. In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court sided with the federal government. In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an interagency advisory stating that smoked marijuana is not a "safe and effective" drug. However, the states that allow medical marijuana have not yet changed their policy.

On February 9th, 2007 Souder appeared as a guest on MSNBC's "The Situation With Tucker Carlson". Souder was asked specifically as to why marijuana is of such focus with regard to anti drug campaigns. He said of today's marijuana plants "the destruction in your brain cells, is more like coke or crack than it is like the old time marijuana" in regard to the addictiveness and modern THC content. Souder said that the high THC content of today's marijuana makes it much stronger than "the ditch weed" of the 1960s and 1970s. The Congressman later went on to say "No drug user is a single drug user" and goes on to clarify that "a marijuana user is very seldom just a casual marijuana user", to which Carlson said he was wrong based upon users he knows.

2006 re-election
In his initial campaign for Congress in 1994, Souder pledged his support for term limit legislation. He served four terms (1995–2003) representing Indiana's Fourth Congressional District. In 2002, after redistricting based on the 2000 census, Souder was elected to represent Indiana's Third Congressional District. He won reelection there in 2004 and, in 2006, was reelected to his seventh term in the House.

Souder has said that an actual voting record in Congress is more valuable than claimed positions on issues, and has repeatedly refused to report his issue positions at Project VoteSmart. His 1994 issues profile is available in the project archives.

Souder's Democratic opponent in the November 2006 general election was Fort Wayne City Councilman and military veteran Tom Hayhurst, an M.D. who contributed $200,000 to his own campaign. Souder won 54% to 46%, carrying all eight counties in his congressional district.

The 2006 election was significantly different than 2004, when the 3rd District voted 68%-32% for George W. Bush over John Kerry, and re-elected Souder 69%-31% (when Souder faced Maria Parra, a Democrat who made national headlines when she walked off the stage during a televised debate.

Recent positions
In June 2007, Mark Souder called for a full removal of US troops from Iraq. This was much to the surprise of his fellow Indiana GOP colleagues, who considered Souder to be a "hard-as-stone conservative" who would continue to advocate President Bush's policies in Iraq. The decision also shocked many conservatives in his home district. Some called Souder a hero, while others called him a liar and betrayer. Two months later, he became the fourth Republican U.S. Congressman to call for Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig's resignation after the discovery of lewd activities in a Minneapolis/St. Paul airport restroom and subsequent allegations questioning Craig's sexuality.

Souder has indicated that he will run for an eighth term in 2008.