Joe Heck

Joseph John “Joe” Heck (born October 30, 1961) is an American politician, physician, and U.S. Army Brigadier General who has been the U.S. Representative for Nevada's 3rd congressional district since 2011. Heck, a member of the Republican Party, is a board-certified osteopathic physician and served as a Nevada State Senator from 2004 to 2008. He is running for the open Nevada U.S. Senate seat in 2016.

Heck's congressional district includes the cities of Henderson, Boulder City, parts of Las Vegas, unincorporated Clark County, and several smaller towns and cities in the Southern Nevada region. He resides in Henderson, Nevada.

Early life, education, and military service
Heck was born in Jamaica, New York in Queens and raised in Pennsylvania where he graduated from Wallenpaupack Area High School in 1979. In 1992, he moved to Clark County, Nevada. He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1984 with a degree in Health Education. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine in 1988 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and obtained a residency in Emergency Medicine in 1992 at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. He earned a Masters of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College in 2006.

As of July 31st, 2014, Heck is a brigadier general in the United States Army Reserve. He has commanded a Medical Readiness Support Group overseeing more than 2,000 soldiers in 6 western states, and continued to serve in this capacity while in Congress. He has served in Operation Joint Endeavor, Operation Noble Eagle, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. His last deployment was January, 2008.

Medical career
Heck was the president, owner, and medical director of Specialized Medical Operations until 2011. The company provided medical training, consulting, and operational support to law enforcement agencies, EMS, and military special operations. Heck has lectured and is published on special operations medical support, the medical response to acts of terrorism, and emergency preparedness and response.

From 1998 to 2003, Heck served as the medical director of the Casualty Care Research Center of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, where he provided medical support for several federal law enforcement agencies and oversight for the medical response to acts of terrorism.

Heck started his medical career as a volunteer firefighter and ambulance attendant in rural Pennsylvania. He volunteered as a Medical Team Manager with the Nevada Urban Search & Rescue Team – Task Force 1 and as a member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search & Rescue team. He has also served as a tactical physician with the LVMPD SWAT team.

Heck served as a member of the Nevada State Homeland Security Commission Sub-committee on Health, the American Osteopathic Association's Task Force on Bioterrorism, and as the Medical Director for the Nevada Hospital Association’s Hospital Preparedness program. He also served as the Medical Director for the Southern Nevada Health District's Office of Public Health Preparedness.

Nevada Senate
Heck served one four-year term in the Nevada Senate, representing Clark County’s 5th district.

Elections
Heck was first elected to the Nevada Senate to represent Clark County’s 5th district in 2004, after defeating Senator Ann O’Connell in the Republican primary. Heck narrowly lost reelection in 2008 to Democrat Shirley Breeden by a margin of 47% to 46% and a plurality of 765 votes. Libertarian T. Rex Hagan received 4754 votes (8%).

Committee assignments
He served on the Natural Resources, Human Resources and Education, the Commerce and Labor Committees. He was also the vice-chair of the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.

2010
Although Heck had earlier announced he would challenge incumbent Republican Jim Gibbons for Governor, he decided against it in favor of a run for Nevada's 3rd congressional district. He defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus, 48%–47%, a difference of 1,748 votes. Titus had only held the position for one term after she defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Jon C. Porter in 2008.

2012
After redistricting, Heck decided to run in the newly redrawn 3rd district, which Obama won in 2008 with 54% of the vote. On November 6, he defeated Speaker of the state Assembly John Oceguera 50%–43%.

Tenure
Heck was one of three freshmen named to the House Republican Steering Committee in the 112th Congress.

Economic issues
Heck has indicated that he has a plan to fast track tourist visas to boost the tourist industry in Southern Nevada. He has noted his opposition to government tax burdens and red tape on the private sector. Heck supports an audit of the Federal Reserve and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He was among only 10 House Republicans who opposed Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 plan. Heck also supports Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval’s decision to accept federal money to expand Medicaid coverage.

In 2011, Heck voted in favor of Free Trade Agreements and Trade Promotion Agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Heck voted against increasing the debt limit and supported a separate bill that expressed disapproval of the President’s authority to raise the debt limit.

Energy
Heck voted to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses. He has signed Americans for Prosperity's No Climate Tax pledge. Heck attributes increased energy costs to environmental regulation.

Foreign policy
In 2011, Heck voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.

Heck was opposed to United States involvement in Libya, saying, “We are already engaged in military operations on two fronts, and Libya opened a third. We cannot afford the troops or taxpayer dollars—especially without a national security objective.”

Health care
Heck opposes Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which he has voted to repeal. His priorities include protecting the patient-physician relationship, reducing health care costs, and working to protect Medicare for Nevada’s seniors and preserving it for future generations.

Immigration
In August 2014, Heck broke ranks with the Republican Party and voted against a bill that would have dismantled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Social policy
In 2011, Heck voted in favor of prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion, and prohibiting the use of federal funds for Planned Parenthood. He supported the Violence Against Women Act.

Veterans Affairs
In 2015, Heck cosponsored a bill sponsored by Tulsi Gabbard that would award a Congressional Gold Medal to Filipinos who fought in World War II, who now live in the Philippines and the United States.

Sponsored legislation
The following is a partial list of legislation that was directly sponsored by Heck.
 * Three Kids Mine Remediation and Reclamation Act (H.R. 697; 113th Congress) – a bill that would authorize the sale of approximately 950 acres of federal land to the city of Henderson, Nevada. The land used to be a mine and now needs significant environmental remediation and reclamation.
 * Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 1742; 113th Congress) – a bill that would change the way the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calculates a veterans' income to exclude some aid that some veterans receive from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The bill would also change utility allowances.
 * Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act of 2013 (H.R. 2166; 113th Congress) – a bill that would require the federal government to issue the appropriate permits within 48 hours to volunteer search and rescue groups to allow them to search federal lands for missing persons.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Military Personnel
 * United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Chair)
 * Committee on Education and the Workforce
 * Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
 * Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
 * Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
 * United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence (Chair)

Partisan committees:
 * House Republican Steering Committee

Source:

Personal life
Joe and his wife, Lisa (formerly Mattiello), have three children: Monica, Chelsea and Joseph III. Lisa is a registered nurse. Heck is a Roman Catholic. He is active with the Knights of Columbus Council 13456 and Catholic War Veterans Post 1947.

Awards and decorations
Heck has received the following awards: