William Joseph Posey is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for, in Congress since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. He formerly served in the Florida Senate and the Florida House of Representatives.
Early life, education, and business career
Posey was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Beatrice and Walter J. Posey. His mother's family immigrated from Russia and is of Jewish heritage and his father is a Protestant of primarily English ancestry. Posey moved to Florida in 1956 as his father took a job in engineering with McDonnell Douglas, working on the Delta rocket. In 1969, he graduated from Brevard Community College with an Associate of Arts degree. He got a job with McDonnell Douglas, and did Apollo Space Program work at Kennedy Space Center till he was laid off. From 1974 to 1976, Bill Posey worked on the Rockledge Planning Commission. In 1976, he was elected as a member of the City Council, and from 1986 to 1992, he was a member of the Brevard County Business and Industrial Development Commission. Posey also founded his own real estate company during the 1970s. He later became director of the state Association of Realtors. While serving in local politics, he also became a researcher on government accountability and transparency.
Florida legislature
In 2006, Posey authored Activity Based Total Accountability, which outlines his suggestions for improving American politics. While serving in the state legislature, Posey was a chief sponsor of a bill designed to modernize the Florida election process, in response to the 2000 presidential election controversy. He also worked to revise insurance policy, so as to aid hurricane victims.
;2008 In 2008, Posey ran to replace retiring U.S. Congressman Dave Weldon, who had occupied the 15th District seat since 1995, when the district first voted Republican. Posey defeated Democratic nominee Stephen Blythe, receiving 53.1% of the vote to Blythe's 42.0%. ;2010 Posey won re-election against former NASA executive and public administrator Shannon Roberts, receiving 64.7% of the vote to Roberts' 35.3%. ;2012 Posey won re-election with nearly 60% of the vote against Democratic nominee Shannon Roberts and non-partisan candidate Richard Gillmor. ;2014 Posey won re-election with 65.84% of the vote against Democratic candidate Gabriel Rothblatt. ;2016 Posey won re-election with 63.11% of the vote against Democratic candidate Corry Westbrook. ;2018 Posey won re-election with 60.50% of the vote against Democratic candidate Sanjay Patel. ;2020 Posey is the Republican candidate for District 8 in the 2020 House of Representatives election. Committee assignments
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Climate Solutions Caucus
Political positions
H.R. 1503 (2009)
Shortly after entering Congress, Posey introduced legislation to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates for the presidency "to include with the committee's statement of organization a copy of the candidate's birth certificate" plus supporting documentation. Introduced without the Republican leadership being informed, Florida Today commented that the bill "stems from fringe opponents of President Barack Obama who, during the 2008 election campaign, questioned whether Obama was born in Hawaii," but added that Posey's office "does not question Obama's citizenship." He explained his motivation as being to "prevent something like this from happening in the future" by requiring "the birth certificate up front and take off the table". His initiative was strongly criticized by Florida Democrats, who accused Posey of trying to "fan the rumors on the extreme fringe of the Republican Party" and "pandering to the right wing". Satirist Stephen Colbert also mocked Posey for not addressing rumors that he was "part alligator"; Posey responded by commenting that there was "no reason to say that I'm the illegitimate grandson of an alligator". He also stated that there was now "no reason to question" that Obama is a U.S. citizen. The proposed legislation was never voted upon by the 111th Congress.
Environment and energy
In 2016, Bill Posey sponsored legislation that reauthorized and reprioritized funding to clean up America's estuaries signed into law by President Obama. At a May 2018 hearing in the Science, Space and Technology Committee, Posey mentioned that in the 1970s climate scientists believed the Earth was cooling. At the hearing, Posey also expressed skepticism that humans contributed to climate change, asking whether climate change was occurring because carbon dioxide captured in permafrost was now leaking out. Posey also asked at the hearing whether warming would be beneficial for habitats and to people. Posey said "I don't think anybody disputes that the Earth is getting warmer; I think what's not clear is the exact amount of who caused what, and getting to that is, I think, where we're trying to go with this committee."
Posey supports repealing the Affordable Care Act and calls it a "fiasco" that “was passed under a lot of misrepresentation”.
LGBT rights
Posey voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal offence to commit a violent crime because of the victim's race, sex, etc., even without any federal nexus, and also added sexuality to the list of such grounds.
Net neutrality
Posey was the only Republican representative to vote with the Democratic-controlled House in favor of the Save the Internet Act of 2019, which would overturn the Federal Communications Commission 's repeal of net neutrality and "would restore Obama-era net neutrality protections."
