Senator Dick Lugar combines perpetual optimism about the future with energetic and enduring leadership to solve the problems facing Indiana and the United States. When faced with serious challenges, Dick Lugar provides bold solutions and works to implement them.
Helping Create Jobs by Promoting the Free Market
Dick Lugar has worked to eliminate government regulations that stifle business. He has led efforts to expand export opportunities for Indiana manufacturing and agriculture and has championed policies that create jobs. For his leadership in ensuring that the prosperity we have enjoyed in the past is not undercut by regulation and taxes, he has received top ranking awards including Guardian of Small Business, the Spirit of Enterprise and Watchdog of the Treasury. Lugar has consistently supported and voted to cut or eliminate taxes on Hoosier families and businesses, including the death tax and alternative minimum tax.
First Senator to Call for Abolishing the IRS
To reduce our nation’s deficit and improve the economic prospects for all Americans, Dick Lugar was the first Senator to propose scrapping the income tax and the IRS, replacing this burdensome system with a tax at the final point of sale and services. Now known as the FairTax, the plan has gained significant momentum since Lugar’s initiation.
Stopping Obama’s Job-Killing Agenda
Dick Lugar has also opposed all of the Obama budgets, voted at every opportunity against Obama’s health care plan and opposed the Obama stimulus-spending bill. A fiscal conservative who voted for a Balanced Budget Amendment 16 times, Dick Lugar opposed Obama’s ineffective “stimulus” bills, bankrupting budget plans, and big-government, big-spending agendas. In fact, Lugar led the fight to eliminate thousands of government bureaucrats and offices. Lugar will continue to fight to slash federal spending, pass needed entitlement reforms, and repeal the government’s takeover of health care. Dick Lugar remains a strong, conservative opponent of Obama’s job-killing agenda of burdensome regulations, bigger government, and a bloated, punitive tax code.
Working to make America Energy Independent
To reduce energy costs and dependence on foreign sources of oil, Dick Lugar has spent his career promoting U.S. sources of energy, free market approaches that reduce energy consumption and save consumers money, and research to expand U.S. energy leadership.
Lifelong Farmer and Champion of Indiana Agriculture
To make certain that the world’s growing population has enough to eat, Dick Lugar advanced legislation to help U.S. agriculture be the most productive in the world with Indiana farmers being the leaders. This includes eliminating depression-era federal farm programs that controlled supply and business decisions. He supports trade programs that help Hoosiers invested in agriculture to export their products. He has also encouraged research on how to increase crop yields.
Voice for Local Control of Schools
Dick Lugar’s first elected post was serving on the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners, where he learned the importance of keeping the federal government out of our classrooms. To improve education prospects for Hoosiers, Dick Lugar has established: programs to recognize outstanding schools and teachers; symposiums, scholarships, exchanges and internships for high school and college students; reading programs for grade school students; and a record of supporting proven approaches that improve academic achievements.
World Leader
To face the threat of thousands of ‘loose nukes’ falling into the hands of terrorists, Dick Lugar worked with Senator Sam Nunn to secure and deactivate more than 7,600 nuclear warheads, as well as destruction of chemical and biological weapons. Perhaps most importantly, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are nuclear weapons-free as a result of cooperative efforts under the Nunn-Lugar program. Those countries were the third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear weapons powers in the world.
Leader in the Battle to Shrink Government
To improve the vitality and economic prospects of Indianapolis, he proposed and successfully passed Unigov, which has led to the dynamic growth of the city. He has continued to advocate shrinking government by closing excess U.S. Department of Agriculture offices, reducing government staff and dumping surplus inventory. In his dedication to cut spending, Dick Lugar has returned more than $5.2 million in unspent Senate office funds. As mayor of Indianapolis, he cut taxes five times in eight years.
Fifth Generation Hoosier
Dick Lugar is a fifth generation Hoosier. He was first in his classes at Indianapolis’ Shortridge High School and Denison University. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholars and earned his degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University. While studying at Oxford, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to Officer Candidate School. He was hand-picked to be an intelligence briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations and legendary World War II Pacific War hero, Admiral Arleigh Burke.
He returned to Indianapolis to run his family’s farm and manufacturing businesses. He was elected to two terms as mayor of Indianapolis.
Husband, Father Grandfather
Dick and Charlene Lugar were married in 1956, and have four sons and 13 grandchildren.