Jack Reed

Jack Reed (born November 12, 1949, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.) is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and began representing Rhode Island the following year. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1991–97).

Through U.S. Sen. John Pastore, Reed received an appointment to the United States Military Academy (West Point), graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1971. While an officer in the U.S. Army, he studied public policy at Harvard University (M.P.P., 1973). He then served in the 82nd Airborne Division before teaching economics and international relations at West Point from 1977 to 1979, when he left active duty. Reed, however, continued in the Army Reserve until 1991, when he retired with the rank of major.

After earning a law degree from Harvard in 1982, Reed entered private practice, eventually joining a firm in Providence, Rhode Island, where he specialized in banking and securities law. In 1984 he ran for and was elected to the Rhode Island Senate. He served in that body from 1985 to 1990, when he left to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Following his election, he served three terms (1991–97). In 1996 he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate, succeeding longtime senator Claiborne Pell. Reed took office in 1997.

Reed was characterized as a moderate to liberal Democrat who generally voted with party leadership. Given his military background, he took special interest in defense issues, and he notably opposed the Iraq War (2003–11), arguing that it was a diversion from the larger war on terrorism. He also took a strong interest in environmental issues and children’s health care, sponsoring laws that increased funding for pediatric-cancer research and that required that drugs and medical devices be proved safe and effective before being used with children. Through his work with appropriations and financial committees in Congress, Reed helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of Financial Research (OFR), the latter of which assisted regulators with emergent problems in the financial sector. He also cosponsored legislation to restore and enhance the federal Pell Grant program—named for his predecessor in office—which provides financial assistance to low-income college students.

While on a congressional tour in Afghanistan in 2002, Reed met Julia Hart, a Senate staffer who was traveling with the delegation. The couple married in 2005 and later had a child.