Bob Bennett (politician)

Bob Bennett (politician)

Robert Foster "Bob" Bennett (born September 18, 1933) is a lobbyist, a former United States Senator from Utah, and a member of the Republican Party. Bennett held chairmanships and senior positions on a number of key Senate committees, including the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Appropriations Committee, Rules and Administration Committee, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Joint Economic Committee. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee named this senator as one of the six current and former members of Congress who received discount loans from Countrywide Mortgage.

Bennett was a popular and reliably conservative Senator for most of his tenure, earning high ratings from conservative activist groups such as the National Rifle Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and American Conservative Union. However, in 2010 Bennett became one of the most prominent targets of the Tea Party Movement, which criticized his support of the Bush Administration's bank bailout and argued that Bennett was insufficiently conservative. Despite an enthusiastic endorsement from Mitt Romney, Bennett lost the 2010 Utah Senate primary election, placing third behind two Tea-Party-backed candidates.

Following his exit from the Senate, Bennett formed a lobbying firm called the Bennett Consulting Group and joined the law firm Arent Fox as a policy advisor. He serves as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he focuses on budget, energy, and health issues, and serves as Chairman of TechAmerica Foundation, the educational outreach arm of TechAmerica. Bennett is a part-time teacher, researcher and lecturer at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. He is also a fellow at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.