for

THE HONORABLE RALPH REGULA
U.S. House of Representatives
Ohio-R, 16th District

The Washington Coal Club is pleased to announce its May 12, 2004 meeting will feature The Honorable Ralph Regula (Ohio-R, 16th District), U.S. House of Representatives.

Ralph Regula has had a distinguished career in public service that spans more than four decades. One of the most senior members of the U.S. House of Representatives, he serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. He is the dean of Ohio’s Congressional Delegation and is active in the Congressional Older American Caucus and the Congressional Steel Caucus.

Prior to his service in the U.S. House of Representatives, Regula was a teacher and principal in the public school system, a lawyer in his own private practice, a member of the Ohio Board of Education, and a Member of the Ohio House and later Ohio’s Senate.

In 1972, Regula was sworn in to his first term of the U.S. House of Representatives. In only his second term of office, he was awarded a coveted position on the influential House Appropriations Committee. This panel determines funding levels for all federal government programs. Regula currently ranks second in seniority and serves as the committee’s Vice-Chairman. From this position he continues to steer federal dollars toward important state and local needs while at the same time promoting sound fiscal management of federal programs.

From 1995 until 2001, Regula chaired the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which has funding jurisdiction over all federal lands, including national parks and forests, the Smithsonian Institution and a number of research programs in the U.S. Department of Energy. During his tenure, Regula worked to address the serious maintenance backlog in our national parks and championed research efforts in clean coal technology. On the local level, he wrote and successfully passed legislation establishing the Ohio and Erie Canal Heritage Corridor, a project to protect and enhance this historic 87-mile corridor that runs from Cleveland to Zoar. From this position, he also steered additional funding to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, an effort that he continues today as a member of the subcommittee.

Regula is a founding member of the Congressional Steel Caucus and chaired the group from 1999 until 2001. Using the caucus and his membership on the House Commerce, State, Justice Appropriations Subcommittee as forums, he has fought for fair trading opportunities for U.S. steel and other Ohio-based manufacturers. He successfully advocated for tariffs on imported steel from countries that were illegally dumping their products on the U.S. market.

Regula returns home to his farm in Ohio every weekend. Mary and Ralph have celebrated more than 50 years together. They have three children and three grandchildren all of whom live near them.

Paul Oakley
President (2004)