
Michael Waltz

Michael George Glen Waltz (born January 31, 1974) is an American politician and United States Army officer serving as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 6th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Early life and education.
Waltz was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard.
Career.
Congressman Mike Waltz represents Florida's 6th congressional district, which includes Flagler, Volusia, Lake, and St. Johns counties. Waltz is a combat-decorated Green Beret still serving as a Colonel in the U.S. Army National Guard, a former White House and Pentagon policy advisor, small business owner, a Florida native, and a proud father. He is the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.
Waltz has served his country his entire life. He graduated with honors as a Distinguished Military Graduate from the Virginia Military Institute, and has served over 24 years in the U.S. Army. After commissioning as an Army lieutenant, Waltz graduated Ranger School and was selected for the elite Green Berets, serving worldwide as a Special Forces officer with multiple tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. For his actions in combat, Waltz was decorated with four Bronze Stars including two with valor.
During his deployment to Afghanistan, Waltz led the special forces unit searching for deserter Pvt. Bowe Berghdal. Waltz was one of the first to publicly question then-President Obama's labeling of Berghdal as a hero and has continued to call for justice on behalf of all the service-members Berghdal's desertion put in harm's way. Waltz's servant leadership continued in the Pentagon as a defense policy director for Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. Waltz then went on to serve in the White House as the Vice President's counterterrorism advisor, where he advised the President and his Cabinet on protecting the nation.
Waltz's unique experience in repeatedly mobilizing to the war zone to execute the same strategies he helped craft as a civilian in the White House inspired him to write, "Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan." The Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command selected the book for his official reading list, and the proceeds benefit veteran's charities.
Following his time in the White House, Waltz helped build an analytics and training business, Metis Solutions, from start-up to over 400 employees. Metis earned private equity backing, and was repeatedly selected for the Inc. 500 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
Waltz has provided expert commentary on foreign policy and defense issues to viewers around the world appearing frequently on CNN, MSNBC, BBC World News, and PBS Frontline. He was a Fox News contributor and authored numerous op-eds for national periodicals.
Waltz is determined to be part of the new generation of leadership in Congress: veteran servant leaders who lead by example and rely on their experiences in combat and business to deliver results. He co-founded the bi-partisan "For Country" caucus composed of Republican and Democrat veterans as well as the "Women’s Peace and Security" caucus on the premise that where women thrive around the world, extremism fails.
Waltz was born in Boynton Beach, FL and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. He was raised by a hard-working single mother and is the son and grandson of Navy Chief Petty Officers. He is the father of a teenage girl, and is engaged to Dr. Julia Nesheiwat, herself a combat veteran who served in the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, most recently as Homeland Security Advisor to the President. They live in St. Johns County, FL.
Political positions.
The War in Afghanistan.
After telling an anecdote to the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference audience about his time serving in Afghanistan during the public announcement of the Obama-era troop withdrawals, Waltz stated about the War in Afghanistan, "So, are we 15 years in? Yes. Are we in for a lot more fighting and do we need a long-term strategy to undermine the ideology of Islamic extremism — just like we did fascism and just like we did communism? — yes, we do. Uh, and you know, I think we're in for a long haul and I think our nation's leadership needs to begin telling the American people 'I'm sorry, we don't have a choice, we're 15 years in to what is going to be a multi-generational war because we're talking about defeating an idea.' It's easy to bomb a tank, very difficult to defeat an idea and that's exactly what we have to do." Following his statement, a CPAC audience member can be heard disrupting the panel and shouting "It's impossible" in reply to Waltz's stance on the war.
China Communist Party.
Waltz is considered one of the most hawkish members of Congress as it relates to America's posture towards China, saying "We are in a Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party."
In 2021, Waltz was the first member of Congress to call for a full U.S. boycott of the 2022 Chinese Olympics over the CCP's treatment of Chinese Uyghur populations and the enslavement, forced labor, and concentration camp of these ethnic minorities in China.
Waltz serves on the House China Task Force with 15 Republican lawmakers representing 14 committees of jurisdiction to coordinate policy on China. The Task Force collaborated and released the China Task Force report. The CTF issued a final report that includes 82 key findings and more than 400 forward leaning recommendations to addressing the China threat.
In the 116th Congress, Waltz sponsored the American Critical Mineral Exploration and Innovation Act of 2020 to reduce America's dependence on foreign sources of critical minerals and bringing the U.S. supply chain from China back to America by establishing a critical mineral research and development program at the Department of Energy, which was signed into law in Section 7002 of Division Z in the FY21 appropriations bill.
Waltz has also pioneered legislation to secure American universities and academies from Chinese espionage. In 2020, He secured legislation that provides a universal requirement, for all agencies, for researchers to disclosure all foreign funding sources in applications for federal funding, failure would result in permanent termination of research and developments awards to the professor or school, permanent debarment of malign professors, and criminal charges. (Section 223)
Further, Waltz directed the Department of Defense to track foreign talent recruitment programs that pose a threat to the United States, particularly as a response to China Communist Party efforts to infiltrate American universities. (Section 1299c)
Waltz also sponsored legislation to ensure the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) does not invest in Chinese or Russian markets. Weeks later, President Trump directed the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to reverse their decision to expand TSP investments.
U.S. House of Representatives.
Elections.
Waltz ran for Florida's 6th congressional district in 2018 to succeed incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis, who retired before being elected Governor of Florida in a close race. He defeated John Ward and Fred Costello in the Republican primary before facing off against Democratic nominee Nancy Soderberg, a former Representative at the United Nations and the former Deputy National Security Advisor, in the general election. Waltz won with 56.31% of the vote to Soderberg's 43.69%.
Incumbent Waltz was challenged by Democratic Party candidate Clint Curtis. Waltz received 265,393 votes (60.64%), while Curtis received 172,305 (39.36%).
Tenure.
He won the election over Democrat Nancy Soderberg and was sworn in to the 116th United States Congress on January 3, 2019.
In April 2020, Waltz joined the National Guard's COVID-19 response efforts as a colonel on the planning staff. On November 6, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Waltz tested positive for the virus.
In December 2020, Waltz was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of "Texas v. Pennsylvania", a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state. Shortly thereafter, the "Orlando Sentinel" editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Waltz in the 2020 election. The "Orlando Sentinel" wrote, "We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded Waltz and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions." New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat Waltz and the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit. Pascrell argued that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."
House Armed Services Committee.
Waltz played a major role as a freshman in drafting the National Defense Authorization Act, the primary piece of legislation within HASC's jurisdiction.
FY20 NDAA included the following legislative priorities of Rep Waltz:
• Waltz's Venezuelan Contracting Restriction Act, to prohibit U.S. defense contractors from doing business with the Maduro regime in Venezuela.
• An authorization of 4,000 new visas for Afghan allies and interpreters to show partners on the ground that we will protect them and their families when they stand with us. (Section 1219)
• Waltz's SFC Brian Woods Gold Star and Military Survivors Act, a bill named in honor of Army Sgt. 1st Class William B. Woods Jr. who I served with as an Army Green Beret. Woods was killed on August 16, 2009 in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. The bill provides for surviving spouses of service members even in the event they remarry, including continued access to on-base facilities for dependent children. Directs the Pentagon to pay the transportation costs of remains for those killed in combat back to their hometown for any memorial services AND to a national cemetery of the surviving family's choice. Authorizes the Pentagon to extend the existing child care service assistance program to survivors of servicemembers that die in the line of duty.
• Established the U.S. Space Force as the sixth Armed Services of the United States, under the U.S. Air Force and recognized space as a warfighting domain to better protect critical vulnerable assets in space, including intelligence, agriculture, weather forecasting and finance industries. (Sections 921–925)
• Legislation sponsored, H.R. 1746, to establish a unified U.S. Space Command. 
The 2021 NDAA included many provisions and policy goals to:
• Provides a universal requirement, for all agencies, for researchers to disclosure all foreign funding sources in applications for federal funding, failure would result in permanent termination of research and developments awards to the professor or school, permanent debarment of malign professors, and criminal charges. (Section 223)
• Directing the Department of Defense to track foreign talent recruitment programs that pose a threat to the United States (Section 1299c)
• Secure Our Bases Act – improving the safety of active duty military and their families on military installations by requiring a thorough vetting process before a foreign student enters the U.S. and requires foreign students to follow rules established by U.S. Base Commanders.
• Rent the Camo Act – Improving access to maternity wear for our active duty servicewomen by creating a program to allow pregnant servicemembers to rent maternity uniforms at no cost. (Section 361).
• Corporate Transparency Act – requiring companies to disclose their true beneficial owners at the time the company is formed to prevent foreign shell companies, money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist groups from operating domestically. (House amendment 499)
• BRENDA Act – Providing first responders access to military mobile commissaries deployed during natural disasters and commissary access to Protective Service civilian employees on base.
• Women, Peace, and Security Act – requiring the Department of Defense conduct a partner country assessment on the barriers to women's participation in the national security forces. (Section 1210E)
• Waiving the time limitation for awarding the Medal of Honor to Central Florida hero, Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe, who died after suffering severe injuries while pulling fellow soldiers out of a burning vehicle after an ambush in Iraq in 2005. (Section 562)
Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Rep. Waltz currently serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology within the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
During the 116th Congress, Waltz served on the subcommittees on Space and Aeronautics where he was one of the committee's greatest proponents of establishing Space Force as a separate branch of the military as well as advancement of commercial space flight.
Introduced the MSI STEM Achievement Act with Rep. Johnson (D-Texas), which unanimously passed in the House, to improve participation in STEM programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in Florida and around the country.
Co-Founded the For Country Caucus.
For Country Caucus provides principled military veteran members a platform to work in a nonpartisan way and create a more productive government. For Country's vision is a less polarized Congress that works for — and is trusted by — Americans. We seek a Congress where members serve with integrity, civility, and courage. And we want a Congress that is strategic in purpose, focused in action and where elected officials put their country first.
In 2019, Rep. Waltz and Democrat Rep. Jason Crow, both members of the For Country Caucus, performed a bipartisan parachute drop into Normandy, France, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day during World War 2, "the bipartisan pair were the only members of Congress who, this past Sunday, took the same leap that troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions took 75 years ago. You could barely even tell decades have passed by the looks of the near-identical World War II uniforms donned by the fearless 21st century parachuters aboard 'That's All Brother,' the original C-47 that carried the 101st Airborne into Normandy."
Also in 2019, Waltz lead a group of bi-partisan members of congress who all served as veterans to wash the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.
Women, Peace, and Security.
Established the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Caucus with Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The WPS Caucus aims to ensure women have active, meaningful roles in all aspects of their societies and communities to promote women's inclusion to advance democracy and stability worldwide, as provided in the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017. The WPS Caucus currently has 17 bipartisan members.
Cosponsored Women's Global Development and Prosperity Act of 2020 to establish the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative at the Department of State to advance women, peace and security initiatives, such as promoting women participation in the workforce and global economy.
Caucus memberships.
Waltz is a member of the following Congressional caucuses.