Cliff Stearns

Stearns lives in Ocala, Florida with his wife, Joan (née Moore). They have three grown sons. One of his great-great-grandfathers was 19th century Ohio congressman Hezekiah S. Bundy. He is a Presbyterian.

On August 14, 2012, Stearns lost to veterinarian Ted Yoho in a four-way Republican primary by about one percent of the vote.

In 2012, Stearns donated a collection of his papers to The George Washington University. The collection largely consists of his committee work, but also includes personal and political correspondence, briefing books, and travel agendas. The collection is currently under the care of GW's Special Collections Research Center, located in the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library.

Stearns led the congressional effort involving the meningitis outbreak. As of November 14, 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 32 deaths and that 438 people have been sickened across 19 states. An investigation determined that the New England Compounding Center(NECC) was the source of the contaminated product. As Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Stearns held a hearing on this outbreak.

Stearns noted that the FDA had authority to close NECC, but simply failed to protect the American people. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, deputy commissioner of the FDA from 2005–07 and Mr. Sheldon Bradshaw, FDA's chief counsel during that same period, disagreed strongly with Hamburg. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on November 13, 2012, they stated unequivocally that FDA did have enough authority and could have acted but chose not to because of FDA’s desire to regulate "the full scope of the practice of pharmacy." They further stated that NECC’s illegal actions, which FDA was aware of, that "put the NECC firmly in violation of FDA rules-if the agency had chosen to enforce existing provisions."

On January 31, 2012, The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization stopped funding Planned Parenthood, stating that the congressional investigation by Stearns triggered a newly-created internal rule about not funding organizations under any federal, state or local investigation. Planned Parenthood is regularly audited to ensure compliance with the Hyde Amendment: these audits have never turned up any evidence of wrongdoing. While the move was applauded by conservative anti-abortion groups, it was denounced by several newspaper editorials, women's health advocacy groups, and politicians. Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political". Karen Handel, Komen's vice president for public policy, resigned as a result of Komen's reversal.

The investigation was started in response to an investigative report released in July 2011 by the anti-abortion organization Americans United for Life (AUL). According to AUL, "Audits of Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State demonstrate a pattern of overbilling and abuse involving Medicaid funds, and in at least Washington even charging drugs used in an abortion as 'family planning.' Furthermore, State audit reports and admissions by former Planned Parenthood employees detail a pattern of misuse of federal funds by some Planned Parenthood affiliates."

Stearns voted for Cut, Cap & Balance & the Boehner Debt Ceiling Bill; however, he voted against the final Debt Ceiling compromise bill (The "Budget Control Act of 2011").

On April 13, 2011, Stearns offered bi-partisan legislation to protect consumer privacy on line—H.R. 1528, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act. The goal is to encourage greater levels of electronic commerce by providing to Internet users the assurance that their experience online will be more secure.

Redistricting after the 2010 census shifted Stearns' home in Ocala to the 11th District (the old 5th District), but shifted the bulk of his territory to the Gainesville-based 3rd District. Rather than challenge freshman Republican Rich Nugent in the 11th, Stearns opted to run in the 3rd, which contained two-thirds of his former territory.

Stearns was one of only 39 House members to receive an "A" rating from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU). In addition, in 2010 Citizens Against Government Waste once again named Stearns a "Taxpayer Hero."

During the debate over compensation for 9/11 first responders and others, Stearns advocated a "standard re-authorization and appropriation process". Congressman Stearns submitted an amendment that was adopted without opposition to H.R.#847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, that would screen thousands of non-first responders and First Responders who submit claims for chronic medical conditions against a Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list (original committee markup referenced).

During consideration of cap-and-trade legislation in the Energy and Commerce Committee in May 2009, Stearns offered an amendment to afford existing nuclear power plants the same benefits provided to new nuclear power plants in the bill. The amendment simply recognized that nuclear is carbon free and did not provide any new subsidy to the industry.

On September 29, 2008, Stearns voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

In fiscal years 2008–2010, Stearns sponsored 46 earmarks totaling $85,810,100.

Throughout his tenure, Stearns served on the Veterans Affairs Committee. He advocates for increased funding for the VA and pushed to establish a VA cemetery in the Jacksonville area. He supports the VA's CARES plan to develop a new Regional Health Care Facility in Marion County and the expansion of the VA Hospital in Gainesville with a new 230-bed patient tower. The groundbreaking for this addition occurred in 2008. His Veterans Millennium Health care & Benefits Act and language from his VA Health Care Personnel Act to increase pay for VA health professionals were signed into law.

Stearns was a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, a bi-partisan forum for discussing and disseminating information about renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Stearns’ paper on developing clean-coal technology and applying coal-to-liquid technology was published in December 2008 in the Stanford Law & Policy Review.

In 2008, Stearns joined in offering a package of bills to increase domestic energy production. This included more domestic oil and gas production, greater use of clean-coal technology, reducing the barriers to new nuclear power plants, and encouraging renewable energy sources.

Stearns received emails showing that the White House had a major influence on the loan guarantee as well as on the Solyndra loan restructuring that subordinated the taxpayers to two commercial firms in violation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Stearns has been working on extending privacy protection for about 10 years. In 2003, the International Association of Privacy Professionals gave Stearns its Privacy Leadership Award for his efforts on leadership, including holding the most extensive hearings on privacy issues as Chairman of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee.

During the hearing, Stearns stated the outbreak was preventable had the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted. The FDA knew of severe quality control violations at NEC as early as 2002, and in 2006 the FDA threatened NECC if it did not comply with regulations. During the hearing, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg testified that the FDA lacked the authority to close down NECC.

Stearns is the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. From 2001 until 2007, Stearns was Chairman of the Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee and he still serves on the Subcommittee. He helped to create the Do-Not-Call List to protect consumers from unwanted telephone solicitations and legislation to combat spyware, which is software that allows a third party to monitor the computer use of individuals without their knowledge.

In 1988, incumbent Democratic U.S. Congressman Buddy MacKay of Florida's 6th congressional district decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Stearns and Jim Cherry qualified for a run-off election, since no one reached the 50% threshold in the six-candidate primary election. Cherry received 32% to Stearns's 26%. In the run-off, Stearns defeated Cherry 54%–46%. In the general election, Stearns defeated State Representative Jon Mills 53%–47%. Until 2012, he never won re-election with less than 59% of the vote.

In the Republican primary for the 3rd—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—Stearns lost to Ted Yoho by only some 800 votes, about 1% of the vote, in the Republican primary.

Clifford Bundy Stearns Sr. (born April 16, 1941) is an American businessman and politician who was the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 1989 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party.