Chet’s values of faith and family, hard work and personal responsibility were shaped by his parents.  Growing up in Texas as the son of a World War II naval aviator and a mother of deep faith, Chet was taught that hard work and service to others was a way to put our faith into action.

When Chet was just 10 years old he worked at his father’s small business and made money by mowing his neighbors’ lawns.  In high school he worked after school at the neighborhood restaurant, and in college he helped pay for his education by working summers in a seafood warehouse.  Chet did not inherit monetary wealth from his hard-working middle class parents, but he did inherit their enduring values, which have shaped his life.

In 1974 Chet graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a B.A. in Economics.  Upon graduation, he was awarded the coveted Earl Rudder Award, named after General Earl Rudder who, as a Lt. Colonel on June 6, 1944, led the U.S. Army’s 2^nd Battalion Rangers up the cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc during the D-Day invasion.  That award cited Chet for his “outstanding achievements as a student at Texas A&M University and his having displayed those sterling traits of character so vividly exemplified in the life of James Earl Rudder.”

From 1974 to 1977, Chet worked for the legendary Texas Congressman Olin E. “Tiger” Teague.  Teague was the most decorated World War II veteran serving in Congress and for 32 years was known as “Mr. Veteran”.  It was Teague who encouraged Chet to run for public office and instilled in him a lifelong commitment to serving veterans.

As a product of the public schools of Texas, Chet received an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981 and worked in commercial real estate and became president of a small business that owned a rural radio station.

In 1982 Chet was elected to the Texas State Senate.   While still in business during his 8 years as a State Senator, Chet authored and passed key legislation to bring good-paying high tech jobs to Texas and to protect seniors at nursing homes by requiring criminal background checks for job applicants.  A strong supporter of education, Chet played an important role in passing education reform that created smaller class sizes in public schools, so teachers could give more individual attention to students. For his legislative leadership, Texas Monthly magazine recognized Chet with its “Ten Best Legislators” award.

Since 1990, Chet has worked for us in the U.S. House of Representatives, gaining the respect of Republicans, Democrats and Independents in Central and North Central Texas for his bipartisan work on behalf of our district and the nation.

Chet is known as someone who never stops working for our district, especially when it comes to jobs and economic development.  He has helped create and protect over 8,000 jobs in our district.

Chet led the fight to save the Waco VA hospital from closing; supported key defense jobs at Waco’s largest private employer, L-3 Communications; secured cutting edge research for Texas A&M and Baylor Universities; helped build new industrial parks in McGregor and Bryan; worked with community leaders in Johnson and Hood counties to move forward the expansion of the Chisholm Trail and Highway 377 road projects; and has worked closely with his rural communities to support agriculture and rural hospitals.

At the national level, Chet is respected on a bipartisan basis as an advocate for a strong national defense and as a champion of veterans, military troops and their families.  He has also played a key role in working to protect our homeland from the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Several years ago, when some in Washington wanted to reduce the U.S. Army from 10 to 8 active duty divisions, Chet, as Co-Chairman of the House Army Caucus, worked with Republican John McHugh to successfully stop that ill-advised proposal.  For his efforts, Chet earned the “Legislator of the Year” Award from the Association of the U.S. Army.

In the 1990’s, Chet led the fight for 8 years to create an innovative new public-private partnership to improve military family housing.  This program is now responsible for over 90% of new military family housing and is providing the quality housing our military families deserve while saving taxpayers money.  This program has been called “the most important military housing improvement program in our nation’s history” by President George W. Bush’s Army installations Assistant Secretary.

As Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee since 2007, Chet has earned high praise from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars,  Disabled American Veterans, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Viet Nam Veterans of America and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“Our military, our veterans and our families of past and present have no better friend in Congress than Chet Edwards”—George Lisicki, National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, January 24, 2008.

Over the past three years, Chet has authored and passed the largest increases in investments in veterans’ health care than in any 3-year period since the creation of the Veterans Administration.  Improvements include 3,384 new VA doctors; 14,246 new nurses; 145 new VA community clinics; 92 new Vet Centers; the first mileage reimbursement increase to veterans (from 11 cents to 41 cents per mile) since 1979; the first ever advanced appropriations for VA health care; the doubling of mental health and homeless funding and 8,300 new claims processors to reduce VA claims backlogs.

Respecting the service and sacrifice of our military troops and their families, as the Chairman overseeing U.S. military construction projects, Chet has authored unprecedented initiatives to improve military housing, hospitals, day care centers and Guard and Reserve training facilities.  He wrote the law to build much needed new military hospitals at Ft. Hood, Texas; Ft. Bliss, Texas; Ft. Benning, Georgia; Ft. Riley, Kansas; and Camp Pendleton, California and the first ever VA Polytrauma Center in the Southwestern United States in San Antonio, Texas.

Having seen the challenges of families at home with loved ones fighting overseas, Chet initiated the effort to build 92 new military child care centers, providing quality, affordable day care for thousands of military children.

As the Representative of Ft. Hood, Texas, the U.S. Army’s largest military installation, for 14 years through three combat deployments, Chet has seen first-hand the sacrifice made by those who serve.  That is why in 2009 he wrote the new John David Fry Scholarship law, which provides G.I. college scholarships to all American children who have lost a mother or father in military service since September 11, 2001.

Chet wrote and named the law in honor of Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry of Lorena, Texas, a father of three children under the age of 10, who gave his life in Iraq when he volunteered, just days before his return home, to diffuse three roadside bombs in Anbar Province.  Tragically, Sergeant Fry was killed by a fourth bomb that had been hidden beneath the last bomb that he would have ever had to diffuse.

As the father of two young sons and friend of Sergeant Fry’s widow, Malia, and her three young children, Gideon, Kathryn and C.L., Chet said he considers his passage of the Fry scholarships to be the single most meaningful accomplishment in his public service career.  Chet understands we can never give them as much as they have given us, but that we have a moral obligation to support those who have sacrificed so much for our nation.

Chet Edwards is a person of humility who has always considered his title as husband and father to be more important than any title in public office.  Nevertheless, his hard work and experience have put him in a position to make a positive difference for his District, for America’s veterans, troops and their families and for our country.

Lake Waco. Photo courtesy: United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Whitney Lake. Photo courtesy: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library

Chet is the most senior Texan on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.  In addition to chairing the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, he is the Vice Chair of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees Army Corps of Engineers civilian water projects, including funding for operations at Lake Waco and Whitney Lake as well as the Department of Energy’s nuclear, conservation and renewable energy research, and its programs to protect America from nuclear terrorism.

With agriculture being a key source of jobs and a way of life in District 17, Chet is also in a position to support his District through his work on the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

As a Member of the House Budget Committee, Chet has long been a voice for fiscal responsibility. He worked on a bipartisan basis in the 1990’s to create federal budget surpluses and has opposed both Democratic and Republican budget proposals that have turned surpluses into huge deficits.  Chet strongly opposed the repeal of the pay-as-you-go House rules in 2002, an ill-advised action that led to today’s massive deficits. In 2009, Chet wrote the language that made the new pay-as-you-go law a permanent law rather than a temporary one, a critical first step in getting control of deficits.

In the past several years, Chet voted against fiscally irresponsible bills that added over $7 trillion to the national debt and recently opposed the new $1 trillion health care bill, because he believed it included too much new spending, given our $1.4 trillion annual deficit.  Chet worked hard to reduce the massive deficits of the 1990’s, and as a supporter of a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment, he is committed to cutting spending and returning fiscal responsibility to federal budgets.

Chet understands that while a limited government is needed to provide the education, transportation and military infrastructure to defend our nation and support our private enterprise system, the values of our families and faith are the most important foundation for our nation’s future.

Chet’s faith and his family are his first priorities and always will be.  When he is not voting in Congress or working for his district, he is most likely seen at his sons’ Little League baseball games, school events, Boy Scout meetings and campouts. As a lifelong Methodist, Chet has been married for 17 years to the former Lea Ann Wood, the daughter of a Baptist minister.  Chet, Lea Ann, J.T. (14) and Garrison (12) attend the Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas and the McLean Baptist Church in McLean, Virginia.

“Our military, our veterans and our families of past and present have no better friend in Congress than Chet Edwards.”

—George Lisicki, National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, January 24, 2008.

Chet receives AMVETS' 2009 Congressional Silver Helmet Award

Because of his commitment to our men and women in uniform, Congressman Edwards has been honored with dozens of awards including:

• 2009 American Veterans Congressional Silver Helmet Award
• 2009 U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service
• 2009 U.S. Navy Distinguished Public Service Award
• 2009 Fleet Reserve Association Pinnacle Award
• 2008 American Legion Distinguished Service Award (given to only one member of Congress)
• 2008 Veterans of Foreign War Congressional Award


Chet Edwards receives the American Legion’s 2008 Distinguished Public Service Award

• 2007 Military Officers Association of America Award
• 2006 Military Coalition Award of Merit
• 2006 National Guard Association Charles Dick Medal of Merit
• 2006 Exemplary Legislator – National Association of Mental Illness’ Veterans Council
• 2005 Military Order of the Purple Heart’s National Inspirational Leadership Award
• 2005 National Inspirational Leadership Award from the Military Order of the Purple Heart
• 2004 American Legion Unsung Hero Award
• 2004 American Legion Meritorious Service Award
• 2004 “Going to Bat for Veterans” Award – National Disabled American Veterans
• 2004 Support of Military Families Award from The National Military Family Association
• 2004 “Going to Bat for Veterans” Award- National Disabled American Veterans
• 2004 Champion for Children – Military Impacted Schools Association
• 2003 Legislator of the Year–Association of the United States Army
• 2003 Harry S. Truman Award-National Association of Federally Impacted Schools
• 2002 USO Quality of Life Award
• 1998 Legislator of the Year from the bipartisan National Security Caucus.