A conservative community leader, United States Congressman Pete Sessions has combined hard work, innovative thinking, free-market solutions and common sense principles and values to build a successful family, business, and congressional career.

Congressman Sessions was born on March 22, 1955 and grew up in Waco, Texas. He graduated from Southwestern University in 1978, and married Juanita Diaz in 1984. They have two sons, Bill (age 15) and Alex (age 11), and they make their home in East Dallas.

Congressman Sessions joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company after graduating from Southwestern University. Over the next 16 years, he served at the internationally renowned Bell Labs in New Jersey and as District Manager for Marketing in Dallas. Thanks to this private sector experience, Congressman Sessions understands the need to fight bureaucracy and to utilize market-driven solutions to effectively solve problems in our communities and in government.

In 1993, Congressman Sessions retired from the private sector to seek public office. He was defeated by less than two percentage points in his 1994 race against liberal, six-term incumbent Rep. John Bryant (D-TX). He then served from 1994 to 1995 as Vice President for Public Policy at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), a Dallas-based conservative public policy research institute.

In 1996, the people of Dallas and the Fifth Congressional District sent Congressman Sessions to Washington, DC to represent them in the United States House of Representatives. In 2004, the people of the Thirty-second Congressional District called him back for his fifth term.

Congressman Sessions is a stalwart defender of U.S. homeland and national security interests, as well as the men and women who defend them. As the parent of a child with Down Syndrome, he is a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. Congressman Sessions also believes that taxpayers deserve to get results from government, and has pursued common-sense, market-based reforms to help government operate more efficiently.

Congressman Sessions pursues his goals on these and other issues through his work on various Congressional committees and caucuses. He serves as a Member of both the powerful House Committee on Rules and the House Committee on the Budget. Congressman Sessions also chairs the Results Caucus, and leads the charge in the effort to provide people with disabilities with the services and opportunities that will help them to realize their potential.

Congressman Sessions plans to work with the Bush Administration on these and other priorities, including providing substantial tax relief for hard-working American families, improving education, improving our health care system, and protecting, preserving, reforming Social Security and Medicare, and eliminating wasteful government spending. He has consistently been rated one of the most conservative members of Congress by national, non-partisan publications and organizations.

Congressman Sessions is an Eagle Scout and a former Scout Master for 13 Eagle Scouts. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1999, Congressman Sessions was honored as a recipient of the National Distinguished Eagle Scout Award for service to his community as a Representative in Congress and for his commitment to furthering the role of the Boy Scouts of America in the lives of young men in the Dallas Community.

Congressman Sessions is also a member of the United Methodist Church. He is active in his community, where he is currently an honorary East Dallas Rotarian, a member of the YMCA at White Rock, and an Adopt-A-Shoreline Team Leader volunteer in the effort to maintain and conserve White Rock Lake in Dallas. As a businessman, he served as Chairman of the Northeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce.