A
fourth generation Nebraskan, born in Hastings, Congressman
Tom
Osborne represents Nebraska’s Third
District in his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. A
member of the Committees on Agriculture, Education and the Workforce,
and Transportation and Infrastructure, Rep. Osborne is working to
increase economic development and
diversity in the Third District by making agriculture more profitable,
expanding access to high-speed Internet access, and strengthening rural
education.
Since being elected to Congress, Rep. Osborne has made several
significant legislative gains. Rep. Osborne's Mentoring for Success Act
amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to establish a
national mentoring funding program. Rep. Osborne's Rural Education
Initiative Act Amendment also amended the ESEA
reauthorization to allow rural schools to combine selected funds from
federal grant money and to establish a baseline of $20,000.
Additionally, Rep. Osborne was a lead cosponsor of legislation signed
into law that works to offer a
comprehensive strategy toward addressing suicide, suicide prevention,
and mental and behavioral health in high schools and on college
campuses.
As a member of the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Osborne worked
closely on the Farm Bill as it moved from committee to the President’s
desk. Rep. Osborne has also introduced and championed legislation that
would establish a Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), a provision that
increases the use of renewable fuels to 5 billion gallons by 2012. The
RFS provision is included in a comprehensive energy measure passed by
the House of Representatives in the 108th Congress.
In addition, Rep. Osborne spearheaded two measures signed into law
to protect youth in the athletic arena. Rep. Osborne’s Anabolic Steroid
Control Act would list steroid precursors as controlled substances,
thereby prohibiting the over-the-counter sale of such substances. Rep.
Osborne’s Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA) legislation
protects student-athletes and punishes deceptive sports agents.
A major concern for Rep. Osborne is to boost economic development
as well as find opportunities that keep more of Nebraska’s talented
young people in the state. In response to the growing need within the
Third District of Nebraska, Rep. Osborne has prepared an
Entrepreneurship Handbook and a Youth Entrepreneurship Brochure. These
publications follow the Rural Economic Development Handbook prepared
during his first term in office. In his ongoing efforts to educate
Nebraskans, particularly youth, about the dangers of methamphetamine (meth)
use, Rep. Osborne has developed a media presentation, entitled
“Methamphetamine: One of Rural America’s Greatest Challenges.”
Congress is not Rep. Osborne’s first competitive arena. He retired
as Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1997 after the longest
tenure for a Nebraska coach—36 years, with 25 as head coach. Under his
leadership, the Huskers played in a bowl game every year, averaged over
10 wins per season, and never won less than 9 games in a season. Prior
to returning to Nebraska as an assistant coach to Bob Devaney, Rep.
Osborne played professional football for the Washington Redskins and San
Francisco 49ers.
In 1991, Rep. Osborne and Mrs. Osborne first developed the
TeamMates program that connects young people with mentors in the Lincoln
area. TeamMates has since grown to a statewide, school-based mentoring
program that pairs adult volunteers one-to-one with middle school
students.
Rep. Osborne earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Hastings
College, and his Master’s and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the
University of Nebraska.
Rep. Osborne and Mrs. Osborne have three children and four
grandchildren.
