Congressman John Tanner has represented Tennessee’s 8th District in West and Middle Tennessee since 1989, currently serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, where he chairs the Social Security Subcommittee, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Legislators from all NATO-member nations elected Tanner in November 2008 to serve as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the alliance’s legislative branch.

As co-founder of a group of moderate to conservative U.S. House Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition, Tanner is considered a leader in the fight for fiscal responsibility and pro-growth economic policies. Congressman Tanner and his wife, Betty Ann, live in Union City, Tennessee, and have two children and four grandchildren. He and his brothers own an insurance business and farming interests in Tennessee.

Government Service

• Represented House District 77 in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1976 until 1988.

• Is serving his 11th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

• Helped found the moderate-to-conservative Blue Dog Democrats in 1995. The group, so named because its members felt “squeezed from the left and right until they turned blue in the face,” now has 51 members.

• Served on the Armed Services and Science committees until his appointment in 1997 to the Ways and Means Committee, where he now chairs the Social Security Subcommittee.

• Also serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

• Appointed as Chief Deputy Whip for the House Democratic Caucus in 109th, 110th and 111th Congresses.

Military Service

• Served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1968-1972, after which he received an honorable discharge.

• Entered the Tennessee Army National Guard in 1972 and retired in 2000 at the rank of Colonel.

• Is one of few Members of Congress to have served on the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy.

Education

• Attended public schools in Union City, Tennessee.

• Entered the University of Tennessee at Knoxville on a basketball scholarship in 1962 and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration in 1966.

• Earned a law degree from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 1968.

Family and Community Involvement

• With his wife Betty Ann, has two children, Elizabeth Tanner Atkins and John Portis Tanner, and four grandchildren, Abby Frances Atkins, Tanner Lantrip Atkins, Beck Counce Tanner and Edith Dorothy Tanner.

• Past President of Union City Rotary Club and a Paul Harris fellow.

• Serves as an Elder of the First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.

• Works as active supporter of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, serving on the organization’s Professional Advisory Board.

The 8th District includes all of Benton, Carroll, Crockett, Dickson, Dyer, Gibson, Haywood, Henry, Houston, Humphreys, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, Obion, Stewart, Tipton and Weakley counties, as well as portions of Montgomery and Shelby counties.