Biography

View high resolution photo of Congressman Steny Hoyer.
View Leader Hoyer's Financial Disclosures. 

As House Majority Leader, Congressman Hoyer is the second-ranking member of the House Democratic Leadership. He is charged with scheduling legislation for consideration on the House Floor, shaping House Democrats’ legislative priorities, and delivering the Democratic message. Congressman Hoyer previously served as House Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011, and as House Democratic Whip from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011-2019.

Congressman Hoyer has helped lead efforts in Congress to invest in job creation and make our economy more competitive.  Since 2010, he has spearheaded House Democrats’ “Make It In America” plan, which seeks to grow our economy, create jobs here in the U.S., and provide families with the economic security they need. In the 117thCongress, Congressman Hoyer will continue working to advance the Make It In America plan’s three main components – infrastructure, education and skills training, and entrepreneurship –alongside complementary efforts by the Biden Administration to grow our economy using many of the tools and ideas identified in past Make It In America hearings and legislative efforts by House Democrats.  

In addition, Congressman Hoyer made crucial contributions to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded access to quality, affordable health care to all Americans, and has helped lead efforts to defend the law in court.  He brought legislation to the Floor in the 116th Congress to strengthen and build on the Affordable Care Act and has supported efforts to lower prescription drug costs.  When the COVID-19 pandemic exposed serious racial disparities in health care outcomes, Congressman Hoyer helped draw attention to these disparities and the need to address them.   


After the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Congressman Hoyer moved quickly to use modern technology to ensure that the House could continue its work for the people.  He brought H.Res. 965 to the Floor and secured its passage to allow House committees to meet remotely through videoconferencing platforms and enabling voting by proxy on the House Floor.  In such a way, the House was able to pass critical legislation responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the bipartisan agreement in December 2020 that extended protections created under the CARES Act and sent aid and direct payments to the American people.  

As an advocate of equal opportunity, Congressman Hoyer guided the historic Americans with Disabilities Act to passage in 1990, as well as the ADA Amendments Act in 2008 that strengthened the law. He was a lead sponsor of the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which was hailed as the most important voting rights legislation since the 1960s.  Over the past few years, as several state legislatures have imposed new and discriminatory barriers to ballot access, Congressman Hoyer has helped lead the effort to protect every American’s right to vote and have those votes counted accurately. Furthermore, in 2010, he was a leader in successfully ending the outdated and discriminatory policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which weakened our military by depriving it of the service of thousands of brave Americans willing to risk their lives for their country.  In June 2020, Leader Hoyer brought to the Floor the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to address the disproportionate killing of African-Americans during police encounters, and he continues to work closely with the Congressional Black Caucus to address racial bias and to secure equal opportunity and justice for all.   

One of Congress’s leading champions of human rights, Congressman Hoyer served as Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, fighting for political and religious freedom during the last years of the Soviet Union. He led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Darfur in 2007 to call greater attention to the recent genocide and has continued to support a strong American role in defense of human rights. In the aftermath of Russia’s brazen effort to interfere in the 2016 election, Congressman Hoyer was instrumental in securing bipartisan enactment of sanctions legislation to punish Russia and deter future attacks against our democracy.

An advocate for more responsive and transparent government, Congressman Hoyer has led an effort in recent years to modernize government technology and make legislative information more easily accessible to the public.  These efforts include passage of the bipartisan Modernizing Government Technology Act to authorize a revolving fund for system upgrades across federal agencies and the launch of the innovative “Dome Watch” app to help Members, staff, and the American public track legislation and votes on the House Floor.  He has also championed efforts to create the House’s Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress and has helped lead the charge to pass H.R. 1, which includes national redistricting reform, campaign finance reforms, and higher ethics standards for government officials.  

Congressman Hoyer and his wife, the late Judith Pickett Hoyer, have three daughters: Susan, Stefany, and Anne; son-in-law Loren Taylor; grandchildren Judy, James Cleveland, and Alexa; and great-grandchildren Ava, Braedon, and Brooklyn.