Tom DeLay serves as House Majority Leader in the 108th Congress.  Working in conjunction with committee chairmen and the rest of the leadership, he is responsible for developing the issues and policies that form the Republican agenda.  DeLay also determines the legislative schedule in the 108th Congress by selecting which bills the House will consider and the timing of their consideration.  DeLay also coordinates the work performed by House committees to ensure that national priorities are fully addressed.
  
Following the historic Republican victory of 1994, DeLay was elected House Majority Whip.  Widely credited with revolutionizing the office, DeLay has been called the most effective Whip in the history of the House of Representatives.  During the eight years he counted votes, DeLay regularly overcame daunting odds to deliver victory after victory for House Republicans.  Despite the limitations imposed by extremely modest majorities in the 106th and 107th Congresses, DeLay worked the House Floor with consummate skill and often found a way to win votes others thought hopelessly lost.  DeLay called his method "growing the vote" and he used an extensive and sophisticated outreach effort to establish trust and build solid relationships with Republican Members.  In this way, their concerns could be resolved before a bill reached the House Floor for a vote.  This method produced the successful passage of landmark legislation including the Contract with America, Normal Trade Relations with China, Welfare Reform, Trade Promotion Authority, the Balanced Budget Act, and all the key elements of the Bush Agenda, including the largest tax relief measure in a generation. 

Before his election as Majority Whip, DeLay served as Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Republican Conference Secretary, and Deputy Whip. 

Long considered a leading voice on domestic policies, DeLay increasingly asserts leadership on international affairs.  Two dominant principles shape his response to foreign policy questions.  DeLay believes the United States must strongly support democratic allies like Israel and Taiwan that share our commitment to liberty while aggressively promoting the expansion of freedom to closed societies.  He also believes that tyrants and rogue regimes must be confronted before they harm American interests.  In his view, the price of freedom remains an active opposition to evil and tyrannical governments.    

A native Texan, Tom DeLay was born along the banks of the Rio Grande River in the historic border city of Laredo on April 8, 1947. During his childhood, the DeLay family lived in South America for a number of years.  His father's career in the oil and gas industry required several job postings to Venezuela's rural interior and the DeLay family made their home in small towns near the oil fields.

DeLay's years in Venezuela were a formative political experience.  His family lived through the turbulence and uncertainty of three revolutions.  Two of these events were violent and neighboring townspeople died at the hands of marauding revolutionaries.  DeLay points to this early exposure to political violence as the source of his lifelong "passion for freedom." 

After starting his education at Baylor University, DeLay graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Biology in 1970.  Shortly afterwards, DeLay opened and operated a successful small business in Houston. 

The demands of attracting customers, running his business, and the responsibility of making payroll for his employees every month convinced DeLay that the primary impediment to economic growth stemmed from the twin burdens of excessive taxation and unneeded regulation. He soon grew to appreciate the tremendous costs imposed on small businesses by state and federal regulations.  The need to lower these burdens sparked his involvement in the political process. 

During a Fort Bend County Republican Committee meeting in 1978, a party official suggested that DeLay run for an open Texas State House seat that had never before elected a Republican.  Excited by the prospect of lowering taxes and excess regulations, DeLay rolled up his sleeves and impressed enough voters to win the election. After serving in Austin for six years, he succeeded in becoming the first Republican Fort Bend County ever elected to the United States Congress. 

Over the course of his congressional career, DeLay has built a voting record that consistently supports limited, constitutional government, peace through strength, and lower taxes, while respecting the sanctity of life. 

Tom and Christine DeLay have a daughter Danielle and became grandparents last year when she and her husband Steve had their first child. 

The DeLays share a deep and abiding interest in the circumstances facing abused and neglected children.  They grew engaged with children's issues after Christine DeLay, a teacher, began volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in foster care.  Eventually, the DeLays became foster parents themselves.  Today, they are outspoken advocates in favor of reforming the present foster care system by elevating the child's best interest to be the paramount concern.

Since 1984, DeLay has represented the 22nd District of Texas, which includes Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Harris Counties.