Bill Nelson Research Paper

Bill Nelson – Democratic Senator From Florida William (“Bill”) Nelson II is a United States Senator from the state of Florida. He is 73 years of age, and has held office in the Senate since 2001, beginning at the age of 59.
Nelson is a “true son of Florida” (“U.S. Senator Bill Nelson”). He was born in Miami, a city in which roughly sixteen percent of all Republicans in the state preside as of 2012 (Cohen), grew up in Melbourne, and currently lives in Orlando. Nelson’s family holds a long legacy in Florida, coming to live in the Panhandle, the northwestern section of the state, in 1829. Nelson himself is a fifth generation Floridian. His extensive Floridian lineage has been woven into the history of Florida and has aided in its progression

(Kiwanis Magazine, 14) At the age of just fourteen, his father died of a heart attack, leaving him the position of “man of the house.” This put an immense amount of pressure on Nelson to succeed and assume the role of adult in the family at an early age. To further his education, Nelson attended University of Florida, one of two public universities in Florida, for his degree; however, he ended up transferring to Yale University to complete his BA. He then went on to receive a degree in law from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Nelson graduated law school around the time in which his mother, Nannie Merle, died of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 1966. After graduating, Nelson enrolled in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1968 (Wall Street Journal), in which he served for two years, eventually attaining the position of captain. However, following his withdrawal from the army in 1971, Nelson decided that he was not satisfied with his extensive work done in the public sector. To reach his ambitious goal of bettering the lives of others, Nelson ran for a position in the Florida State

He has helped to secure a total of fourteen and a half billion dollars in aid for victims of many hurricanes, including those of Hurricane Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. He has introduced privacy legislation that requires banks and insurance companies to receive consent when using medical information, entreated the EPA to determine whether or not arsenic-treated wood, commonly located in playgrounds, has insidious effects on children and their health, and has helped to amend the McCain-Feigngold campaign finance legislation, which aimed to promote transparency and limits in a candidate’s election financially(billnelson.senate.gov). In the House of Representatives, Nelson’s work primarily focused on balancing the federal budget and the advancement of technology, particularly in terms of space exploration. However, Nelson is most known for his acrimony toward lapses in national security and has taken numerous measures over the years to make America a safer place to live