Vern Buchanan, U.S. Representative, Florida (16th District)

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is co-chair of the bipartisan 30-member Florida congressional delegation and Vice Chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, international trade, health care, welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Buchanan is the most senior Republican on the committee and currently serves as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, a key panel that has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit and Medicare Advantage. The subcommittee also oversees issues relating to medical education, private health insurance programs and subsidies delivered through the tax code, consumer-directed health savings tools and issues related to the quality of and access to care.

Buchanan also serves as the Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), a historically bipartisan, twenty-member commission of the U.S. House of Representatives that works directly with more than 20 partner countries around the world to support the development of effective, independent, and responsive legislatures.