Evan Bayh

On February 15, 2010, Bayh announced he would not seek reelection to a third Senate term in the November 2, 2010, midterm election. Bayh's announcement came very shortly after former Senator Dan Coats declared his own candidacy for Bayh's Senate seat.[26] Because he made his announcement the day before the deadline for filing for the primary, no Democrat was able to gather a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the primary ballot, so the state party committee chose Congressman Brad Ellsworth as the nominee.[27][28]

According to the Associated Press, Bayh spent a significant portion of his last year in office searching for a job, holding over four dozen meetings with potential corporate employers between February and December 2010.[29] He also cast votes on issues of interest to his future corporate employers.[29] A CNN analysis of Bayh's internal 2009 schedule found that he "maneuvered behind the scenes" and "privately engaged with fundraisers, lobbyists and donors who had a keen interest on the issues dominating Capitol Hill," raising potential conflict-of-interest concerns. His meetings included sessions with lobbyists for the health insurance industry prior to his announcement that he would support the Affordable Care Act.[30]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Airland
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support (Chairman)
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
  • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
  • Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance (Chairman)
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on National Parks
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Select Committee on Intelligence
• Special Committee on Aging

Susan Bayh, Evan Bayh's late wife, has been described by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette as a "professional board member" or "professional director", having been a director of fourteen corporations since 1994 and being a director of eight as of 2006.[31]

The Journal Gazette reported that since Susan Bayh began her career as a corporate director, "Sen. Evan Bayh [has] cast more than 3,000 votes, including some on issues of keen interest to the pharmaceutical, broadcast, insurance, food-distribution and finance industries".[31]

Since 2003, Bayh prohibited his staff from having lobbying contacts with his late wife or representatives of the companies she directs. Bayh has insisted his late wife's ties have had no bearing on his congressional actions. "The reality is I don't even know the people who run the vast majority of her companies. I've never even spoken to them," Bayh told the Journal Gazette. "The reality is, we don't talk about stuff that she's involved with."[31]

Evan Bayh has a 100% rating by NARAL.[54] He voted in favor of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003. He voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004. He voted in favor of the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act in 2006.[55] He voted against an amendment to prohibit federal funds from going to groups that support coerced abortion. He repeatedly voted against amendments to prohibit federal funds from being used for abortions.[55]

Bayh voted for the 2002 Farm Bill that provided financial support accessible to rural communities. The bill provides funds for rural water and waste infrastructure. The Farm Bill also provides technology for rural residents' technical skills.[56]

As Governor of Indiana, Bayh was a vocal supporter of capital punishment.[57]

Bayh has a mixed but left-leaning record on civil rights, having earned a 60% by the ACLU (2002), and 89% by the HRC (2006), and a 100% by the NAACP (2006). Some of his votes include a 1998 vote where Bayh voted to continue nonquota affirmative action programs. He voted to add sexual orientation under hate crime rules in both 2000 and 2002. In 2001, he voted yes to ease wiretapping restrictions. In 2006, he voted yes on a flag-burning constitutional amendment and no on an amendment to ban same-sex marriage.[24]

Bayh has been called "a fence-sitter on climate legislation," because he has stated concern about the effects of climate change but he also values cheap energy as beneficial to Indiana's manufacturing industry.[58] In 2008 he signed a letter expressing concerns with a cap-and-trade bill known as the Climate Security Act that was then on the Senate floor,[59] but he ultimately voted for the bill.[60] In 2010 he voted to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas pollution.[61]

At a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Bayh said:

What concerns me most about President Bush's tax and budget proposals, is that they threaten to undermine the foundation of the '90s' prosperity – replacing the "virtuous cycle" created by fiscal responsibility with a "vicious cycle" of deficits and debt, rising interest rates, and disinvestment. His proposals constitute a narrow ideological agenda, not an effective economic strategy, and completely fail to grasp the realities of the New Economy and the many requirements for economic success in the 21st Century.[62]

As governor, Bayh created the 21st Century Scholars program, which promises at-risk middle school students full tuition scholarships in return for being drug, alcohol and crime-free and maintaining decent grades. Iowa and Wisconsin have both introduced legislation modeling Bayh's program.[63][64]

• Voted no on prohibiting eminent domain for use as parks or grazing land in December 2007.[24]
• Voted yes on including oil and gas smokestacks in mercury regulations in September 2005.[24]
• Rated 74% by the League of Conservation Voters, indicating pro-environment votes, in December 2003.[24]
• Voted no on confirming Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior in January 2001.[24]
• Voted no on more funding for forest roads and fish habitat in September 1999.[24]
• Voted to strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting in January 2007.[24]

Bayh introduced the Medicare Prescription Drug Emergency Guarantee Act of 2006 to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to assure uninterrupted access to necessary medicines under the Medicare prescription drug program.[65] Bayh proposed legislation he says could help cut health care insurance premiums by at least 20 percent for small businesses and individuals.[66] He voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (both 2010).[67][68]

He is a member of AIPAC's advisory committee.[69]

Bayh appeared on CNN's Late Edition in January 2006[70] and referred to the "radical, almost delusional nature of the Iranian regime" and recent comments of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust is a "myth. To deny history like this, this virulent anti-Semitism, their sponsoring of terrorism, their search for a nuclear weapon – ought to be a wake-up call to every American. Appeasement won't work. We need to use diplomacy, economic sanctions, other means, so we won't have to resort to military action."[70]

Bayh introduced legislation in January 2006 that would impose sanctions on Iran.[71]

On January 20, 2006, Bayh introduced a resolution calling for economic sanctions on Iran, with the goal of deterring Iran from developing nuclear weapons.[72] In 2007, Bayh "supported the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that Obama made a key part of his critique of Clinton."[73][74]

Bayh shakes the hand of a Marine while visiting Iraq in January 2006

Bayh was an early supporter of the idea of removing Saddam Hussein from power for humanitarian reasons.[20]

On October 2, 2002, Bayh joined President George W. Bush and congressional leaders in a Rose Garden ceremony announcing their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, and was thanked by Bush and Senator John McCain for co-sponsoring the resolution.[23] In 2006, Bayh criticized the conduct of the Iraq War:

It is clear to just about everyone but the die-hard neoconservatives within this administration that shifting our focus away from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein was perhaps the biggest strategic blunder in our nation's history. And while we have been preoccupied with Iraq, under this President, North Korea has gone nuclear and Iran is on the verge of doing so.[75]

A blog from The Washington Post reported that in February 2006 Bayh was quoted saying: "We've got to be somewhere between 'cut and run' ... and mindlessly staying the course. You've got to have a sensible middle ground."[76]

During his time in the Senate, Bayh criticized trade policies of some countries, including China. Bayh's bipartisan Stopping Overseas Subsidies (SOS) Act was intended to allow the United States to enforce its antisubsidy laws abroad. He voted against CAFTA.[77]

Bayh placed a hold on the President's nominee to be the U.S. Trade Representative. After receiving several key commitments from nominee (now U.S. Senator) Rob Portman to get tough on China trade, Bayh agreed to release his hold.[78]