2004 Award Committee: Joel S. Migdal, Chair, University of Washington; Kathleen Hall Jamieson, University of Pennsylvania; and Cornelius Kerwin, American University

Recipient: The Honorable David Dreier, Congressman from California

Citation: The Hubert Humphrey Award recognizes notable public service by a political scientist. This year's award recognizes an outstanding leader in Congress, the Honorable David Dreier. Representative Dreier is best known as the chair of the House Rules Committee and is closely associated with congressional reform. He is author of the historic 1995 congressional reform package. The changes streamlined committee staff by one-third, made Congress compliant with all anti-discrimination and workplace safety laws, promoted fiscal responsibility through the use of honest budget numbers, eliminated proxy voting in all House committees, created term-limits for committee chairman, and opened committee meetings to the public and press. When he was chosen as chair of the House Rules Committee, he further reformed the House's rules, removing ancient terms and confusing cross references, consolidating 51 standing House rules into 28. His efforts at congressional reform have seem him named as one of the top "procedural entrepreneur[s] in the modern House of Representatives" by Scott Adler, author of Why Congressional Reforms Fail. Respected on both sides of the aisle, Dreier has opposed partisan attacks. Moreover, called on experts in the field, including a number of prominent political scientists to testify before the Rules Committee.

Described by Business Week as a "fierce free trader," Dreier has been a national leader in developing trade policy. He has worked to open foreign markets to American goods and services and the United States to imports. He led the effort to extend Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China.

Congressman Dreier was born on July 5, 1952, in Kansas City, Missouri. Moving to California for college, he graduated cum laude from Claremont McKenna College in 1975, and earned a Master's degree in American Government from Claremont Graduate University the following year. From 1976 to 1978, Congressman Dreier served as Director of Corporate Relations for Claremont McKenna College. In May 2001, Dreier was unanimously selected by his California colleagues to chair the state's Republican Congressional Delegation. As chairman, he leads the Congress's largest Republican delegation.

Dreier has supported education reforms designed to provide schools the flexibility to reduce class sizes and expand access to technology in the classroom. On technology, more generally, Dreier has been a leader in Congress. Business Week named him one of its "Digital Dozen" tech-savvy legislators in Congress, and AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association and America's largest high-tech trade association, inducted him into their "High Tech Legislator Hall of Fame." In 1999, Dreier was awarded the "Cyber-Champion" title by the Business Software Alliance, and in 2000 he was named "High-Tech Legislator of the Year" by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC). He also won the "Founder's Award" by TechNet.

This year's Hubert H. Humphrey award recognizes the many achievements of a truly outstanding leader, who has worked to make Congress more efficient and responsive.