Trent Franks is a conservative Reagan Republican, and he has spent most of his life working on children's issues and trying to build a better future for all children. He is a former Member of the Arizona State House of Representatives where he was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Child Protection and Family Preservation. He was a high-profile sponsor of numerous bills designed to protect the family including the "Child Obscenity and Pornography Bill" (which survived major challenges in the U.S. Federal District Court) and the "Dangerous Crimes Against Children Bill". Both became nationally recognized. Trent later oversaw all of Arizona's state programs for children when he became the Cabinet level Director of the Arizona Governor's Office for Children. This office is the equivalent of the Department for Children in other states. He was also Chairman of the Arizona State Children's Cabinet as well as Chairman of the Inter-Agency Study Committee on Children and AIDS. Trent founded and served four and a half years as Executive Director of the Arizona Family Research Institute which is a non-profit organization associated with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family for the purpose of advocating and advancing public policy to protect children and families in Arizona. Trent Franks is serving his third term in Congress, representing the Second District of Arizona. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Judiciary Committee, where he is the ranking member of the Constitution Subcommittee. He chairs the House Republican Conference Voter Values Public Affairs Team and is a member of the Republican Study Committee, the House Working Group on Judicial Accountability, the Education Freedom Caucus, the House Working Group on Waste, Fraud and Abuse, the Congressional Hispanic Conference, the Liberty Caucus, the Human Rights Caucus and the India Caucus, the Anti-Terrorism Caucus, and is co-founder of the Israel Allies Caucus (IAC). Representative Franks has committed his life to protecting children. He is passionate in his commitment to protecting innocent life, including that of unborn children. Congressman Franks has a longstanding commitment to providing parental empowerment and educational choice for families. In 1997, he authored and was the leading advocate for the Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit. This incredibly successful program has helped provide scholarships for over 50,000 children in its 8 year history. In order to build on this success, Rep. Franks has introduced the Children's Hope Act in Congress. This act would encourage states to create their own scholarship tax credit by providing an additional federal credit for individuals who participate in a state scholarship tax credit of $250 or more. Representative Franks has received numerous honors since his arrival in Washington, including the Family Research Council's "True Blue Award," given to those who have "demonstrated extraordinary integrity and character in their defense of the family and the sanctity of human life...and hold perfect voting records on issues of importance to the American family," the "Spirit of Enterprise" award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the "Legislative Achievement Award" from the Seniors Coalition, the "Guardian of Seniors' Rights Award" from the 60 Plus Association, the "Constituent Communication Award" from National Write Your Congressman, the "2004 Medicare Choices Leadership Award" from the Coalition for Medicare Choices, a "Presidential Citation" from the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the "Thomas Jefferson Award" from the Food Industry, the "Tax Fighter Award" (100% rating) from the National Tax Limitation Committee, was named a "Small Business Advocate" by Americans for Tax Reform, 2004's "Lawmaker of the Year" by Independent Electrical Contractors, Inc., "Taxpayer Hero" by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, "Champion of Property Rights" (100% rating) by the League of Private Property Voters, "Friend of Farm Bureau" by the American Farm Bureau Federation, and he received the "Friend of Education Award" from the Education Freedom Coalition. Mr. Franks and his wife Josephine have been married since 1980 and are members of North Phoenix Baptist Church. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Sat, 22 May 2010 04:01:00 GMT Sat, 22 May 2010 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ This piece is co-authored by Leonard Leo With the unfortunate - and yet much anticipated - death of Nigerian President Umaru Yar' Adua, it is unclear how the people of Nigeria will come together under Goodluck... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks/2010/05/22/the_fragile_state_of_democracy_in_nigeria eac1ca77-44bc-46a4-9835-cc8361322752 Sat, 22 May 2010 04:01:00 GMT The doublespeak coming from leading Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration has reached new heights this week. Taxpayers are rightfully outraged at reports that after financing hundreds of billions in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks/2009/03/18/lesson_from_aig_time_to_stop_the_bailout_stampede 5098d715-1988-4b6a-935c-6317faeaef7a Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:38:05 GMT In August of last year, Congress passed the Protect America Act to close a dangerous loophole in our ability to collect intelligence on foreign-to-foreign electronic communications when they are routed through U.S.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks/2008/03/04/democrat_leadership_must_stop_politicking_with_america's_national_security 1c05eab9-8305-4a05-a483-93a619db9ad3 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:00:52 GMT As Congress moves to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), it is incumbent upon us to recognize and address the fatal flaws in our educational system. When the Pilgrims left Holland to sail for the shores... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TrentFranks/2007/06/13/education_empower_parents_to_choose_what_is_best_for_their_children 2f405d55-8322-4a46-9ece-6730871c1fd5 Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:41:15 GMT