House civil service panel chairman to resign
Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., who as chairman of a key civil service subcommittee backed pay and benefits reform issues, has announced he will give up his seat Sept. 6.
Citing family issues and recurring back pain, Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., announced Friday he will resign his 1st District seat in Florida's Panhandle, effective Sept. 6.
A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said that Scarborough has been in "extreme discomfort" from a past back injury and that he would like to spend more time with his children. The district is solidly Republican; President Bush carried it last year with 67 percent.
Signs in recent weeks had been pointing to the imminent resignation of Scarborough, who came to Congress in 1994 as part of the large GOP freshman class that enabled Republicans to take over the House after 40 years in the minority.
An outspoken conservative who was a highly visible figure on the House floor during his early years in Congress, Scarborough currently serves as chairman of the Government Reform Civil Service Subcommittee and also is on the Armed Services and Judiciary committees.
Last year, Scarborough pushed through Congress a long-term care insurance program for federal workers, military personnel, civilian and military retirees, and their families. The program will offer discounted group rates for the insurance to 9 million people.
Scarborough had also teamed up in recent months with Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs government oversight panel, for a series of hearings looking at ways to deal with the federal government's human capital problems.
In recent months, Scarborough has spoken publicly about his dissatisfaction with his current position and his desire to spend more time with his two pre-teenage sons in Pensacola, while devoting more time to working on his newspaper, The Independent Florida Sun.
In 2000, Scarborough said he planned to leave the House at the end of his current term in order to run for the seat now held by Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., But since then, one of Scarborough's son has been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.
Brian Friel contributed to this article.
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