As a freshman senator, Jim Webb never sought the spotlight in Congress, preferring instead to work quietly behind the scenes to push his priorities and help craft strategy within the Democratic Party. A decorated Vietnam veteran who served as Navy secretary under President Reagan, Webb’s crowning achievement was passage of a new GI bill that provided college tuition, housing stipends and other benefits to military veterans. Webb is considered a moderate Democrat, though he voted with his party on major initiatives like the health care reform bill, which likely hurt him politically. But he was just as willing to break with the party, as he did in opposing the repeal of a ban on gays serving openly in the military until the Pentagon issued a report showing the change would have little or no adverse effect. He has also pushed hard for funding for the maintenance of ships at the Norfolk Naval Base.
“He picks issues that need exposure, he studies them and then he addresses them,” Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., told The Washington Examiner. “He got the GI bill done. Others tried, he got it through. He’s focused on disparity of economic opportunity and he’s focused on prison reform. They are all important issues that needed to be addressed. It took someone like Jim to address them in a substantive serious way.”
