Herb Kohl was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended public schooling and went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. From there, he earned a master's degree in business from Harvard. Before starting his political career, Kohl helped bring up the family-owned business, Kohl's. He served as the company President from 1970 through 1979. Being an avid sportsman, he decided to purchase the Milwaukee Bucks in order to assure the team stayed in the city.
In 1988, Kohl was elected into the Senate, and he was re-elected to a fourth term in 2006. He serves on many committees including the Judiciary Committee, Special Committee on Aging and the Banking Committee. Kohl serves as a chairman over many committees, including the Special Committee on Aging and the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee. He is heavily involved with USDA and FDA. Both consumers and farmers are important to him, and he fights on their behalf.
Besides consumers and farmers, children are also important to Kohl. He is a strong advocate for issues regarding children, and he was the Senator that proposed the expansion of school breakfast program. He has sponsored many pieces of legislation in order to benefit the children of Wisconsin. Children and women are often overlooked, but Kohl has gotten two awards for his legislative work with both parties.
Anti-crime legislation has also been on the top priority list for Kohl. He has pushed to fund many different after-school programs. Working against drugs, he has secured nearly eight billion dollars for fighting production and trafficking. There have been numerous bills he has worked on to help decrease violence, including making it mandatory that handguns be sold with separate child safety locks. This is an effort to avoid senseless shooting each year that involve Wisconsin's youth.
Lowering health costs as also been on top of Kohl's list. He has written two bills to help make the cost of prescriptions affordable to people on a tight budget. Kohl is working to allow generic medications to be substituted, even against the efforts of the brand-name drug companies.
Besides being a leader in change, Kohl is an active member in charities throughout Wisconsin. He established an award in 1990 that grants $400,000 to 200 high school seniors set to graduate, 100 teachers throughout Wisconsin, and 100 schools. In an effort to show his great passion for sports, Kohl donated 25 million dollars for a new sports arena at the University of Wisconsin. |
