After serving as his party's Whip for eight years, DeLay was elected Majority Leader upon the retirement of Dick Armey in 2003.

Republican representative Dick Armey, an opponent of federal arts funding, began to attack a planned exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe at the Corcoran Museum of Art that was to receive NEA support.

Although Armey was not popular in the Republican caucus, Largent was thought to be far too conservative for the liking of some moderate Republicans, and Armey won on the third ballot.

However, when Bob Livingston of Louisiana stood down as Speaker-elect, Armey was still too wounded to make a bid for the job.

Written by Larry Hunter, who was aided by Newt Gingrich, Robert Walker, Richard Armey, Bill Paxon, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Jim Nussle, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the Contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.

When the Republicans gained a majority of seats in the 104th Congress, the Contract was seen as a triumph by Party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and the American conservative movement in general.

He later worked for a decade as a top aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey ( R-TX ), and was a principal drafter of the GOP's 1994 " Contract With America.

Armey was one of the chief authors of the Contract with America.

Armey was born in the farming town of Cando, North Dakota, the son of Marion ( née Gutschlag ) and Glenn Armey.

Armey served on the economics faculty at the University of Montana from 1964 to 1965, was an Assistant Professor of economics at West Texas State University from 1967 to 1968, an Assistant Professor of economics at Austin College from 1968 to 1972, an Associate Professor of economics at North Texas State ( now the University of North Texas ) from 1972 to 1977 and Chairman of the economics department at North Texas State from 1977 to 1983.

Armey was first elected to the House in 1984 in the 26th District of Texas, defeating freshman congressman Tom Vandergriff in what is still considered a huge upset ( Vandergriff is well known in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, most notably for bringing Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers to the area ).

Armey was one of six freshmen Republican Party congressmen elected from Texas in 1984 that were known as the Texas Six Pack.

Due to the increasingly Republican tilt of the Metroplex, Armey would never face another tough race and was reelected eight times.

In his early years in Congress, Armey was influenced by libertarian Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises.

Although Armey was not popular in the Republican caucus, Largent was thought to be far too conservative for the liking of some moderate Republicans, and Armey won on the third ballot.

Armey said it was a slip of the tongue.

Armey was one of Congress's fervent supporters of privatization of Social Security and phasing-out of farm subsidies.

According to their plan, House Majority Leader Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out.

Armey repeatedly said that he would be " content " with Israel completely taking over all of the Palestinian Occupied Territories and transfer the Palestinian population out.

According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out.

In 2003, Dick Armey became the chairman of CSE after retiring from Congress.

Soon afterward, Speaker-elect Bob Livingston of Louisiana announced he wouldn't take the post after the revelation of an extramarital affair, Armey initially seemed to have the inside track to become Speaker.

In 1999, Armey sponsored the Fair Care for the Uninsured Act: something that would also be proposed in 2001, 2003, and 2005 ( by Mark Kennedy, after Armey left Congress ).

Armey then voted for the Iraq War, but after it became clear this was not true, stated that he " deserved better than to be bullshitted by the Vice President.

" Armey states that Focus on the Family targeted him politically after the incident, writing, " Focus on the Family deliberately perpetuates the lie that I am a consultant to the ACLU.

After heavy Republican losses in the 1998 elections, Armey had to fend off a bruising challenge for his majority leader post from Steve Largent of Oklahoma, a member of the Republican class of 1994.

The next two figures in the House Republican leadership hierarchy, majority leader Richard Armey and majority whip Tom DeLay, chose not to contest the Speaker's office.

After Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker in part because of Republican losses in the 1998 elections, majority leader Dick Armey and majority whip Tom DeLay had opted not to contest the Speaker's chair.

Armey wrote, " As Majority Leader, I remember vividly a meeting with the House leadership where Dobson scolded us for having failed to ' deliver ' for Christian conservatives, that we owed our majority to him, and that he had the power to take our jobs back.

However, some top US officials such as Dick Armey ( the former House majority leader 1995-2003 ) have suggested that the State Department wrongly included MEK in the terrorist list from the beginning.

Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Gray also served as Co-chairman with former majority leader Dick Armey of FreedomWorks.

After the Republicans lost 5 seats in the 1998 midterm elections, Largent tried to take advantage of discontent with Majority Leader Dick Armey by challenging Armey for the post.

Rep. Armey included legislation in the House's Homeland Security Bill that explicitly prohibited the creation of Operation TIPS ; but Joe Lieberman blocked the program's removal from the Senate version of the bill.

Richard Keith " Dick " Armey (; born July 7, 1940 ) is a former U. S. Representative from Texas ' ( 1985 – 2003 ) and House Majority Leader ( 1995 – 2003 ).

On May 1, 2002, on MSNBC's " Hardball with Chris Matthews ", Armey, then the House Republican Majority Leader, called for Palestinians to be expelled from the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

* Richard K. Armey ( 1962 ), U. S. Representative from Texas and House Majority Leader

Prominent fiscal conservatives include former U. S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Representative Mike Pence, former Representative and Secretary of HUD Jack Kemp, U. S. Senator Tom Coburn ( Oklahoma ), Publisher Steve Forbes, and activist Grover Norquist.

The Committee was composed of nine Members of the House: Mr. Armey, Chairman ; Mr. DeLay ; Mr. Watts of Oklahoma ; Ms. Pryce of Ohio ; Mr. Portman ; Ms. Pelosi ; Mr. Frost ; Mr. Menendez ; and Ms. DeLauro.

Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey condemned Lee as having " nothing to offer the debate on school violence except more violence and more hate.

In 1994, Armey, then House Republican Conference Chairman, joined Minority Whip Newt Gingrich in drafting the Contract with America.

Republican members credited this election platform with the Republican takeover of Congress, rewarding Gingrich with the position of Speaker and Armey with the number two position of House Majority Leader.

Gingrich delegated to Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor, a power traditionally reserved to the Speaker.

In 1995, as Republican House Majority Leader, Dick Armey famously referred to openly-gay Rep. Barney Frank ( D-MA ) as " Barney Fag " in a press interview.

In 1995, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey referred to openly gay congressman Barney Frank as " Barney Fag " in a press interview.

As Democratic Caucus Chair, Frost was often at odds with another prominent Dallas-area Congressman, Dick Armey, who was the Republican House Majority Leader.

The District is best known as the seat of former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

* House Majority Leader Dick Armey ( 1940 -)