The Democratic Leadership Council announced last week that U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) will spearhead the DLC's efforts to identify and promote successful New Democrat policy ideas being put into practice across the country at the state and local levels.
Carper will be the DLC's first Chair for Best Practices. In his new role, he will travel the country to meet with young, up-and-coming elected officials, leading New Democrat thinkers from the academic and policy worlds, business and civic leaders, and the news media.
"When flexibility, opportunity, and accountability combine, the results can be limitless," says Carper. "Highlighting what works at the state and local level will help us enact good ideas at every level of government. There are bold new initiatives in place throughout the country that will change the way we solve problems. There are new leaders and new solutions whose focus is getting results instead of scoring political points. Our goal is to find them and, when possible, replicate their success."
In the U.S. Senate, Carper has been working to shape the next generation of welfare reform, a cornerstone New Democrat policy initiative. Earlier this year, Carper and DLC Chairman Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) outlined a welfare reform proposal to continue the New Democrat tradition of making work the focus of welfare reform and the primary condition for giving states flexibility in how they achieved that goal.
And unlike the Administration's proposal, the Bayh-Carper plan provides the resources and incentives to succeed in moving more people from welfare to work.
"I think our ultimate objective must be to help those on welfare achieve independence, and not set states up for failure," Carper said. "We need to set the bar higher, but we also need to ensure that states achieve it in part by ensuring that more affordable childcare assistance is available to families going to work, and in part by ensuring that states continue to have the flexibility they need to get the job done."
Carper is a former two-term Governor of Delaware who was tapped in 1998 to serve as Chairman of the National Governors' Association (NGA). He also directed the NGA's "Center for Best Practices" to develop and implement innovative solutions to policy challenges facing Governors. Before being elected Governor, he served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and three consecutive terms as State Treasurer.
Born in Beckley, West Virginia, Carper grew up in Danville, Virginia. He attended Ohio State University, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. After serving in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, Carper moved to Delaware in 1973, where he earned an MBA at the University of Delaware. He and his wife, Martha Ann, reside in Wilmington, Delaware with their two sons, Ben and Christopher.
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Sen. Carper is flanked by Sen. Bayh (left) and Sen. Carnahan (right) at the introduction of the Bayh/Carper "Work and Family Act."