A Jeffersonian conservative, United States Senator George Allen has established clear priorities, including a $1,000 per child educational opportunity tax credit; increasing the number of teachers in local schools; strengthening our nation’s armed services; and reducing the tax burden on working Americans, their families and on enterprises. Senator Allen serves as Deputy Whip for the 107th Congress, working with the Majority Party leadership to formulate policy, develop strategy and generate support for the Party’s legislative priorities in the Senate. He is a member of the prestigious and influential Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Small Business Committee. Senator Allen was also named by Majority Leader Trent Lott to serve as Chairman of the High Tech Task Force. Prior to his Senate service, George Allen led the Commonwealth of Virginia as its 67th Governor from 1994 to 1998, where he achieved monumental reforms in state government. He instituted high academic standards and accountability in education, abolished parole in Virginia, over-hauled the outdated juvenile justice system, enacted positive work-oriented welfare reform, and actively recruited new jobs and a record $14 billion of private sector investment. His economic development success resulted in transforming Virginia into the "Silicon Dominion" as an unprecedented number of high technology firms began to locate and expand in Virginia. Senator Allen began his public service in 1993 as a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, representing the seat once held by Thomas Jefferson, his ideological and philosophical inspiration. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a 1991 special election. After his term as Governor ended, Senator Allen exercised his economic development skills in the private sector as head of McGuire Woods’ Business Expansion and Relocation Team in Richmond. He was named by the American Legislative Exchange Council as their first Jeffersonian scholar in 1998, and has previously served as a Distinguished Fellow for the Heritage Foundation and a Distinguished Fellow for the National Center for Policy Analysis. Because he is a champion of improved education standards, Senator Allen was named Co-Chairman of the statewide "Communities in Schools" program after his term as Governor. The program helps young people improve academically and prepare them for a successful future. Senator Allen and his wife, the former Susan Brown, reside in Chesterfield County with their three children: Tyler, 12; Forrest, 9 and Brooke, 2.