Filam congressman takes oath, hails father

WASHINGTON D.C. – Rep. Steve Austria (R-Ohio), the first full-blooded Filipino American elected to the US Congress, was formally inducted into office Jan. 6 along with the rest of the members of the 111th Congress. He was also elected president of the freshmen Republican class in the House.
Later, he took his oath of office before Speaker Nancy Pelosi surrounded by his wife Eileen, children and Steve’s mother, Jean Austra who flew flew in to witness the event.
Austria said he was happy to be selected by Republican colleagues. “I’m excited to be part of a very talented and focused freshman class, which has many good ideas to address the problems we face,” Austria said. “The elections are over and our work in Congress has already begun.”
As part of his position as president of the freshmen class, Austria is likely to serve on the Congressional Republicans’ steering committee, which determines committee assignments.
Austria, the son of a Filipino doctor, was elected to replace retiring U.S. Rep. David Hobson (R-Springfield) in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District. He beat out attorney Sharen Neuhardt (D-Yellow Springs) for the position, winning 58.7 percent of the votes compared to 41.3 percent for Neuhardt.
Jean Austria said her son’s accomplishment was one that would have made his late father proud. “He will be an excellent congressman,” she said.
Austria himself cited his late Filipino father’s heavy influence on his political aspirations to be a public servant. “My father was my mentor,” he told reporters, referring to the late Dr. Clement G. Austria of Tiaong, Quezon. “I learned from him to work hard, to do the right thing and help others.”
“I think if my father were alive, he’d be very happy to see his oldest son go to Congress,” said Austria, 50. “But he would tell me to never forget where my roots are, never forget our local community, where I got started.”
“And he’d probably tell me not to get caught up in all the hype of Washington, D.C. and not to get too comfortable,” he added with a laugh. Austria’s father was a medical student at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila when he became a guerrilla who fought the Japanese under Gen. Douglas MacArthur during World War II.
The elder Austria came to the U.S. to attend medical school on a student visa and gained American citizenship in 1952 after approaching his congressman to change the immigration laws at the time, the congressman said.
“It was something (Dr. Austria) felt very strongly about, being a legal citizen in this great country and having the opportunity to succeed,” Austria noted.His father was an ear, nose and throat specialist who practiced in Xenia, Ohio until his death in 1986.

He was also active in local politics as the past president of the Xenia Area Chamber of Commerce and member of the Greene County Republican Central Committee.
In an interview with the Springfield News-Sun, Austria said he never saw his being half-Filipino – or you might call it half-American, I don’t know- as a handicap.
“I’ve always looked at it as using the talents given to me,” he stressed. “My father always taught me to be active and give back.”
The New York Times frdvtonrf the latest batch of congressmen offers Z’two new ethnic firsts”: Austria, the first Filipino-American; and Anh (Joseph) Cao, the first Vietnamese-American.
There are now three members of U.S. Congress with Filipino lineage:Democratic Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott, an African-American representing Virginia’s 3rd congressional district; and Sen. John Ensign, Republican of Nevada.
As the oldest of nine children, Austria said he has learned “how to scream loud and get attention” when he has to.
“It’s an attitude he intends to take to Washington in case ”the new presidential administration starts raising taxes or increasing government spending, I will hold them accountable,” he vowed.
The young Austria received his first taste of politics in 1984, when the elder Austria stepped down from the Republican Central Committee, passing his seat to his son.
“He walked door-to-door with me, we knocked on doors,” Austria recalled. “I actually made a homemade sign that I put up for running for the central committee, so that was my first encounter in politics, with my father.”
It was an encounter that would stick with Austria so that after 15 years as a small business and financial adviser, he still wanted to be a politician.
Austria was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1998 and to the Ohio Senate in 2000, where he served for eight years.
“I’m focused on protecting and saving jobs and giving businesses an incentive to create and expand jobs,” he told the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.
Austria spent a great deal of his 10 years in the Ohio legislature as a champion of social issues, evidenced by the bulk of his legislation falling under the Protecting Children and Families heading in his professional biography.
Born in Cincinnati, Austria grew up in Xenia and received his bachelor of arts degree in political science from Marquette University in Wisconsin.
After graduation, he worked in politics for a couple of years before turning his professional interests in becoming a financial planner with American Express for nearly 16 years.
Austria has resided in Beavercreek for the past 20 years where he currently lives with his wife Eileen and their three sons Brian, Kevin and Eric.
In 1984, the Austria family was chosen as the “Ohio Family of the Year” and subsequently was chosen as one of only nine families throughout the country as “The Great American Family” by the Reagan Administration.
First Lady Nancy Reagan with President Ronald Reagan presented this award to the Austria family at the White House.

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