Sen. Brownback (R-KS) has allied with Democrats on some major foreign policy issues, including Iraq, immigration, and Darfur. With presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Brownback cosponsored a plan to create a federated Iraq of Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish states. Brownback has also been one of the most vocal Republican candidates on the crisis in Darfur, traveling to the region with Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
Brownback serves on the Appropriations and Judiciary Committees and is the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committees. He also serves on the Helsinki Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and co-chairs the Senate Human Rights Caucus.
Brownback worked as Kansas Secretary of Agriculture and served as a White House Fellow in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative under the first Bush administration. He held a seat in the House of Representatives in 1994 before taking over Bob Dole’s Senate seat in 1996.
Editor's Note: Sen. Brownback formally withdrew his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination on October 19, 2007.