Congressman Bruce Braley was born in Grinnell, Iowa, in 1957.  He grew up in Brooklyn, Iowa, in Poweshiek County and graduated from BGM High School.  In 1983, Bruce married Dubuque native Carolyn Kalb and moved to Waterloo, where Bruce and Carolyn still live today.  Their three children—Lisa, David, and Paul—are attending college in Iowa.

Bruce Braley was first elected to the US House of Representatives on November 7^th, 2006, and was reelected to a second term on November 4^th, 2008. 

Congressman Braley has established himself as an outspoken voice in Congress for the people of Iowa. The Des Moines Register has said Bruce "sets the standard for what Iowans should expect from their representatives. The Quad City Times said Braley is “a meticulous student of Congress and extraordinarily responsive to constituents.” 

Bruce learned the value of hard work from his parents.  When he was young, Bruce’s father Byard—a WWII Marine veteran—was severely injured at the grain elevator where he worked.  Because of the accident, Bruce's mother had to drive over twenty-six thousand miles back and forth across Iowa to get her teaching degree so she could go back to work and help pay the bills.  Marcia Braley still works as a substitute teacher in Brooklyn, Iowa. 

Bruce applied for his first job when he was in third grade and has been working ever since.  He’s delivered newspapers, baled hay, detassled corn, worked at a grain elevator, and driven dump trucks.  To help pay his way through college and law school, Bruce worked as a restaurant server and in highway maintenance, among other jobs. 

Bruce attended the Iowa State University in Ames where he was awarded a B.A. in 1980.  Bruce graduated from the University of Iowa School of Law in 1983. 

After law school, Bruce worked in Waterloo as an attorney for 23 years, holding corporations accountable to their employees and consumers.  Bruce has represented employees challenging dangerous company safety standards and has fought for people who lost their jobs and pensions.

Congressman Braley serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee where he has made his mark expanding renewable energy to create jobs and working to reform health care to lower costs and save taxpayers money.  Bruce has also gained a reputation as a fighter for our veterans, successfully lobbying the Pentagon to award full GI Bill education benefits to hundreds of Iowa National Guard soldiers denied them after returning home from Iraq because of an Army error. 

Bruce has been a watchdog working to eliminate government waste and save taxpayers money.  Bruce has also worked to simplify tax forms and other government documents to make them easier to understand, get disaster assistance to families hurt by floods and tornadoes, and set up three offices in Iowa exclusively to help constituents navigate problems with the federal government.