Congressman Bryan Steil ’07 always wanted to be a Badger.
Today, the Janesville native represents Wisconsin’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives (he was first elected in 2018). A Wisconsin pennant hangs in his D.C. office to remind him of his time in Madison.
In 2023, he was appointed chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which oversees federal election law, House of Representatives operations, Legislative Branch oversight and Capitol Security. He is also a member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Prior to his election to Congress, Congressman Steil spent a decade working in Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry — first with an industrial motion control manufacturer in Beloit, and later at a local plastics manufacturer in Milton.
In 2016, he was appointed and unanimously confirmed in the Wisconsin Senate to serve on the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. He will be visiting the Law School later in the school year.
Interview by Kassandra Tuten
Q&A with Congressman Bryan Steil ’07
Question: What experiences or mentors at the Law School shaped your career path?
Answer: Entering law school, I knew I was interested in the intersection of business and law. Professor Richard Heymann’s business transactions course focused on the practical complex business transactions. The course prepared me to work in the intersection of business and law. Learning negotiations was as applicable to business and legal transactions as it is in my work today in policy negotiations. I developed a strong relationship with Professor Heymann and later returned to guest lecture for his course.
Q: How did your UW Law experience equip you to address, and even reform, regulatory barriers?
A: I took administrative law with Professor Carin Clauss, the former U.S. Solicitor of Labor in the Carter administration. Although she worked in the Carter administration, Professor Clauss never shared her political views in class, but instead focused on the theory underlying labor and employment law. I still utilize the skills learned in that class as I work to streamline federal regulations to help employees. Professor Clauss was one of the best professors I had at UW.
Q: How has your UW Law education continued to shape your work in public service?
A: I believe in the Wisconsin Idea — that the value of the education I received at UW extends far beyond the classroom. The UW is a forum for rigorous debate about law and policy. I specifically recall engaging in ardent discussions in Professor Asifa Quraishi-Landes’s constitutional law class. We benefit the more we dialogue and discuss issues in thoughtful and productive ways. That is as true when deciding the best policy for a school board as it is when building a successful business. My experience at UW reinforced my belief that open and productive dialogue can build successful organizations and strong communities.
As all Badgers know, fearless sifting and winnowing is the only way truth can be found. There are an array of issues facing the federal government at any time, with a seemingly endless number of information sources that make it uniquely challenging to find good information. The skills taught at UW, in that sense, are timeless. They allow you to cut through the noise, identify trustworthy information and make informed decisions.