2 weeks after being sworn in, Tom Marino announces resignation from Congress
WASHINGTON _ Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino announced Thursday he would be resigning from Congress.
The Republican lawmaker, who represents the 12th District in northeast and central Pennsylvania, said he will be leaving his post Jan. 23 for a job in the private sector.
Marino has served in the House since 2011 and was just re-elected to his fifth term.
"Having spent over two decades serving the public, I have chosen to take a position in the private sector where I can use both my legal and business experience to create jobs around the nation," he said. "I want to thank the people of the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania for the faith they have placed in me to represent them in Congress. It truly has been one of the greatest honors of my life."
Marino was a blue-collar factory worker who switched to a legal career later in life and became a federal prosecutor before entering politics. As the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2007, he often focused on drug trafficking cases.
Trump tapped Marino in April 2017 to be head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, or the nation's drug czar. Marino withdrew his nomination later that October, following reports about how a bill he sponsored, which later became law, made it harder for the Drug Enforcement Administration to go after opioid manufacturers who make suspicious sales.
Just last week, Marino introduced legislation to institute four-year terms for members of the House.
_CQ-Roll Call
