Joseph Russell Pitts (born October 10, 1939) is a former American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district from 1997 to 2017.

Pitts served five and a half years in the United States Air Force, with three tours in Vietnam.

As an EW officer, he served on B-52 Stratofortresses out of Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, with payloads of nuclear bombs.

In all, he completed 116 combat missions in the Vietnam War and earned an Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

After leaving the Air Force in 1969, Pitts moved to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia and the hometown of his wife, Ginny.

Pitts originally promised to serve only 10 years (five terms), but announced he would run again in 2006 amid considerable controversy.

Despite the controversy, Pitts won re-election to a sixth term, defeating Democratic businesswoman Lois Herr 57%–40%.

Since his first term Pitts has been chairman of the Values Action Team, a subgroup of the Republican Study Committee that coordinates legislation with the Christian right.

Others: American Association of University Women, 2007–08, 16%; Republicans for Environmental Protection, 7% in 2007; and the Children's Health Fund, 2007–08, 0%; National Rifle Association, 2008, A; Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 2003, 0%; National Breast Cancer Coalition, 2007–08, 0%; Children's Health Fund 2007–08, 0%.

In the 112th Congress, Pitts introduced the Protect Life Act, which would place additional restrictions on abortion access.

In July 2011, Pitts was revealed, in course of an FBI investigation, to have accepted tainted funds traced to the intelligence services of Pakistan.

[18] These funds were routed through the so-called Kashmiri American Council (KAC), run by Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was convicted of several felonies by the Federal government.

[21][22] Pitts said he still supports a permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and is "sponsoring this bill today because it is my earnest hope that this is the last patch we will have to pass.