Richard Edmund Neal (born February 14, 1949) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district since 1989.

[3] He has also dedicated much of his career to U.S.–Ireland relations and maintaining American involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, for which he has won several acclamations.

Neal and his two younger sisters moved in with their grandmother and later their aunt, forced to rely on Social Security checks as they grew up.

[8] Neal began his political career as co-chairman of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's 1972 election campaign in Western Massachusetts.

[14][15] Neal ran for the United States House of Representatives in Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district in 1988 after 18-term Democratic incumbent Edward Boland retired.

[16] He was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and his only general election opponent was Communist Party candidate Louis R. Godena, whom he defeated with over 80 percent of the vote.

Former Springfield mayor Theodore Dimauro, reflecting sentiments that Neal had an unfair advantage in the previous election, ran as a challenger in the 1990 Democratic primary.

Dimauro's campaign was sullied by a false rumor he spread about the Bank of New England's financial situation, and Neal won the primary easily.

[16] After narrowly defeating two Democratic opponents, he was challenged by Republican Anthony W. Ravosa Jr., and Independent Thomas R. Sheehan.

For his first 12 terms in Congress, Neal represented a district centered on Springfield and stretching as far east as the southern and western suburbs of Worcester.

[53] Neal voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

[56] In the late 2000s analysts considered Neal a likely frontrunner for chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and in the wake of Charles B. Rangel's 2010 departure he began actively seeking the post.

"[58] According to Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America, one of Neal's longstanding legislative priorities is to simplify the tax code.

[6] Neal has long advocated repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), believing its effects have reached unreasonably low income brackets.

[16] In 1995 and 2002 he voted against fast track bills that gave the president the authority to negotiate trade deals without amendments by Congress.

[6] In February 2019, Neal came under criticism for failing to promptly exercise his authority as Ways and Means Committee chair to subpoena Donald Trump's tax returns.

[65] In 2019 the House Ways and Means Committee led by Neal passed a bill that would prohibit the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.

[66] For his tenure as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in the 116th Congress, Neal earned an "F" grade from the non-partisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.

[69][70] Neal invited Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams to the inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.

[71] Neal has been named as one of the top 100 Irish-Americans by Irish America magazine and received the International Leadership Award from The American Ireland Fund in 2002.

In working on the unsuccessful Clinton health care plan of 1993 he served the interests of the major health insurance and medical companies in his district, achieving a compromise allowing insurance companies to charge small businesses higher premiums.

[73][75] Despite his support for the act, he spoke about his preference for a "piecemeal" approach to health care reform, saying it would allow for a more reasonable debate.

[77] In December 2019, some blamed Neal for killing legislation that would have ended surprise medical bills,[78] suspecting it may have been because of industry lobbyist donations to his reelection campaign.

[82] In 2023, Neal was among 49 Democrats to break with President Joe Biden, by voting for a ban on cluster munitions to Ukraine.

[6] During debate on the House health care reform bill, he voted in favor of the Stupak–Pitts Amendment to restrict government funding of abortion.

[10] In addition to his duties as a congressman, Neal teaches a journalism course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst called "The Politician and the Journalist".