Rep. Bob Onder Brings Unusual Mix of Skills to Congress

WASHINGTON—A doctor, a lawyer, a politician, and a pilot walk into the halls of Congress.

That’s not the beginning of a joke. That’s freshman Congressman Bob Onder (R-Mo.), who happens to be all four.

Before being sworn in on Jan. 3 to represent the state’s Third Congressional District, Onder, an attorney, served in the Missouri state legislature. He also treated patients as a doctor. And he pilots his own airplane.

Legal and medical training run in the family. Onder, 63, has a brother who’s a fellow lawyer and a sister who’s a fellow physician.

“I liked practicing medicine and I liked studying law more, but they’re both passions of mine,” Onder told The Epoch Times.

It would be impossible, though, to choose which profession he likes best.

“It’s like saying, ‘Which of your children do you like best?’” Onder said, joking. He and his wife have six children.

The Lawmaker Will See You Now

Onder earned his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Then he practiced as a physician for more than 30 years, specializing in allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology.

In that work, it was a strange allergic reaction that taught him the importance of being open to new ideas, he said.

Patients were experiencing puzzling symptoms. And it took scientists a long time to realize that some people were developing severe allergies to meats after being bitten by a Lone Star tick, found mostly in the southeastern United States.

After the connection was made, “the diagnosis became pretty straightforward,” Onder said.

“That’s why we have to keep an open mind in medicine and be able to say to ourselves, ‘There’s something going on here that we don’t know and we don’t understand,’” he said.

When it comes to politics, an open mind is hard to find, Onder said. But he said he believes that being willing to consider new ideas is profoundly valuable.

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic provide an example, he said.

In the earliest days of the spreading virus, many medical experts said that people needed to wear masks, that businesses and schools had to shut down, and that children needed the vaccine.

“It turns out, none of that was true,” Onder said, in an interview with The Epoch Times in his Capitol Hill office.

Fighting for Life

Advocating pro-life legislation has been a focus of Onder’s time in politics.

A bill that he helped get passed into law in 2019 was the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act.

It prohibited abortions after eight weeks, unless the mother’s life was in danger. It’s no longer in effect.

The law took effect in 2022, triggered after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent abortion decisions back to the states.

But since then, Missourians have voted to change the state’s constitution to allow for abortion up to the point of viability.

Onder said his law degree, earned from Saint Louis University after medical school, gives him extra insight into legislative battles such as that one.

“Having that background in the law to understand bills, understand how legislation and statutes are constructed, is a very useful asset when it comes to serving [in a legislative body],” he said.

In the Missouri Senate, he was vice chairman of the judiciary committee for eight years. He often focused on labor law.

One piece of legislation that he pushed made Missouri a right-to-work state. As a result, public-sector workers were no longer required to join a union.

Later, voters nullified that measure by approving a ballot initiative that reversed the legislation.

Onder also pushed legislation prohibiting state contractors from working with unions and labor organizations.

The bill became law, making it illegal for the Missouri government to do business with groups such as the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers.

Onder’s “passion for public service [in] Washington” is an asset to the Missouri congressional delegation, said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who served with Onder in the state Senate.

“[Onder] is a valuable member of the Missouri congressional delegation that brings a dedicated work ethic and a passion for public service,” Schmitt told The Epoch Times.

“From serving as a member of the Missouri State Senate with Bob, to now serving together in the federal delegation in Washington, I know Bob has a deep commitment to helping drive real conservative change for the issues facing Missouri families.”

Onder’s father inspired his son’s interest in working to keep the government efficient.

The elder Onder attended St. Louis University on a U.S. Air Force ROTC scholarship and became the first in his family to graduate from college.

He later worked as an auditor for the federal government, then ran a bookkeeping business and owned rental properties.

“I learned a lot about waste, fraud, and abuse from my dad, because that was his job, rooting out those things,” Onder said.

Fly Guy

His awe of aviation led him to obtain his pilot’s license about six years ago, even though he admits that he was “a little afraid of heights.”

“The beauty of aviation, the technical details that are involved in flying—flying an airplane and keeping you safe—a lot of science, a lot of meteorology, you have to learn to be a pilot,” Onder said.

“It was just a really, really exciting challenge, and one I’ve greatly enjoyed.”

He trained in a Cessna 150 under the supervision of a retired pilot who worked for the now-defunct Ozark Air Lines.

Onder now flies a Cirrus SR22, a single-engine plane that can deploy a parachute to get to the ground safely in case of an emergency.

He said he enjoys being able to fly “pretty much anywhere” without having to deal with the hassle of going through airport security.

“[That] was always appealing,” Onder said.

He said he has flown his plane to “a lot of neat places,” including the Florida cities of Fort Lauderdale and Key West, the southernmost city in the contiguous United States.

“That was pretty cool, flying along the island chain [that ends at Key West],” Onder said.

More often, he has flown in the Midwest around Chicago and Peoria, Illinois.

As a state legislator, Onder flew to Missouri’s capital, Jefferson City. He also flew to visit his sons at colleges in Nebraska and Indiana.

His aviation experience adds yet another layer of expertise to his service in Congress. He now sits on the House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation.

“I think that when tragedies happen in aviation, it’s very rare that [just] one thing goes wrong,” Onder said.

“There are usually multiple factors, and some are systemic factors, and some are individual pilot-error factors, and sometimes technical things, as well.”

The Jan. 29 midair collision of a military helicopter and an American Airlines plane above the Potomac River in the nation’s capital is an example, he said.

The plane was descending into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The helicopter that hit it was on a training flight.

All 67 people on the two aircraft were killed.

“When I do my training … I fly out to the boonies where things are safe. The idea of planes landing 100 feet above helicopter traffic is just insane. I thought that the night of the crash, and I still think that.”

Onder does not fly between Missouri and Washington.

He said he believes that the executive branch can take steps to improve aviation safety without relying on Congress.

Among the needs are more air traffic controllers, upgraded technology in air traffic control computer programs, and merit-based hiring of personnel, rather than hiring based on diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines under the previous administration, according to Onder.

He said his diverse background helps him to serve his constituents.

“Being a physician taught me to explain often complex topics to lay people—to patients—and I think that comes in when it comes to explaining what we’re doing here in Washington, D.C., or explaining the current state of the law and how it ought to be changed for the good of our country and the good of the people in my district,” Onder said.

He said he also sees how flying has provided valuable lessons that help him as a lawmaker. In Congress, he now applies mantras of his piloting mentor.

“When we’d get into turbulence, my instructor would say, ‘Keep flying the airplane,’ ‘take your time,’ ‘keep your head,’ and ‘deal with the situation,’” Onder said.