Current Position: U.S. Representative (since January 1991)
Credit: Congress Bio Directory
Why She Matters
A well-connected and experienced politician both in Washington and in her hometown of New Haven, Conn., DeLauro has been the Co-chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee since 2003, where she makes committee assignments. The representative from Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional district is the second-highest ranking woman in the House of Representatives.
A fierce liberal who was chief of staff for Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and director of EMILY’s List before coming to Congress in 1990, she has fought for women’s rights for most of her career on issues such as equal pay, fair medical treatment and abortion rights.
DeLauro, who is a lifelong Catholic, has also tried to encourage Democrats to refocus the debate on social issues that favor her party, and she spoke out against the Catholic Church when it threatened in 2004 to deny communion to lawmakers who favor abortion rights.
At a Glance
Current Position: House Democratic Steering Committee Co-chair (since 2003)
Career History: Member of the House of Representatives (since 1991); Director of EMILY’s List (1989); Chief of staff to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) (1981 to 1987)
Birthday: March 2, 1943
Hometown: New Haven, Conn.
Alma Mater: London School of Economics, attended, 1962-63; Marymount College (N.Y.), B.A., 1964; Columbia University, M.A. (international politics), 1966
Spouse: Stan Greenberg
Religion: Catholic
DC Office: 2262 Rayburn House Office Building, 202-225-3661
State/District Office: New Haven, 203-562-3718; Stratford, 203-378-9005
Email
Web site
Path to Power
Growing up in the Italian Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Conn., DeLauro’s family was always politically involved. Her father, an Italian immigrant, was a New Haven alderman with the nickname “Mayor of Wooster Square,” and her mother was the longest-serving member of the New Haven Board of Aldermen. When DeLauro was growing up, her mother worked in a dress factory making dresses for 50 cents apiece. She had her daughter stop by the factory every day after school so they could walk home together and so DeLauro would realize that an education would save her from life in a factory. In 2008, she was 44th on Roll Call’s list of the 50 richest members of Congress.
DeLauro start in politics was as a community organizer for President Lyndon Johnson’s (D) War on Poverty. She helped run Sen. Dodd’s campaign in 1980, and then stayed on as his chief of staff for the next seven years. After leaving Dodd’s office, she became the director of EMILY’s List, an organization that promotes pro-choice female candidates.
When Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-Conn) gave up his House seat to run for governor, DeLauro jumped at the chance to be a candidate. She won a tough race against state Sen. Thomas Scott, a conservative Republican who painted her as a rabid liberal. She beat Scott again two years later and hasn’t had a challenging re-election campaign since then.
A veteran member of the House Democratic leadership, she has never won an elected position in her party. In 1998, she lost a race for Democratic Caucus Chair to then-Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas). Then-Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) picked her to run the party’s communication apparatus in 2001, and when she ran for Democratic Caucus chair again in 2003, she lost a painfully close, one-vote race to then-Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), 104-103. After that race, then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has often found herself aligned with the liberal Congresswoman from Connecticut, appointed DeLauro to co-chair the Steering Committee.
The Issues
DeLauro is from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and she votes with her party 98.9 percent of the time. In her first term, she introduced a tax plan that would cut taxes for the middle class and pay for it by increasing taxes on the rich, a philosophy she has continued to push during her time in office. Despite her Catholic upbringing, she also favors typical Democratic social positions such as abortion rights and gun control.
DeLauro opposed the Iraq war in 2002 and has continued to criticize the administration for its handling of the war. She has, however, consistently brought home funding for the Black Hawk helicopter, which is produced by the Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
She is an avid advocate for women’s rights, including equal pay and abortion rights. For years, she has pushed for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would allow women to sue for punitive damages under the Equal Pay Act, which was signed into law 40 years ago. The bill was passed by the House in Aug. 2008. She is also a powerful advocate for women’s medical issues.
Health Care
Ever since her early days in the House, DeLauro has argued for universal health care. “As America approaches the dawn of a new millennium, the great unfinished business before Congress still remains the provision of health care to every American citizen,” she wrote in an article for Roll Call in 1996. DeLauro was successful in her push to require insurance companies to pay for two-day hospital stays after mastectomies, a bill that she had advocated since 1995. A survivor of ovarian cancer, she pushed for Johanna’s Law, which was designed to create awareness of and facilitate early detection of gynecological cancer. She worked to bar discrimination by insurance companies against people with pre-existing conditions, and she introduced legislation in May 2008 that would allow paramedics to bill Medicare directly, eliminating the need for patients to front the costs for or fight with Medicare over ambulance expenses.
Food Safety
As the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, DeLauro has taken a keen interest in the proper inspection and labeling of food, often criticizing the Federal Drug Administration for what she sees as its lack of oversight. She introduced legislation in 2007 that would create an early warning system for tainted foods and allow fines against companies that do not report contamination, and she has persistently tried to get a single food safety administration to authorize federal recalls. "Food safety at the FDA is a stepchild," she said. "It is nothing about prevention. It is all about after-the-fact."
The Economy
DeLauro reluctantly voted for the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, saying she knew it would be an unpopular vote but she felt that, “I have a responsibility to avert [economic meltdown] in the interest of the country.”
The Network
DeLauro is married to prominent Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, who was President Bill Clinton’s chief pollster from 1991 to 1994 and worked for both Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during their presidential campaigns. Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) lives in DeLauro and Greenberg’s basement. DeLauro was chief of staff for Dodd during his first seven years in the Senate, and he named her national chairwoman for his 2008 Presidential campaign. DeLauro also worked with Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) on Rep. John B. Larson’s (D-Conn.) run for House Democratic Caucus vice chair. Lobbyist Dick Woodruff, the director of federal government relations for the American Cancer Society,was formerly her chief of staff, and consultant David Eichenbaum of Struble Eichenbaum worked as a staffer in her office. She is also close to Ellen Malcolm, president and founder of EMILY’s List, although Malcolm was disappointed by DeLauro’s decision to back Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.
Do you know where your lawmakers stand on the hottest issues in the health-care reform debate? Join us in tracking and tallying the stands of all 535 Senators and House Members by the end of September.
Help us profile government's technology gurus. This project is in partnership with GovLoop.com.
