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Oakland Tribune Article - Hurricane Exposed Two Americas | |
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About Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee was born in El Paso, Texas, and came to California in 1960. After receiving the Bank of America Achievement Award and the Rotary Club Music Award, she graduated from Mills College in 1973. She went on to receive her Master’s degree in Social Welfare in 1975. While working towards her graduate degree, Lee founded a community mental health center in Berkeley. Barbara Lee has two sons, Craig and Tony Lee and she is the proud grandmother of Jordan, Joshua, and Jonah Lee. She is currently a resident of Oakland, California.
Barbara Lee began her political career as an intern in the office of Congressman Ron Dellums, and she would advance to become his chief of staff. She has served as a board member of the California State World Trade Commission, the California State Coastal Conservancy, the District Export Council, and as a member of the California Defense Conversion Council. She created and presided over the California Commission on the Status of African American Males, the California Legislative Black Caucus, and the National Conference on State Legislatures Women’s Network, and served as a member of the California Commission on the Status of Women.
Barbara Lee was elected to the House of Representatives for the Ninth District of California in a 1998 special election, filling the seat of retiring Congressman Ron Dellums. Congresswoman Lee came to Washington after serving in the California State Assembly from 1990-1996 and the California State Senate from 1996-1998.
She is currently the Co- Chair of the Progressive Caucus, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Task Force on Global HIV/AIDS, Whip for the CBC and a member of the CBC Minority Business Task Force.
Throughout her political career, Barbara Lee has brought her training as a social worker to her work confronting the challenges that face the East Bay, California, the country and our world. She has worked to build bipartisan coalitions to provide for the fundamental human rights of all people: health care, housing, education, jobs, and the quest to create livable communities in a peaceful world. Barbara Lee is carrying on a long tradition in the Ninth District of representing the voice of reason and compassion in the fight to reshape the national budget.
These objectives shape Lee’s work on the International Relations Committee (Subcommittees on Africa and Europe) and the Financial Services Committee (Subcommittees on Housing and International Monetary Policy).
She has emerged as the key leader in Congress in the fight against HIV/AIDS both locally and globally. She helped secure over $5 million in funding for HIV/AIDS care and services in Alameda County, and $15 billion through the U.S. Leadership against Global Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003, for the treatment and prevention of the pandemic in Africa. Recognizing that national boundaries will not stop the spread of this disease, and that AIDS represents the crucial humanitarian issue of our time, Barbara Lee has worked successfully to pass meaningful legislation that will initiate multilateral international efforts to fight this terrible disease. Congresswoman Lee has also introduced legislation to increase the worldwide availability and affordability of AIDS drugs and link international debt relief to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Access to healthcare is a basic human right, one that is too often restricted in this country. During the 107th Congress Barbara Lee authored the "Benign Brain Tumor Cancer Registries Amendment Act," subsequenrly passed by the House. The bill requires the federal cancer data collection process to include data on benign brain tumors. Additionally, Congresswoman Lee has introduced the Universal Healthcare Act and supported expanding prescription drug coverage for seniors and other Americans.
As a member of the Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing, Lee has played a leading role in the fight for affordable housing, one of the most urgent issues facing the Bay Area. She helped secure a $34 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the City of Oakland and, through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, organized a Western Regional Summit on Housing and Wealth Accumulation in which Fannie Mae contributed $500,000 to the Northern California Land Trust for low cost housing. The Congresswoman consistently supports legislation to expand opportunities for home ownership, improve the quality of public housing in this country and assist individuals and families who are homeless.
Education is a very high priority on Barbara Lee’s agenda and reflects her core commitments: ensuring ample funding for public schools, providing equal access to education for all people, expanding support services for education, bridging the digital divide, and promoting lifetime learning from pre-school and Head Start to higher education. She has worked with teachers and counselors to craft legislation to provide schools with the funding for counselors, mental health, and social work professionals. Additionally, the Congresswoman has also worked to reduce class size, strengthen after school programs, and increase the amount of money directed to educational programs and initiatives. For example, she has helped to raise millions in federal and local funds for math and science education at the Chabot Observatory and Science Center in Oakland and for violence prevention and environmental education at the Martin Luther King Freedom Center.
Lee has sought to bridge the digital divide both in our schools and our communities. As a member of the CBC High Tech Working Group, she has worked with representatives from the high-tech industries to recruit minorities and women. Increasing access to technology is a movement towards both economic development and social justice. Tackling digital divide issues is just one component of Barbara Lee’s efforts to encourage economic development in the Bay Area, including the redevelopment of area military bases.
It is important to continue growing our local and national economy. Representative Lee believes it is equally important to ensure that growth and expansion produce sustainablecommunities rather than congestion and pollution. Sustainable growth requires addressing traffic, transportation, development and environmental issues both at the local and federal levels. With this in mind Barbara Lee has worked to increase funding for transit infrastructure while supporting legislation to raise fuel economy standards, combat pollution, address environmental racism, and spearhead a movement in Congress to draft a resolution on global climate change. California’s recent energy crisis has demonstrated our desperate need for a new energy policy that incorporates innovative new technologies and renewable resources. Along with other members of the California delegation and the Progressive Caucus, Lee has sought to forge policies that will protect both consumers and the environment.
