Congressional oversight refers to oversight by the United States Congress of the Executive Branch, including the numerous U.S. federal agencies. Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation.^[1] Congress exercises this power largely through its congressional committee system. However, oversight, which dates to the earliest days of the Republic, also occurs in a wide variety of congressional activities and contexts. These include authorization, appropriations, investigative, and legislative hearings by standing committees; specialized investigations by select committees; and reviews and studies by congressional support agencies and staff.

Congress’s oversight authority derives from its “implied” powers in the Constitution, public laws, and House and Senate rules. It is an integral part of the American system of checks and balances.

Report on the Organization of Congress[link]

Oversight^[2] is an implied rather than an enumerated power under the U.S. Constitution. The government's charter does not explicitly grant Congress the authority to conduct inquiries or investigations of the executive, to have access to records or materials held by the executive, or to issue subpoenas for documents or testimony from the executive.

There was little discussion of the power to oversee, review, or investigate executive activity at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 or later in the Federalist Papers, which argued in favor of ratification of the Constitution. The lack of debate was because oversight and its attendant authority were seen as an inherent power of representative assemblies which enacted public law.^{[citation needed]}

Oversight also derives from the many and varied express powers of the Congress in the Constitution. It is implied in the legislature's authority, among other powers and duties, to appropriate funds, enact laws, raise and support armies, provide for a Navy, declare war, and impeach and remove from office the President, Vice President, and other civil officers. Congress could not reasonably or responsibly exercise these powers without knowing what the executive was doing; how programs were being administered, by whom, and at what cost; and whether officials were obeying the law and complying with legislative intent.

The Supreme Court of the United States made legitimate the oversight powers of Congress, subject to constitutional safeguards for civil liberties, on several occasions. In 1927, for instance, the High Court found that in investigating the administration of the Justice Department, Congress was considering a subject "on which legislation could be had or would be materially aided by the information which the investigation was calculated to elicit."

Congressional control of agencies[link]

If Congress loses faith in an agency, Congress can respond in a number of ways. Congress can pass a law to overrule agency decisions, or to narrow the agency's jurisdiction. Congress can use its appropriations power to restrict the agency's funding. Congress can also narrow the agency's regulatory authority. For example, in the 1980s Congress narrowed the EPA's regulatory discretion using detailed substantive criteria to limit EPA rulemaking. ^[3]

Principles[link]

Underlying the legislature's ability to oversee the executive are democratic principles as well as practical purposes. John Stuart Mill, the British Utilitarian philosopher, insisted that oversight was the key feature of a meaningful representative body: “The proper office of a representative assembly is to watch and control the government.”^[4] As a young scholar and future President, Woodrow Wilson equated oversight with lawmaking, which was usually seen as the supreme function of a legislature. He wrote, “Quite as important as legislation is vigilant oversight of administration.”^[5]

The philosophical underpinning for oversight is the Constitution’s system of checks and balances among the legislature, executive, and judiciary. James Madison, known as the “Father of the Constitution,” described the system in Federalist No. 51 as establishing “subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner that each may be a check on the other.”

Purposes[link]

Oversight, as an outgrowth of this principle, ideally serves a number of overlapping objectives and purposes:

• improve the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of governmental operations;
• evaluate programs and performance;
• detect and prevent poor administration, waste, abuse, arbitrary and capricious behavior, or illegal and unconstitutional conduct;
• protect civil liberties and constitutional rights;
• inform the general public and ensure that executive policies reflect the public interest;
• gather information to develop new legislative proposals or to amend existing statutes;
• ensure administrative compliance with legislative intent; and
• prevent executive encroachment on legislative authority and prerogatives.

In sum, oversight is a way for Congress to check on, and check, the executive.

Powers and Prerogatives[link]

The U.S. Constitution[link]

Although the Constitution grants no formal, express authority to oversee or investigate the executive or program administration, oversight is implied in Congress’s array of enumerated powers.^[6] The legislature is authorized to appropriate funds; raise and support armies; provide for and maintain a navy; declare war; provide for organizing and calling forth the national guard; regulate interstate and foreign commerce; establish post offices and post roads; advise and consent on treaties and presidential nominations (Senate); and impeach (House) and try (Senate) the President, Vice President, and civil officers for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Reinforcing these powers is Congress’s broad authority “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

The authority to oversee derives from these constitutional powers. Congress could not carry them out reasonably or responsibly without knowing what the executive is doing; how programs are being administered, by whom, and at what cost; and whether officials are obeying the law and complying with legislative intent. The Supreme Court has legitimated Congress’s investigative power, subject to constitutional safeguards for civil liberties. In 1927, the Court found that, in investigating the administration of the Department of Justice, Congress was considering a subject “on which legislation could be had or would be materially aided by the information which the investigation was calculated to elicit.”^[7]

Statutes[link]

The “necessary and proper” clause of the Constitution also allows Congress to enact laws that mandate oversight by its committees, grant relevant authority to itself and its support agencies, and impose specific obligations on the executive to report to or consult with Congress, and even seek its approval for specific actions.

Broad oversight mandates exist for the legislature in several significant statutes.

• The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (P.L. 79-601), for the first time, explicitly called for “legislative oversight” in public law. It directed House and Senate standing committees “to exercise continuous watchfulness” over programs and agencies under their jurisdiction; authorized professional staff for them; and enhanced the powers of the Comptroller General, the head of Congress’s investigative and audit arm, the General Accounting Office (GAO).
• The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-510) authorized each standing committee to “review and study, on a continuing basis, the application, administration and execution” of laws under its jurisdiction; increased the professional staff of committees; expanded the assistance provided by the Congressional Research Service; and strengthened the program evaluation responsibilities of GAO.
• The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-344) allowed committees to conduct program evaluation themselves or contract out for it; strengthened GAO’s role in acquiring fiscal, budgetary, and program-related information; and upgraded GAO’s review capabilities.

Besides these general powers, numerous statutes direct the executive to furnish information to or consult with Congress. For example, the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-62) requires agencies to consult with Congress on their strategic plans and report annually on performance plans, goals, and results. In fact, more than 2,000 reports are submitted each year to Congress by federal departments, agencies, commissions, bureaus, and offices. Inspectors general (IGs), for instance, report their findings about waste, fraud, and abuse, and their recommendations for corrective action, periodically to the agency head and Congress. The IGs are also instructed to issue special reports concerning particularly serious problems immediately to the agency head, who transmits them unaltered to Congress within seven days. The Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-531), moreover, instructs the IGs to identify and describe their agencies’ most serious management and performance challenges and briefly assess progress in addressing them. This new requirement is to be part of a larger effort by individual agencies to consolidate their numerous reports on financial and performance management matters into a single annual report. The aim is to enhance coordination and efficiency within the agencies; improve the quality of relevant information; and provide it in a more meaningful and useful format for Congress, the President, and the public.

In addition, Congress creates commissions and establishes task forces to study and make recommendations for select policy areas that can also involve examination of executive operations and organizations.

There is a long history behind executive reports to Congress. Indeed, one of the first laws of the First Congress—the 1789 Act to establish the Treasury Department (1 Stat. 66)—called upon the Secretary and the Treasurer to report directly to Congress on public expenditures and all accounts. The Secretary was also required “to make report, and give information to either branch of the legislature ... respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office.” Separate from such reporting obligations, public employees may provide information to Congress on their own. In the early part of the 20th century, Congress enacted legislation to overturn a “gag” rule, issued by the President, that prohibited employees from communicating directly with Congress (5 U.S.C. 7211 (1994)). Other “whistleblower” statutes, which have been extended specifically to cover personnel in the intelligence community (P.L. 105-272), guarantee the right of government employees to petition or furnish information to Congress or a Member.

House and Senate Rules Chamber rules also reinforce the oversight function. House and Senate rules, for instance, provide for “special oversight” or “comprehensive policy oversight,” respectively, for specified committees over matters that relate to their authorizing jurisdiction. In addition, House rules direct each standing committee to require its subcommittees to conduct oversight or to establish an oversight subcommittee for this purpose. House rules also call for each committee to submit an oversight agenda, listing its prospective oversight topics for the ensuing Congress, to the House Committee on Government Reform, which compiles and prints the agendas.

The House Government Reform Committee and the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which have oversight jurisdiction over virtually the entire federal government, furthermore, are authorized to review and study the operation of government activities to determine their economy and efficiency and to submit recommendations based on GAO reports. In addition, House rules require that the findings and recommendations from the Government Reform Committee be considered by authorizing panels, if presented to them in a timely fashion.

Activities and Avenues[link]

Oversight occurs through a wide variety of congressional activities and avenues. Some of the most publicized are the comparatively rare investigations by select committees into major scandals or into executive branch operations gone awry. Cases in point are temporary select committee inquiries into: China’s acquisition of U.S. nuclear weapons information, in 1999; the Iran-Contra affair, in 1987; intelligence agency abuses, in 1975-1976, and “Watergate,” in 1973-1974. The precedent for this kind of oversight goes back two centuries: in 1792, a special House committee investigated the defeat of an Army force by confederated Indian tribes.

By comparison to these select panel investigations, other congressional inquiries in recent Congresses—into Whitewater, access to Federal Bureau of Investigation files, White House Travel Office firings, and campaign financing—have relied upon standing committees.

The impeachment proceedings against President Clinton in 1998 in the House and in 1999 in the Senate also generated considerable oversight. It not only encompassed the President and the White House staff, but also extended to the office of independent counsel, prompted by concerns about its authority, jurisdiction, and expenditures. Although such highly visible endeavors are significant, they usually reflect only a small portion of Congress’s total oversight effort. More routine and regular review, monitoring, and supervision occur in other congressional activities and contexts. Especially important are appropriations hearings on agency budgets as well as authorization hearings for existing programs. Separately, examinations of executive operations and the implementation of programs—by congressional staff, support agencies, and specially created commissions and task forces—provide additional oversight.

Congressional Oversight Training[link]

The CRS and the Project On Government Oversight, an independent nonprofit watchdog, train Congressional staff how to conduct effective oversight.

See also[link]

• Government Accountability Office (GAO) - assists Congressional Oversight by monitoring the executive branch and reporting to Congress.
• Congressional oversight hearings

References[link]

• Much of the content in this article was excerpted from CRS Report for Congress 97-936, 2001.

External links[link]

• CRS Congressional Oversight Manual (PDF)
• CRS Report for Congress 97-936, 2001 (PDF)
  • Updated January 3, 2006
• Final Report of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, 1993
  • Congressional Oversight
• The General Principles of Congressional Oversight, House Committee on Rules
• Project On Government Oversight Congressional Oversight Training Series

Elizabeth Warren (born June 22, 1949) is an American bankruptcy law expert, policy advocate, Harvard Law School professor, and Democratic Party candidate in the 2012 United States Senate election in Massachusetts. She has written several academic and popular books concerning the American economy and personal finance. She contributed to the oversight of the 2008 U.S. bailout program, and also led the conception and establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Warren attended The George Washington University and the University of Houston. She received a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1976. Warren taught law at several universities and was listed by the Association of American Law Schools as a minority law professor throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In the wake of the U.S. financial crisis, Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program in 2008. She later served as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under U.S. President Barack Obama.

Early life and education[link]

Elizabeth Herring^[1] was born June 22, 1949,^[2] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to working class parents Pauline (née Reed) and Donald Jones Herring.^[3][4][5] She was the Herrings' fourth child, with three older brothers.^[6] When Warren was twelve, her father, a janitor, had a heart attack, which led to a pay cut, medical bills, and eventually the loss of their car. Her mother answered phones at Sears and Warren worked as a waitress.^[6][7]

At Northwest Classen High School she was named "Oklahoma's top high-school debater". She received a debate-team scholarship to George Washington University at the age of 16. Initially aspiring to be a teacher, she left GWU after two years to marry her high-school boyfriend Jim Warren.^[6][8] She moved to Houston to be with her husband, who was a NASA engineer. There she enrolled in the University of Houston where she graduated in 1970 with a degree in speech pathology and audiology.^[9] She taught children with disabilities for a year in a public school. However, she had not taken the required education courses to get a teaching certificate (she previously taught under an "emergency certificate"). After taking several graduate education courses, she decided she no longer wanted to pursue education as a career. She and her husband moved to New Jersey and since she was pregnant with their first child, she decided to stay at home for a few years.^[10][11][12]

After making a decision to study law, Warren enrolled at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark,^[10] where she served as an editor of the Rutgers Law Review, and was a summer associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft's.^[13] Shortly before her graduation in 1976, she became pregnant with her second child and she worked from home, writing wills and doing real estate closings.^[8][10]

She and Jim had two children before divorcing in 1978: Amelia Warren Tyagi, with whom Elizabeth would later coauthor two books and several articles, and a son, Alexander Warren. Today they have three grandchildren.^[14] In 1980, Warren married Bruce Mann, also a Harvard law professor. She cites Methodist founder John Wesley as an inspiration.^[15]

Academic career[link]

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s she taught law at several universities throughout the country, while researching bankruptcy and middle-class personal finance.^[10] In 1978 Congress had passed a law that made it easier for companies and individuals to declare bankruptcy and Warren decided "to set out to prove they were all a bunch of cheaters... I was going to expose these people who were taking advantage of the rest of us". However, she instead found that the vast majority of those in bankruptcy courts were from hardworking middle-class families: people who had lost their jobs or had family breakups or illnesses that had wiped out their savings. "It changed my vision," she said.^[6]

According to her CV, she taught at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark (1977–78), the University of Houston Law Center (1978–83), the University of Michigan (visiting, 1985), and the University of Texas School of Law (1981–87). She also worked as a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin (1983–87). She joined the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1987, where she became the William A Schnader Professor of Commercial Law in 1990. She joined Harvard Law School in 1992 as the Robert Braucher Visiting Professor of Commercial Law, and began a permanent position as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law in 1995.^[16]

In 1995 Warren was asked to advise the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. She helped to draft the commission's report and then spent several years opposing legislation meant to severely restrict the right of consumers to file for bankruptcy. Warren and others opposing the legislation were not successful and in 2005 the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was passed by Congress.^[17]

Warren appeared in the documentary film Maxed Out in 2006, has appeared several times on Dr. Phil to talk about money and families, has been a guest on The Daily Show,^[18] is interviewed frequently on cable news networks,^[19] appears in Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, has appeared on the Charlie Rose talk show,^[20] and has appeared on the Real Time With Bill Maher talk show.^[21] She has also appeared on the PBS show NOW.^[22]

Warren in 2010 at a Women in Finance symposium held at the U.S. Treasury.

From November 2006 to November 2010, Warren was a member of the FDIC Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion, which advises the FDIC "on important initiatives focused on expanding access to banking services by underserved populations".^[23] She is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an independent organization which advises the U.S. Congress on bankruptcy law.^[24] She is a former Vice-President of the American Law Institute and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 2005 to 2008, Warren and her law students wrote a blog called Warren Reports, part of Josh Marshall's TPMCafe.

Popular works[link]

In addition to writing more than 100 scholarly articles and six academic books, Warren has written several best-selling books, including All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, coauthored with her daughter, Amelia Tyagi.

Warren and Tyagi also wrote The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke. Warren and Tyagi point out that a fully employed worker today earns less inflation-adjusted income than a fully employed worker did 30 years ago. To increase their income, families have sent a second parent into the workforce. Although families spend less today on clothing, appliances, and other consumption, the costs of core expenses such as mortgages, health care, transportation, and child care have increased dramatically. The result is that even with two-income earners, families are no longer able to save and have incurred greater and greater debt.

In an article in The New York Times, Jeff Madrick said of Warren's book:

The upshot is that two-income families often have even less income left over today than did an equivalent single-income family 30 years ago, even when they make almost twice as much. And they go deeper in debt. The authors find that it is not the free-spending young or the incapacitated elderly who are declaring bankruptcy so much as families with children... their main thesis is undeniable. Typical families often cannot afford the high-quality education, health care and neighborhoods required to be middle class today. More clearly than anyone else, I think, Ms. Warren and Ms. Tyagi have shown how little attention the nation and our government have paid to the way Americans really live.^[25]

In an article in Time magazine by Maryanna Murray Buechner, "Parent Trap" (subtitled "Want to go bust? Have a kid. Educate same. Why the middle class never had it so bad"), Buechner said of Warren's book:

For families looking for ways to cope, Warren and Tyagi mainly offer palliatives: Buy a cheaper house. Squirrel away a six-month cash cushion. Yeah, right. But they also know that there are no easy solutions. Readers who are already committed to a house and parenthood will find little to mitigate the deflating sense that they have nowhere to go but down.^[26]

In 2005, David Himmelstein and Warren published a study on bankruptcy and medical bills,^[27] which said that half of all families filing for bankruptcy did so in the aftermath of a serious medical problem. The finding was particularly noteworthy because 75 percent of families who fit that description had medical insurance.^[28] This study was widely cited in academic studies and policy debates, though some have challenged the study's methods and offered alternative interpretations of the data.^[29]

TARP oversight[link]

On November 14, 2008, Warren was appointed by United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.^[30] The Panel releases monthly oversight reports that evaluate the government bailout and related programs.^[15] The Panel's monthly reports under Warren's leadership covered foreclosure mitigation, consumer and small business lending, commercial real estate, AIG, bank stress tests, the impact of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on the financial markets, government guarantees, the automotive industry, and many other topics. The Panel has also released special reports on financial regulatory reform and farm loans. For each report, Warren released a video on the Congressional Oversight Panel's website explaining key findings.^[a]

In an interview at Newsweek, Warren commented, "To restore some basic sanity to the financial system, we need two central changes: fix broken consumer-credit markets and end guarantees for the big players that threaten our entire economic system."^[31]

On July 29, 2011, she left her role with the agency to return to academic life at Harvard Law School. Her departing address indicated how she first became involved:

Four years ago, I submitted an article to Democracy Journal that argued for a new government agency called the Financial Product Safety Commission. I threw myself into that piece because I felt strongly that a new consumer agency would make the credit markets work better for American families and strengthen the economic security of the middle class... I leave this agency, but not this fight... the issues we deal with – a middle class that has been squeezed and business models built on tricks and traps – are deeply personal to me, and they always will be.^[32]

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau[link]

Warren has long advocated for the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency designed to "make basic financial practices such as taking out a mortgage or loan more clear and transparent while ferreting out unfair lending practices," according to CNN. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Warren said "My first choice is a strong consumer agency. My second choice is no agency at all and plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor".^[33] Through Warren's efforts, the bureau was established by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by Obama in July 2010. For the first year after the bill's signing, Warren worked on implementation of the bureau as a Special Assistant to the President in anticipation of the agency's formal opening. While liberal groups and consumer advocacy groups pushed for Obama to nominate Warren as the agency's permanent director, Warren was strongly opposed by financial institutions which had criticized Warren as overly aggressive in pursuing regulations, and by the Republican members of Congress. Furthermore, she did not have the strong support of the Obama administration, particularly Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. In July 2011, Obama instead announced the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the bureau's director, subject to Congressional approval.^[34] However, in December his nomination was blocked by a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate. Until a director is confirmed, the agency will not gain the full measure of its powers. It can supervise the compliance of banks with existing laws, but the Dodd-Frank financial legislation dictates that it cannot supervise other financial companies or write new rules. On 4 January 2012, President Obama named Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray the Bureau's Director in a recess appointment.^[35]

2012 US Senate run[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2012)

On September 14, 2011, Warren declared that she intended to run for the Democratic nomination for the 2012 election in Massachusetts for the United States Senate seat currently held by incumbent Scott Brown.^[36][37] On September 21, a video of Warren explaining the rationale of her economic policy received attention on the Internet.^[38]

Cherokee self-identification controversy[link]

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Warren listed herself as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools directory of law professors, from 1986 to 1995.^[39] The Brown campaign, the Native American Rights Fund, and a group of more than 150 Cherokees organized by Cherokee genealogist and activist David Cornsilk^[40][41] have questioned her motives for the claim and its propriety.^{[42][43][44][45][46]} The group, “Cherokees Demand Truth from Elizabeth Warren”, plans a protest at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention on June 2, 2012.^[47]

Genealogist Chris Child at the New England Historic Genealogical Society researched Warren's claimed native ancestry but found nothing conclusive. According to Child, “Once you go back further than 150 years the records are more complicated to go through,” and it may take weeks to months to make a determination.^[48][49][50] Warren said that she had heard family stories about her Cherokee ancestors her entire life ^[51] and had hoped it would create opportunities to meet people like her (even though the directory does not specify which minority professors belong to).^[39] But according to Warren, such opportunities never materialized and she eventually "stopped checking it off".^[52]

A month after the controversy began the Boston Globe discovered documents indicating that the Harvard University Law School had reported employing a Native American professor to the U.S. government in the years immediately before and after Warren left Harvard for a stint at the University of Pennsylvania.^[53] The most recent diversity census, for 2011, still shows one Native American professor. The census says that “Race/Ethnicity designations are from self-report data”.^[39] Warren, who does not meet the federal diversity definition of "Native American," admitted providing the information that she was a Native American to University of Pennsylvania and Harvard faculty in conversations after she was hired but denied that "there was [any] reporting for this".^[53] The Washington Post observed that she had "turned what could have been a small problem into a major story" by the way she had handled the issue.^[54]

According to a Suffolk University/7NEWS (WHDH-Boston) poll of 600 likely voters on May 20-22, 2012 there was 72 percent awareness of the controversy. 69 percent said Warren’s Native American heritage listing was not a significant story and 27 percent said it was.^[55][56]

Recognition[link]

Warren at the 2009 100 Most Influential People in the World reception.

Since about 2009, Warren has been recognized by several institutions as a major political figure. In 2009, the Boston Globe named her the Bostonian of the Year,^[9] and the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts honored her with the Lelia J. Robinson Award.^[57] She was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009 and 2010.^[58] The National Law Journal has repeatedly named Warren as one of the Fifty Most Influential Women Attorneys in America,^[59] and in 2010 they honored her as one of the 40 most influential attorneys of the decade.^[60]

Warren has been recognized for her dynamic teaching style. In 2009, Warren became the first professor in Harvard's history to win the law school's teaching award twice. The Sacks-Freund Teaching Award was voted on by the graduating class in honor of "her teaching ability, openness to student concerns, and contributions to student life at Harvard."^[61] Warren also has won awards from her students at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and the University of Houston Law Center. She delivered the commencement address at the Rutgers School of Law–Newark in May 2011, where she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and was conferred membership into the Order of the Coif.^[62]

Publications[link]

Selected articles

• Warren, E. (1987). "Bankruptcy Policy". The University of Chicago Law Review 54 (3): 775–814. JSTOR 1599826. 
• Warren, E. (1992). "The Untenable Case for Repeal of Chapter 11". The Yale Law Journal 102 (2): 437–479. JSTOR 796843. 
• Warren, E. (1993). "Bankruptcy Policymaking in an Imperfect World". Michigan Law Review 92 (2): 336–387. JSTOR 1289668. 
• "Principled Approach to Consumer Bankruptcy". American Bankruptcy Law Journal 71: 483. 1997. http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/ambank71&div=25&id=&page=. 
• "The Bankruptcy Crisis". Indiana Law Journal 73 (4): 1079. Fall 1998. http://www.law.indiana.edu/ilj/volumes/v73/no4/index.shtml. 
• Warren, Elizabeth; Westbrook, Jay Lawrence (January 2000). "Financial Characteristics of Businesses in Bankruptcy". SSRN Electronic Journal 73: 499. DOI:10.2139/ssrn.194750. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=194750. 
• Himmelstein, DU; Warren, E; Thorne, D; Woolhandler, S (2005). "Illness and injury as contributors to bankruptcy". Health affairs (Project Hope) Suppl Web Exclusives: W5–63–W5–73. DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.w5.63. PMID 15689369. 
• "The Vanishing Middle Class". In Edwards, John, ed. (2007). Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream. The New Press. ISBN 978-1-59558-176-1. 
• Himmelstein, David U.; Warren, Elizabeth; Thorne, Deborah; Woolhandler, Steffie J. (2005). "Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy". SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI:10.2139/ssrn.664565. 
• Himmelstein, DU; Thorne, D; Warren, E; Woolhandler, S (2009). "Medical bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a national study". The American Journal of Medicine 122 (8): 741–6. DOI:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.04.012. PMID 19501347. 

Books

• As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America. Oxford University Press. 1989. ISBN 978-0-19-505578-8.  (with Teresa A. Sullivan and Jay Westbrook)
• The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt. Yale University Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-300-09171-7.  (with Teresa A. Sullivan and Jay Westbrook)
• The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke. Basic Books. 2004. ISBN 978-0-465-09090-7.  (with Amelia Warren Tyagi)
• All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. Simon and Schuster. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7432-6988-9.  (with Amelia Warren Tyagi)
• Casenote Legal Briefs: Commercial Law. Aspen Publishers. 2006. ISBN 978-0-7355-5827-4.  (with Lynn M. LoPucki, Daniel Keating, Ronald Mann, and Normal Goldenberg)
• The Law of Debtors and Creditors: Text, Cases, and Problems (6th ed.). Aspen Publishers. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7355-7626-1.  (with Jay Westbrook)
• Chapter 11: Reorganizing American Businesses (Essentials). Aspen Publishers. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7355-7654-4. 
• Secured Credit: A Systems Approach. Wolters Kluwer. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7355-7649-0.  (with Lynn M. LoPucki)

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Social class in the United States

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senate campaign website
• Elizabeth Warren at Harvard Law School
  • Bibliography
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances on Charlie Rose
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Elizabeth Warren in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Elizabeth Warren collected news and commentary at Salon.com
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org

Interviews and articles

• Generation, Gap, and interview with Elizabeth Warrn in Guernica Magazine
• Elizabeth Warren: a tough sheriff in finance's Wild West, The Daily Telegraph
• Warren Winning Means You Won't Sell It If You Can't Explain It, Bloomberg
• In fight over credit rules, she wields a plan, Boston Globe
• "The TARP Queen: Why we should all bow before Elizabeth Warren (even if you've never heard of her)". Slate. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090427081845/http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/04/23/elizabeth-warren-my-hero. 
• Bank Buster, Mother Jones
• The Debt Crusader: Inspired by Dr. Phil, Harvard's Elizabeth Warren has gone to D.C. to change the way America borrows, Newsweek
• Elizabeth Warren on the Economy, NOW on PBS
• Video: Elizabeth Warren, New Yorker, Nov. 16, 2009
• Interview with Yahoo! Finance, Oct. 16, 2009
• Voices of Power Video: Elizabeth Warren, Washington Post, Oct. 8, 2009
• Interview with Elizabeth Warren from Frontline
• Elizabeth Warren on NPR link to full interview for show of May 8, 2009
• UCTV programs with Elizabeth Warren
  • The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class: Higher Risks, Lower Rewards, and a Shrinking Safety Net
  • Conversations with History: Law, Politics, and the Coming Collapse of the Middle Class with Elizabeth Warren
• Warren says Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is Obama's "Strongest Financial Reform" – video report by Democracy Now!

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator from California
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1993 Serving with Dianne Feinstein
Preceded by	Alan Cranston
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 2007
Preceded by	James Inhofe
Chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 2007
Preceded by	George Voinovich
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 6th district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Phillip Burton
Succeeded by	Lynn C. Woolsey
Personal details
Born	Barbara Levy (1940-11-11) November 11, 1940 (age 71) Brooklyn, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Stewart Boxer
Children	Douglas Boxer Nicole Boxer
Residence	Rancho Mirage, California[1]
Alma mater	Brooklyn College (B.A.)
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Judaism
Website	boxer.senate.gov

Barbara Levy Boxer (born November 11, 1940) is the junior United States Senator from California (since 1993). A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1983–1993).

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Boxer graduated from Brooklyn College. She worked as a stockbroker for several years before moving to California with her husband. During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and as an aide to U.S. Representative John L. Burton. She served on the Marin County Board of Supervisors for six years and become the board's first female president. With the slogan "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn", she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, representing California District 6. She sat on the House Armed Services Committee, and was involved in government oversight, passing several procurement reforms.

Boxer won the 1992 election for the U.S. Senate. She holds the record for the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, having received 6.96 million votes in her 2004 re-election.^[2] Boxer is the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the chair of the Select Committee on Ethics, making her the only senator to preside over two committees simultaneously. She is also the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip.

She is currently twenty-third in seniority in the United States Senate.

Early life and family[link]

Barbara Levy Boxer was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents Sophie (née Silvershein; born in Austria) and Ira Levy.^[3] She attended public schools, and graduated from George W. Wingate High School in 1958.

In 1962, she married Stewart Boxer and graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor's degree in Economics. While in college she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and was a cheerleader for the Brooklyn College basketball team.^[4]

Boxer worked as a stockbroker for the next three years, while her husband went to law school. Later, the couple moved to Greenbrae, Marin County, California, and had two children, Doug and Nicole. She first ran for political office in 1972, when she challenged incumbent Peter Arrigoni, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, but lost a close election. Later during the 1970s, Boxer worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and as an aide to John Burton, then a member of Congress.^[5] In 1976, Boxer was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors, serving for six years.^[6] She was the Board's first woman president.^[7]

In 1994, her daughter Nicole married Tony Rodham, brother of then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a ceremony at the White House. The couple had one son, Zachary, and divorced in 2000.^[8]

Boxer's husband, Stewart, a prominent attorney in Oakland, represents injured workers in worker's compensation cases, keeping a very low political profile. Many cases are referred to him by labor unions, including the Teamsters. In 2006, the Boxers sold their house in Greenbrae, where they had lived for many years, and moved to Rancho Mirage.^[9] Their son, Douglas, a lawyer, practices with Stewart and is a member of the Oakland Planning Commission, having been appointed to that office by then-mayor Jerry Brown.

Boxer's first novel, A Time to Run was published in 2005 by San Francisco-based publishing company Chronicle Books.^[10] Her second novel Blind Trust was released in July 2009 by Chronicle Books.

U.S. Representative[link]

Boxer was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, defeating Dennis McQuaid. Her slogan was "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn." In the House, she represented California District 6 (Marin and Sonoma Counties) for five terms.^{[11][dead link]}

In 1992, Boxer was embarrassed by the House banking scandal, which revealed that more than 450 ongressional representatives and aides, herself included, wrote overdraft checks covered by overdraft protection by the House Bank. In response, she issued a statement saying "in painful retrospect, I clearly should have paid more attention to my account" and wrote a $15 check to the Deficit Reduction Fund for each of her 87 overdrafts.^[12]

In 1991, during the Anita Hill Senate hearings, where Hill accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, Boxer led a group of women House members to the Senate Judiciary Committee – demanding that the all-white, all-male Committee of Senators take Hill's charges seriously.^[13]

U.S. Senator[link]

Elections[link]

Democratic Senator Alan Cranston retired in 1992, creating an open contest, which Boxer won in the U.S. Senate elections that year, defeating Bruce Herschensohn, a conservative television political commentator, by 4.9% after a last-minute revelation that Herschensohn had attended a strip club.^[14] In 1998, she won a second term, beating sitting California State Treasurer Matt Fong by 10% of the vote.^[15] After facing no primary opposition in the 2004 election, Boxer defeated GOP candidate Bill Jones, the sitting California Secretary of State, by a margin of 20 percentage points.^[16] In 2010, Boxer defeated GOP candidate Carly Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, by a margin of 10 percentage points.^[17]

Committees[link]

• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
  • Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Science and Space
• Committee on Environment and Public Works (Chairwoman)
• Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs
  • Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
  • Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women's Issues (Chairwoman)
  • Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection
• Select Committee on Ethics (Chairwoman)

A member of the Senate Democratic Leadership, Boxer serves as the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip, which gives her the job of lining up votes on key legislation.^[18]

Caucus memberships[link]

• Senate Oceans Caucus

Presidential politics[link]

2004[link]

On Valentine's Day 2005, Senator Boxer received 4,500 roses for calling attention to alleged voting irregularities in Ohio during the 2004 presidential election.

On January 6, 2005, Boxer joined Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in filing a U.S. Congressional objection to the certification of Ohio's Electoral College votes in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.^[19] She called the objection her "opening shot to be able to focus the light of truth on these terrible problems in the electoral system".^[20][21] The Senate voted the objection down 1–74; the House voted the objection down 31–267.^[22] It was only the second Congressional objection to an entire State's electoral delegation in U.S. history; the first instance was in 1877.^[23][24]

2008[link]

As a superdelegate, Boxer had declared that she would support the winner of the California primary, which was won by Hillary Clinton.^[25] However, she reneged on that pledge and remained neutral, only officially backing Obama's candidacy the day after the last primaries, once he had garnered enough delegate votes to clinch the nomination. ^[26]

Platform and votes[link]

Health care[link]

Senator Boxer joined with Senate Democratic women at a press conference to speak about women's health.

Senator Boxer is part of a coalition to increase medical research to find cures for diseases. In 2007, she authored successful bipartisan legislation with Senator Gordon Smith to combat HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis globally.^[27] In 1997, she authored a Patients' Bill of Rights. She has written a bill to make health insurance tax-deductible and another bill to let any American buy into the same health insurance program that members of Congress have. She supports comprehensive prescription drug coverage through Medicare and the right of all consumers to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs re-imported from Canada.^[28]

In October 2002, Boxer urged the Bush Administration to take specific steps to address the causes of the steep increase in autism cases in California.^[29] She wrote Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson to establish a common national standard for the diagnosis of autism; instruct the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to convene a task force to review the current literature on autism and conduct its own study if necessary; and direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to work with the states to create a national chronic disease database.

Boxer is an advocate for embryonic stem-cell research, which has the potential to help those with diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injuries, and other diseases.^[30]

In March 2010, Boxer voted to support the health care reform proposed by the Obama Administration and Democratic 111th Congress by voting yes on the Health Care Reconciliation Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Education[link]

Boxer established the Excellence in Education award to recognize teachers, parents, businesses and organizations that are working to make positive changes in education. Since 1997 Senator Boxer has presented the Excellence in Education Award to 38 recipients.^[31]

The economy[link]

Senators Boxer and John Ensign (R-NV) are the authors of the Invest in the USA Act. This legislation, which was signed into law in October 2004 as a small part of the more comprehensive American Jobs Creation Act, is intended to encourage American companies to bring overseas profits back to the United States, to create jobs in the U.S., and stimulate domestic economic growth.

In March 2004, Boxer offered an amendment to the Federal budget to create a $24 billion jobs reserve fund. The amendment would set aside funds for a variety of investments to improve the economy and create jobs by establishing a manufacturing jobs tax credit for companies that create jobs in the United States, expanding investment in science research and development, providing a tax credit to small businesses to pay for health insurance for their employees, and expanding trade adjustment assistance to help those who lose their jobs because of foreign trade. The Boxer amendment would also end the tax break that companies receive after moving plants overseas.

On October 1, 2008, Boxer voted in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.^[32]

The environment[link]

Boxer successfully led the 2003 Senate floor battle to block oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.^[33] In 2005, Boxer voted again to block oil drilling at ANWR.

Boxer has introduced the National Oceans Protection Act (NOPA) of 2005.^[34] Some of the provisions of this act are: strengthen ocean governance; protect and restore marine wildlife and habitats; address ocean pollution; improve fisheries management. The bill also addresses needs regarding marine science, research and technology, marine mammals, coastal development, and invasive species.

Boxer is an original cosponsor of Senator Jim Jeffords' (I-VT) Clean Power Act.^[35] This legislation would reduce emissions of three pollutants coming from power plants; sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury, and also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide .

As the new head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January 2007, Boxer wants to reduce energy consumption. She is attempting to curb global warming by leading pilot programs. The few things that she and some of her fellow Senators are doing could cut electricity consumption by as much as 50 percent in their Capitol Hill offices.^[36]

Senator Boxer was the Senate sponsor of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which was signed in to law by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The bill protected 275,830 acres (1,116 km²) of federal land as wilderness and 21 miles (34 km) of stream as a wild and scenic river, including such popular areas as the King Range and Cache Creek.^[37] Senator Boxer worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Mike Thompson (the bill's House sponsor) in the five-year effort to pass the legislation.

Boxer along with her colleague Dianne Feinstein voted in favor of subsidy payments to conventional commodity farm producers at the cost of subsidies for conservation-oriented farming.^[38]

Reproductive rights[link]

Boxer speaks at an event.

Boxer maintains a strong stance in support of reproductive rights and the "pro-choice" movement. Boxer authored the Freedom of Choice Act of 2004 and participated in the floor fight for passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

Boxer is an original cosponsor of the Title X Family Planning Services Act of 2005, S.844, by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). This legislation aims to improve access to women's health care. It authorizes funding for family planning services grants; allows states to provide such services to individuals who may not be eligible for Medicaid; prohibits health insurance providers from excluding contraceptive services, drugs or devices from benefits; establishes a program to disseminate information on emergency contraception; requires hospitals receiving federal funding to offer emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault; provides grants to public and private entities to establish or expand teen pregnancy prevention programs; and requires that federally funded education programs about contraception be medically accurate and include information about health benefits and failure rates.

She was strongly critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which would prevent taxpayer-funded abortions possibly resulting in women not being able to pay with their own funds for abortion coverage Affordable Health Care for America Act.^[39]

Social Security[link]

Boxer supports the current system of Social Security, and opposed President George W. Bush's plan for partial privatization of Social Security.^[40][41] She introduced the 401(k) Pension Protection Act to protect retirement by requiring the diversification of 401(k) plans. A modified version of the bill was signed into law as part of the 1997 tax bill.

Following the Enron scandal, Boxer again worked to ensure that retirement plans are diversified. She also introduced a bill to prohibit accounting firms from auditing and consulting for the same company.

National security[link]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Boxer authored a bill to protect commercial airliners against attacks by shoulder-fired missiles, and wrote the law allowing airline pilots with special training to carry guns in the cockpit.

Senator Boxer has lunch with California Marines during her visit to Iraq. (2005-03-22)

Boxer wrote the High-Tech Port Security Act, and sponsored the Chemical Security Act to address terrorist threats against chemical plants. Senator Boxer also cosponsored comprehensive rail security legislation.

Iraq War[link]

In October 2002, Boxer voted against the joint resolution passed by the U.S. Congress to authorize the use of military force by the Bush Administration against Iraq.^[42][43][44] In June 2005, Senators Boxer and Russ Feingold (D-WI) cosponsored Senate Resolution 171 calling for a timeframe for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Boxer's petition demanding an exit strategy from Iraq drew 107,218 signatures.^[45]

Boxer was sharply critical of General Petraeus testimony regarding the political and military situation in Iraq in 2007, charging him with reporting while wearing 'rosy glasses'.^[46]

Surveillance[link]

In June 2008 Boxer spoke in the Senate in opposition to the FISA Amendments Act of 2008,^[47] a pending bill in the United States Congress to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,^[48] and later broke with her counterpart Sen. Dianne Feinstein and voted against it.^[49]

Election reform[link]

Senators Boxer and Clinton unveil the Count Every Vote Act^{[dead link]}. (2005-02-18)

Boxer voted in support of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which mandated the use of voting machines across the country, among other provisions. On February 18, 2005, Senators Boxer, Hillary Clinton, and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2005, which would provide a voter verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines and ensure access to voter verification for all citizens. The bill mandates that this ballot be the official ballot for purposes of a recount. The bill sets a uniform standard for provisional ballots and requires the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and trained election personnel in every community. The bill also mandated improved security measures for electronic voting machines.^[50] The bill did not pass.

Bush nominees[link]

During the confirmation hearings for the United States Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice in January 2005, Boxer challenged her to admit to alleged mistakes and false statements made by the Bush Administration in leading the United States into the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and ultimately voted against confirmation, along with twelve other senators.^[51][52] The dissent was the highest vote against a Secretary of State nominee since 1825 when Henry Clay was so named.^[53]

Boxer voted against John Bolton's nomination for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and filibustered him on the Senate floor. As a result of the strong Democratic opposition Bolton could not obtain Senate approval. However, President Bush bypassed the Senate by employing the constitutional right of recess appointment, only the second time such an appointment has been used for a United States ambassador to the United Nations since the UN's founding in 1945. Recess appointments themselves have been used numerous times by various presidents.

Boxer voted against the confirmation of Chief Justice of the United States nominee John Roberts, and against the confirmation of Associate Justice nominee Samuel Alito.^[54][55]

Foreign policy[link]

In 1997, the Senate passed a Boxer resolution calling on the United States not to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan because of its human rights abuses against women.

Senator Boxer meets Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. (2005-03-30)

In 2002, Senator Boxer voted against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She has subsequently referred to that vote as the best vote of her career. She also voted against the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) while a member of the House in 1991^[56] and was a very vocal protester against the Vietnam War in the 1970s.^[57]

Boxer is a cosponsor of S. 495, or the Darfur Accountability Act of 2005, which would impose sanctions against perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Drug Policy Reform[link]

Senator Boxer has come out against reforming marijuana policy and is opposed to the California Ballot measure to legalize and tax marijuana for those 21 and older in the state.^[58]

Gun control[link]

Senator Boxer joined colleagues to pass a Federal ban on various semi-automatic firearms and established the COPS program.

Same-sex marriage[link]

The Human Rights Campaign gave Boxer ratings of 100%, 88% and 100% for the 107th, 108th, and 109th sessions of Congress, respectively, indicating a support of the HRC's slate of pro-gay rights legislative issues.^[59] In 1996, she was one of fourteen Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act^[60] and also voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006,^[61] although when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued a directive to the city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples she stated that she supported California's domestic partnership law but agreed with its definition that marriage was between a man and a woman.^[62] However, her 2010 re-election campaign website states that "Senator Boxer supports marriage equality."^[63] She opposed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage in California, and supported the Uniting American Families Act.^[64]

Hate Crimes[link]

Boxer co-sponsored the Matthew Shepard Act,^[65] which expanded the federal definition of hate crimes to include crimes based on the victim's sexual orientation and gender identity.

India-U.S. nuclear deal[link]

Boxer is one of the most outspoken critics of the nuclear energy deal between the United States and India. Boxer is of the opinion that India should not get help from the U.S. in the civilian nuclear energy sector until it breaks its relationship with Iran.^[66]

Censuring President Bush[link]

Senator Boxer was, along with Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, one of only two Senate Democrats to come out in favor of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold's resolution to censure President George W. Bush.^[67]