- published: 18 Apr 2012
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Clarence Saxby Chambliss, Jr. (born November 10, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative (1995–2003).
During his four terms in the House, Chambliss served on the United States House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which oversaw investigations of the intelligence community after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
During his 2002 bid for the U.S. Senate, Chambliss focused on the issue of national defense and homeland security. He won with 53% of the vote. For several years he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and chaired the committee during the 109th Congress (2005–2007). In the 112th Congress (2011–2012) he is the ranking Republican on the Select Committee on Intelligence. Chambliss has a conservative voting record in the Senate, but he has participated in some bipartisan legislation. In December 2011, the Washington Post named Saxby and the "Gang of Six" as one of the Best Leaders of 2011 for attempts to craft a bipartisan deficit reduction package.
Patricia Lynn "Patty" Murray (née Johns; born October 11, 1950) is the senior United States Senator from Washington and a member of the Democratic Party. Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1992, becoming Washington's first female senator. She was re-elected in 1998, 2004 and 2010.
Murray has served as the Senate Majority Conference Secretary since 2007, making her the fourth-highest-ranking Democrat and the highest-ranking woman in the Senate.
Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2003, Murray assumed the role again in early 2011, for a term ending in 2013. She is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
On August 9, 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed Murray to co-chair the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
One of seven children, Murray was born in Bothell, Washington, to Beverly A. (née McLaughlin) and David L. Johns. Her mother was an accountant. Her father fought in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart.[citation needed] She attended Saint Brendan Catholic School as a young child.