Biography
One of the most powerful women in the U.S. House of Representatives,
Congresswoman Louise McIntosh Slaughter has achieved a significant level of
leadership as the Chairwoman of the influential House Committee on Rules, making her the
first woman in history to hold this position. A member of the
House Democratic Leadership, she serves on the prestigious Democratic Steering
& Policy Committee. She is the Democratic Chair of two very prominent
congressional caucuses: the Congressional
Arts Caucus and the Bipartisan
Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.
In November 2008, Rep. Slaughter was elected to her twelfth term in
Congress as U.S. Representative for the 28th Congressional District of New York
State. Her diverse district includes the cities of Rochester,
Buffalo
and Niagara
Falls. Her constituents know her to be a strong proponent of
progressive causes and a fighter for the employment concerns and the economic
development of Western New York. She
has earned a reputation for her dedication to constituent service.
A microbiologist with a master's degree in public health, Rep. Slaughter is
intensely involved in health issues. She is the leading expert in
Congress on genetics issues and her cutting-edge legislation to protect
Americans from discrimination by health insurance providers and employers based
on genetic makeup is now law. Rep. Slaughter's Genetic Information Nondiscrimination
Act (GINA) passed the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President
Bush in May 2008. The bill has been
called "the first civil rights legislation for the 21st century."
In 1997, Rep. Slaughter was awarded the American Public Health Association
Distinguished Public Health Legislator Award for her work on health and
genetics issues.
A tireless promoter of economic development, Rep. Slaughter is deeply
concerned about the job losses suffered in Western New
York. In Congress, she has introduced legislation to study
the effects of international trade agreements like NAFTA on American
jobs. To help local employers, Rep. Slaughter regularly holds conferences
to help businesses access capital and federal contracting opportunities.
In March 2004, she and former Rep. Jack Quinn organized a major event with
local manufacturers to discuss ways the federal government can support them.
Rep. Slaughter's fight to secure funding for local
projects was recognized by the Rochester Institute of Technology, when it named
its Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies facility, "The Louise M.
Slaughter Building." Rep. Slaughter authored the Niagara Falls
Heritage Act which passed in
Congress by overwhelming majorities and was signed into law by President Bush. This law will help heighten national
appreciation for the region, preserve its natural and historic resources, and
expand the local economy. Rep.
Slaughter has secured over $25 million for the development of the Rochester Harbor, in addition to millions of
dollars for other economic development projects. In Buffalo
and Niagara, she has brought in millions of dollars for community development
projects at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Hauptman-Woodward Institute, CUBRC,
Inc., the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical
Center, the Niagara
Falls International Airport, Olcott
Harbor, and the Village
of Lyndonville in Orleans County,
to name just a few.
When serving as a senior member of the Select Committee on Homeland
Security, Rep. Slaughter fought to support first responders in Western New York and improve systems to deliver federal
funding to local entities. She organized a major forum for local first
responders and hosted a subcommittee hearing in Niagara Falls in 2003, where Members of
Congress came to discuss border security. Rep. Slaughter has also
authored legislation to put in place a Northern Border Coordinator at the
Department of Homeland Security in order to coordinate federal, state and local
law enforcement and first responders. In addition, she worked on the
SECURE Borders legislative proposal, which would provide $1 billion for
security improvements such as enhancing border lines, doubling the number of
Custom and Border Patrol agents.
A leading advocate for women's rights, Rep. Slaughter served at co-chair of
the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues during the 108th Congress, and
continues to serve as co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Choice
Caucus. She co-authored the historic Violence Against Women Act in 1994
and wrote legislation to make permanent the Department of Justice's Violence
Against Women Office. She is leading the fight against sexual assault in
the military, and organized a hearing on the issue in March 2004 that garnered
national attention. Rep. Slaughter authored an amendment to the
Department of Defense Authorization bill in FY05 to require the Pentagon to put
in place comprehensive policies and procedures to deal with sexual assault in
the military. In November 2004, she introduced landmark legislation to
make further changes to end sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in
the military. She has continued to
reintroduce this bill each Congress.
Rep. Slaughter has won historic increases in funding for women's
health. As a member of the House Budget Committee in the early 1990s, she
secured the first $500 million earmarked by Congress for breast cancer research
at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She fought for legislation
guaranteeing that women and minorities are included in all federal health
trials and establishing an Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) at NIH
and was later honored with its "Visionary for Women's Health
Research" award, on the ORWH's tenth anniversary. She has also
introduced a bill to direct NIH to fund up to six centers nationwide to focus
on women's health and the environment, as well as a bill to increase research
on the impact of hormone disruptors on women's health.
As longtime co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Rep. Slaughter leads
the annual fight to increase budgets for the arts and humanities. In 2007,
she successfully led the fight to increase funding for the National Endowments
for the Arts from $124 million in FY07 to $144.7 million in FY08, a $20 million
increase. Her efforts to generate congressional support for the arts have
been recognized by a variety of arts organizations over the years. She has received awards for her commitment to
the arts by Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations, the U.S. Conference of
Mayors, Americans for the Arts, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the
Eastman School of Music at the University
of Rochester, among
others.
During her tenure in Congress, Rep. Slaughter has won numerous awards for
her leadership and dedication to public service. She was the first Member
of Congress to receive the Sidney R. Yates National Arts Advocacy Award,
presented by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. In 2003 she
was awarded the Humane Legislator of the Year by the American Humane Association.
In January 1999, she was named "Lay Educator of the Year" by the
Rochester Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa International, the professional fraternity
for men and women in education. In 2004, Women in Film and Vision honored
her with its Woman of Vision award for her work on women's and arts issues.
Elected in 1986, Rep. Slaughter holds a Bachelor of Science degree (1951) in
Microbiology and a Master of Science degree (1953) in Public Health from the University of Kentucky. Prior to entering Congress,
she served in the New York State Assembly (1982-86) and the Monroe County
(N.Y.) Legislature (1976-79); and as regional coordinator to then-Secretary of
State Mario Cuomo (1976-78) and to then-Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo (1979-82).
A native of Harlan County, Kentucky, Congresswoman Slaughter has lived most
of her life in Rochester's
suburb of Fairport. She is married to Robert Slaughter and has three
daughters and seven grandchildren.
|