2012 Best of Congress Profiles

D-Wisconsin
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What we love:** Since 1998, when she became the first woman from Wisconsin elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Tammy Baldwin has been a leading advocate for universal health care and a supporter of civil rights. During this session of Congress, Baldwin opposed legislation that would restrict women’s and children’s right to receive medical care. She also voted against legislation aimed at removing funding for school-based health centers. She has sponsored legislation to improve media literacy programs for young people and to encourage the promotion of healthier media messages about girls and women. For her own staff, Baldwin allows flexible hours and extended time off, with or without pay, as circumstances require. One of the congresswoman’s staff members says: “As a mother of two young children, I wouldn’t be able to stay happily in the workforce if I didn’t have a job that was both flexible and professionally stimulating.”

D-Colorado

What we love: A former businessman, Sen. Michael Bennet has focused on efforts to create jobs, support middle-class families and improve the economy. This champion for small business led the fight in the Senate to pass a bill that boosted small-business investments and provided more than $12 billion in targeted tax relief for Colorado job creators. Also a former school superintendent and a member of the Senate Education Committee, he is pushing for reforms that support great teaching, cut needless red tape and bureaucracy and incentivize innovative efforts at the state and local levels that enhance student achievement and help prepare young people to compete in the new economy. Bennet, who has three young daughters, understands the challenges facing working parents and families, and his own office policies yield a flexible work environment and leave policy that help promote healthy work life balance.

D-Ohio

What we love: For the last four years, Sen. Sherrod Brown has convened an Ohio College Presidents Conference in Washington, DC, to discuss ways to leverage federal resources to promote higher education and job training in his home state of Ohio. Throughout his Senate career, he has held more than 200 roundtable discussions in the state—one in each of its 88 counties—to seek out different community leaders’ perspectives on how he can best help working families. In 2008 he worked to reauthorize Healthy Start, a program that reduces infant mortality; in 2009, he sponsored the Hunger Free Schools Act, which would create performance awards for states that show improvement in their free meal certification. Brown also co-sponsored the Healthy Families Act, which would require employers to provide paid sick leave. Each of his staffers gets 13 days of paid sick leave yearly, along with flexibility that enables them to advance their education.

D-Missouri

What we love: Rep. Russ Carnahan has participated in efforts to increase the minimum wage, lower interest rates on student loans and reduce the prices seniors pay for prescription drugs. He has prioritized affordable health care, saying it is critically important to the economic well-being of America. Carnahan co-sponsored legislation that would expand federal law to prohibit workplace discrimination due to sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. He is also an original co-sponsor of the Healthy Families Act, which would enable workers to earn up to 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to seven days’ worth of paid leave. Carnahan’s family-friendly office policies include extended time off with and without pay, including eight weeks of paid parental leave; telecommuting options; and access to educational and career enhancement and advancement opportunities. He encourages staffers to leave the office to exercise and attend to personal affairs.

D-Pennsylvania

What we love: Sen. Robert Casey considers early childhood education, nutrition and investments in workforce readiness to be high legislative priorities. Last year, he introduced the Starting Early, Starting Right Act, which would improve access to high-quality early learning and child care for children of low-income working families. In 2012, Casey reintroduced the Working Families Flexibility Act. The bill would provide employees with a statutory right to request flexible work terms and conditions. The measure also prohibits employers from discriminating or otherwise retaliating against employees who avail themselves of this process. In his home state, he supported an initiative to provide $1,500,000 in funding for the Pittsburgh Youth Employment Plan. The plan would allow the city of Pittsburgh to expand its Youth Summer Employment program and add a mentorship and internship program to help urban youth build skills so they can be competitive in today’s job market.

R-Idaho

What we love: During the 112th Congress, Sen. Mike Crapo introduced the Military Family-Friendly Employer Award Act, which would create an award for employers with workplace flexibility policies for spouses and caregivers of service members and for members of the military returning from deployments. He also co-sponsored a resolution that designated October 2011 as National Work and Family Month. Along with his Senate colleagues, Crapo created and chaired the Senate Working Group on Workplace Flexibility to break the political stalemate surrounding flexibility in the workplace. The Working Group’s goal is to study the relevant data, policy models and case studies, as well as to hear from different stakeholders to help develop consensus-based, bipartisan measures that promote better work life balance for families. Crapo provides his staff with flexible time schedules: One employee’s part-time work schedule shifts during summer months to allow maximum time with her children when they are out of school.

D-California

What we love: Rep. Susan Davis’s experiences as a parent, social worker, youth mentor and military spouse inform her focus on helping working families. During her tenure in Congress, she has voted to eliminate pay discrimination against women, expand health care coverage to millions of low-income children and end predatory mortgage loan practices. A long-standing advocate for women on health issues, she sponsored legislation that would eliminate the provision in many health care plans that requires women to get a referral from a primary care physician before seeing an obstetrician or gynecologist. She was also an original co-sponsor of legislation designed to prevent insurers from charging women higher medical premiums than men. As a working mother and grandmother, Davis creates a family-friendly environment in her office, offering flexible schedules, telecommuting options and an environment that is baby-, child- and even pet-friendly.

D-Connecticut

What we love: For more than two decades in Congress, Rep. Rosa DeLauro has supported initiatives related to issues such as child nutrition and development, child health care and affordable education. In 2009 she co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Baby Caucus, a group formed to create legislative champions for the needs of infants and toddlers, which has advocated for and evaluated programs such as Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant. Among numerous proposals DeLauro has sponsored during this session of Congress are bills to provide more effective remedies for victims of discrimination in the payment of wages, to expand access to child care and to promote economic self-sufficiency for low-income women. Since she first came to Congress in 1990, she has put every congressional pay raise toward the Ted DeLauro Scholarship, founded in memory of her late father. To date, almost 400 students have received $1,000 scholarships.

R-California

What we love: As a father, farmer, small-business owner and member of Congress, Rep. Jeff Denham does everything he can to make sure he never misses one of his daughter’s swim meets or his son’s basketball games. Likewise, he enables his staffers to attend to their family obligations by offering them flexible scheduling and telecommuting options. Denham recognizes the specific challenges facing families in his rural district of California: long commutes to school, long distances to obtain medical care and other public services, and the reality that many of his constituents operate family farms. As a result, he supports legislation meant to secure more funding for rural schools and emergency services. He has also voted for legislation that will allow states to use federal funds to carry out demonstration projects meant to lead to improvements in child welfare programs.

D-Pennsylvania

What we love: Rep. Chaka Fattah advocates for legislation and programs meant to level the playing field for those with low and modest incomes. He is currently working to make permanent his major achievement of the previous Congress: the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which provides a $2,500 tax credit for tuition and other expenses for college students. In its first four years, the AOTC helped approximately 4.5 million low- and moderate-income college students—in many cases nontraditional and working-parent—and their families meet college expenses. At his office, Fattah, who has four kids himself, supports his staffers’ efforts to pursue work life satisfaction by allowing them to telecommute and use flexible work arrangements. He also encourages their professional and personal development: Within the last year, three of Fattah’s staff members completed academic degrees, including a bachelor’s, a master’s and a PhD.

D-New York

What we love: Since Kirsten Gillibrand, the mother of two young children, joined the Senate in 2009, she has established a legislative agenda focused on improving education and nutrition for children, supporting outreach to at-risk youth and making child care more affordable. During the current session of Congress, she sponsored legislation that would focus congressional priorities on guaranteeing pay equity for women, rewarding companies that promote flexible work environments for working parents and for workers who are caregivers, guaranteeing paid family and medical leave and paid sick days, and improving the quality and affordability of child care. As part of her campaign efforts, Gillibrand has been working over the past year on an effort called Off the Sidelines, which aims to get more women involved in all aspects of public service and advocacy. She is the sixth woman to have given birth while in Congress and the third to stay in Congress afterward.

D-Arizona

What we love: Rep. Raúl Grijalva has prioritized improving the quality of life for working families and others in Southern Arizona throughout his 40 years in public service. Education, job creation, workers’ rights and the environment have been among his top policy concerns since his election to Congress in 2002. During the current session of Congress, he sponsored legislation intended to help train, retrain and update individuals to prepare them for jobs in the community. He also co-sponsored legislation that would provide matching grants to states to help them enhance or improve state-funded preschool programs. At Grijalva's congressional office, flex hours are available for staff to use for college courses and family obligations. He allows employees to take as much as a full year of unpaid leave to care for a new baby or a sick relative. He encourages staffers to bring kids to the office.

R-Texas

What we love: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced legislation to reauthorize the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which was signed into law in 1997 and makes critical breast and cervical cancer screenings and diagnostic services available to low-income, uninsured and underinsured women across the country. Hutchison also introduced the Breast Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act, which passed late last year. It extends the sale of America’s first fund-raising stamp for two more years. According to the U.S. Postal Service, more than 924 million Breast Cancer Research Stamps have been sold, raising more than $74 million for breast cancer research. In 2011, the senator introduced a key provision to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which helps law enforcement more effectively target high-tech predators. Her legislation would update federal anti-stalking laws to effectively cover all acts of electronic surveillance and other means of stalking.

D-Wisconsin

What we Love: During the 112th Congress, Senator Kohl introduced the Fast Track to College Act, a bill that would establish a grant initiative for “dual enrollment” programs and “early college high schools,” in hopes of reducing high school dropout rates and improving access to college for low-income students. The Herb Kohl Education Foundation annually provides scholarships to 175 Wisconsin high school students and 100 fellowship awards for teachers and their schools. As of August 2011, the foundation has awarded a total of approximately $7.8 million to Wisconsin educators, students and schools. As the chair of the Special Committee on Aging, Kohl convened a hearing on elder abuse that garnered national attention. In addition to raising awareness about the issue, he introduced two bills aimed at combating abuse of older Americans—the End Abuse Later in Life Act and the Elder Abuse Victims Act.

D-New York

What we love: Rep. Carolyn Maloney has focused on major concerns of working families and women during all of her nearly 20 years as the representative of New York’s 14th District. Among her many proposals to enhance work life policies during this session of Congress, she sponsored legislation aimed at mandating paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child for federal employees and broadening protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act to include workers at companies with more than 25 employees (rather than 50, as stipulated in the original law). As the first New York City Council member to give birth while serving in office, Maloney knows firsthand about the demands placed on members of working families: Her office maintains a flexible-hours policy so parents feel comfortable taking time off for their kids’ events, and new mothers are allowed to work four-day weeks.

D-Washington

What we love: The first woman to be elected to the Senate from Washington State, Patty Murray has fought for measures to close the pay gap, protect women in retirement and increase access to child care. She helped write and pass the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and helped reauthorize it in 2000 and 2005. During this session of Congress, she sponsored legislation to establish partnerships to create or enhance educational and skills development pathways to careers, and she co-sponsored a bill to prohibit wage-payment discrimination based on gender, race or national origin. The daughter of a disabled World War II veteran, Murray is a strong advocate for veterans, members of the military and their families. She has worked with the Veterans Health Administration in Washington State to expand services at VA facilities. For her own staff, Murray provides flexibility options and up to five weeks of vacation.

R-South Dakota

What we love: Rep. Kristi Noem’s legislative priorities and family-friendly office policies have been shaped by her experience as a small-town rancher: The freshman congresswoman has voted to repeal what she considers burdensome reporting requirements for small businesses, as well as for legislation that would help retrain veterans and transition them into civilian employment so they can continue to support their families. She also co-sponsored legislation intended to promote and expand employee stock ownership plans and to permanently repeal the estate tax. Noem grew up on a family farm and says the estate tax caused a tremendous strain on her family when her father died in a farming accident. As a working mother of three school-aged children, she knows the importance of attending activities and events in their lives, so her office has a flexible-hours policy for staffers.

R-Minnesota

What we love: Recognizing the value education and training have for both working families and businesses, Rep. Erik Paulsen is the lead Republican supporting the Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs) Act of 2011. LiLAs would be employer-matched portable education accounts that encourage a partnership between workers and employers. Paulsen also co-sponsored the Savings Enhancement for Education in College Act,**** which would permanently extend the tax incentive for employers who contribute to an employee’s qualified college savings plan. Working father Paulsen understands the importance of work life balance, so he gives employees caring for sick kids or parents time off with pay and occasionally allows his staffers to work from home if needed. Members of the congressman’s staff are also encouraged to continue their education while they work, and he offers flexible scheduling to make sure they can get to class and study.

D-Colorado

What we love: During his time in office, Rep. Ed Perlmutter has focused on creating and preserving jobs for the hardworking families of Colorado. In the 112th Congress he co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide protections for women in the workplace. The congressman’s office has a flexible work policy meant to support staffers’ commitments to community, home and loved ones. Perlmutter also understands that his staff cannot meet the needs of the 7th Congressional District of Colorado if they do not take care of themselves first, as is highlighted by a member of his staff: “Out of the blue, a serious medical condition required me to go on bed rest for almost two weeks. Rep. Perlmutter and the entire staff told me to take as much time as I needed to heal and allowed me to work from home during the healing process. I am very thankful for their flexibility and compassion.”

R-Washington

What we love: In the 112th Congress, Rep. Dave Reichert co-sponsored the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, which passed last fall. It extends and makes adjustments to the Child Welfare Services and Promoting Safe and Stable Families programs. These pay for services that help ensure children remain safely with their own parents or are supported by other caretaker adults. Reichert also co-sponsored the Savings Enhancement for Education in College Act, which would help low- and middle-income families save for college. He is founder and co-chair of the Children’s Health Care Caucus, which works to educate and inform members of Congress on children’s health care issues, and he is a co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Childhood Obesity, formed to identify, discuss and promote policy ideas to address this pediatric epidemic. The congressman is also a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

R-Washington

What we love: In the 112th Congress, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers hosted the inaugural GOP Women’s CEO Panel on Jobs and the Economy to identify ways to expand economic growth and opportunity and to highlight the role of women as CEOs. She also co-sponsored the Military Spouses Employment Act of 2011, which would provide a tax incentive to businesses for hiring a military spouse. McMorris Rodgers allows her own employees who are caring for new children to take time off beyond the FMLA requirements. Plus, every employee is allowed to take time off to meet family needs, including making health appointments, caring for a sick child or other family member, attending school events, participating in parent-teacher conferences and providing transportation for elderly or incapacitated parents. The congresswoman also offers staffers the option to telecommute or take advantage of flexible work policies.

R-Illinois

What we love: During his three terms in Congress, Rep. Peter Roskam has voted for measures meant to improve work life and career opportunities, strengthen family financial stability and prepare young Americans for educational success. He was a co-sponsor of the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, signed into law on September 30, 2011. The law reauthorizes two child welfare programs, increasing their effectiveness in providing educational stability, addressing developmental needs of children and minimizing emotional trauma. Roskam provides all employees with educational and career advancement opportunities to help them learn how to better assist the people they serve. When one district staffer was recovering from a double lung transplant, Roskam ensured that flexible scheduling and telecommuting allowed his employee to manage frequent medical testing, appointments and treatments. Other district staffers work under a flextime arrangement to help them accommodate work and family responsibilities.

D-Maryland

What we love: Now serving his fifth term in the House, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger promotes legislation to benefit working families, students and children. As both a business owner and an elected official, he has made a point of offering family-friendly office policies. The majority of his staff consists of women, several of whom are working mothers. Others are young women embarking on their careers while earning their degrees. He provides a high level of work flexibility and medical and child care benefits. For instance, employees in the congressman’s office receive eight weeks of paid maternity leave. He also provides an internship program for high school and college students as a way to groom them for success in the workplace. One of his proudest accomplishments as a member of Congress was the introduction in 2011 of the Right Start Child Care and Education Act, which aims to increase child care tax credits for families and employers.

D-California

What we love: Rep. Linda Sánchez, a co-founder of the Labor and Working Families Caucus, works to ensure that workers are safe on the job from industrial accidents as well as from employer intimidation and retaliation. She is also a member of the bicameral working group on work-life balance, which meets monthly to advance legislation that helps workers balance work and family responsibilities, promoting paid sick days and ensuring that employers comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act. In the 112th Congress, Sánchez introduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act, which would provide schools with resources to prevent school bullying and reduce the rising dropout rate. Sánchez, a working mom herself, offers a flexible work environment in her office: “My staff cannot effectively meet the needs of my constituents if they are not meeting their own health and family needs.”

D-Florida

What we love: During the 112th Congress, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has supported legislation meant to expand opportunities for women and working families, including the Paycheck Fairness Act of 2011, which would help close the wage gap, and the Healthy Families Act, which would require certain employers to provide workers with the opportunity to earn paid sick leave. Last year, the congresswoman became the vice chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, which has worked to close the wage gap, help women veterans and address violence against women and families. After being treated for breast cancer in 2009, Wasserman Schultz introduced legislation that directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop an education campaign about the disease. This wife and mother of three understands the importance of balancing the workplace and home, so she provides generous leave policies to her congressional staffers, including the maximum allowed maternity leave.

D-Pennsylvania

What we love: Four-term congresswoman Allyson Schwartz has spearheaded efforts to expand and improve health care coverage for children of middle-class families, improve nutrition programs at schools and help make college education more affordable. She successfully advocated for passage of bipartisan legislation so children’s hospitals can continue to provide specialized training in pediatric care. To help working families, Schwartz introduced the Support Working Parents Act, which would allow all working parents to receive a 35 percent tax credit to cover the rising cost of child care. A single tax credit rate for all families would eliminate the disparities in the tax credit and nearly double the maximum allowable credit from $1,200 to $2,100. Schwartz also has worked hard to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. She has implemented family-friendly policies in her own office to attract and retain parents as staffers.

D-Washington

What we love: Now in his eighth term, Rep. Adam Smith serves as the ranking member of the House Committee on Armed Services, where he advocates for military personnel and their families. He co-sponsored the Veteran Employment Transition Act of 2011, which would increase the eligibility of veterans to receive the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Military Spouses Employment Act, which would give tax incentives to employers for hiring spouses of active duty members. During the 112th Congress, he also supported the Paycheck Fairness Act as well as the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act, which would provide leave to care for a domestic partner or other family member not currently covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act. Smith collaborates with labor organizations and management groups to develop proposals aiming to provide benefits and flexibility for workers, and he also focuses on promoting the legitimacy of nontraditional families.

D-California

What we love: Rep. Pete Stark has supported legislation such as the Healthy Families Act and the Balancing Act, both of which would provide paid sick days to nearly all workers. The congressman has been leading an effort to introduce paid family and medical leave legislation, similar to his own bill in the 111th Congress that would provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave benefits for most workers. He has also joined numerous “Dear Colleague” letters to House appropriators supporting programs such as child nutrition, early childhood education and job training that directly aid the financial security of working families. Through his family foundation, Stark provides funding to organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that enhance opportunities for working families through such measures as expanding support services for low-income children and seniors, supporting families facing economic insecurity and enhancing work opportunities for people with disabilities.

D-California

What we love: Rep. Lynn Woolsey’s focus on family issues and her belief in a strong social safety net are rooted in personal history: As a young single mother struggling to raise three children, she needed public assistance to make ends meet, even though she was employed. The Ranking Member on Education and Labor’s Workforce Protections Subcommittee, she oversees policies that affect millions of American workers. One of her top priorities has been a legislative package called the Balancing Act, which would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover more workers, provide leave for children’s extracurricular activities and allow workers time to cope with the effects of domestic violence. Woolsey’s office provides six weeks of paid family and medical leave, which may be used in addition to paid time off. District staff members have the option to work compressed workweeks, and all staff members have telecommuting and flex options.

D-Kentucky

What we love: Rep. John Yarmuth focuses on programs that empower families and individuals to increase their own economic independence and productivity. During the 112th Congress, he reintroduced the Expanding Dependent and Child Care Act, which aims to help working families cope with the rising costs of dependent care by increasing to $7,500 the amount of employer-provided child care assistance workers can exclude from their taxable income. Yarmuth also recognizes that the skills required of the nation’s workforce are changing, and Americans of all ages must have the education they need to be competitive in a changing global workforce. He reintroduced the Ready-to-Compete Act, which would authorize education grants, and also hosted a “Build Your Skills” workshop for Louisville, KY, job seekers and veterans. Yarmuth also reintroduced the LEARN Act, which seeks to develop a comprehensive national literacy program. He donates his entire congressional salary to a variety of charities in Louisville.