Blanche Lincoln

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Blanche Lincoln
Senior Senator from Arkansas
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 1999 Serving with Mark Pryor
Preceded by	Dale Bumpers
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 1st district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	William Alexander, Jr.
Succeeded by	Marion Berry
Born	September 30, 1960 (1960-09-30) (age 47) Helena, Arkansas
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Dr. Steve Lincoln
Profession	Politician
Religion	Episcopalian

Blanche Lambert Lincoln (born September 30, 1960) is the Democratic senior United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Senate when she was elected in 1998 at the age of 38; as of 2008, she is also the youngest Senior Senator in the Senate. She is the second female senator from Arkansas after Hattie Caraway, who served 14 years in the senate.

[edit] Early life

Blanche Lambert was born in Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas. She attended Arkansas public schools and graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1982. She studied law at the University of Arkansas. Her sister, Mary Lambert, went on to be a movie director.

[edit] Early career and the House of Representatives

Immediately after graduating she took a job as staff assistant to 1st District Congressman Bill Alexander and served in his office until 1984. Lambert defeated her former boss in the Democratic primary of 1992 and took his seat in the House. She was reelected to a second term under her married name, Blanche Lincoln, and served in the House of Representatives until 1997. Lincoln did not stand for reelection in 1996; she was pregnant at that time.

[edit] Senate career

In 1998, Lincoln returned to politics and ran for the Senate seat being vacated by incumbent Democrat Dale Bumpers. She defeated her Republican opponent, Fay Boozman, the brother of future congressman John Boozman, by a margin of 55%-42%.

Lincoln serves on the Senate Finance Committee; Special Committee on Aging; Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; Senate Social Security Task Force; Rural Health Caucus; Senate New Democrat Coalition. Lincoln has concentrated primarily on issues involving farmers, and rural issues. She is one of the primary advocates of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), which is designed to spur development in the lower Mississippi Delta region. She is also the Chair of Rural Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Sen. Lincoln calls herself a moderate or centrist Democrat, in attempts to appeal to the center-right (though historically Democratic) southern state of Arkansas. Lincoln was among the minority of Democrats to support CAFTA and she is opposed to some protectionist measures. While still in the House she was one of only 17 Democrats in the entire the United States Congress to vote for the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 1995 which sought to change the rules regarding employers and employees. It was vetoed by President Bill Clinton. She has voted in favor restricting class action lawsuits and tightening rules on personal bankruptcy. Though initially she was one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote in favor of the tax cut passed in 2001, she now advocates scaling back or eliminating the portions of that tax cut, has opposed making tax cuts permanent, and was nearly a fatal vote against the 2003 tax cuts.^[1] She supports the permanent elimination of the estate tax. On April 5, 1995 she was one of only 27 Democrats in the House to vote in favor of the Contract With America Tax Relief Act which was approved by the House but never put into law. Lincoln also voted while a member of the House to amend the constitution to require a balanced-budget amendment; she did however vote against the line-item veto. She voted with the more populist element of her party in 1996 against the Freedom to Farm Act, while being one of only two Senate Democrats to vote against an agricultural bill reversing many of the reforms of the previous act in 2002.

Sen. Lincoln holds a press conference with Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee regarding Medicare and the proposed changes to the system.

Lincoln cast a vote to pass the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, though she previously supported the Feinstein Amendment (Senate Amendment 261) to the bill, which would strike out the act itself and replace it with "Post Viability Abortion Restriction Act" supported by a significant number of abortion rights supporters as compromise legislation. On the abortion issue she did also vote with more liberal Democrats against Laci and Conner's Law and the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. She voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to ban lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors while also voting with gun control advocates to renew the federal ban on assault weapons. Lincoln also continues to support a flag desecration amendment to the U.S. Constitution while voting with the majority of Democrats against a federal marriage amendment. She has also voted with the majority of her party against restrictions on travel to Cuba and also to ban anti-Castro broadcasts to the island. In late 2002, she was among the Democrats to vote to approve use of military force in Iraq. The year before she was among a small number of her party to vote against a Dodd amendment expressing support for American involvement in an International Criminal Court.

As of 2003, after fellow Democrat Mark Pryor defeated Senator Tim Hutchinson, Lincoln has been Arkansas' senior senator. In 2004, Lincoln was re-elected 56%-44% over State Senator Jim Holt (R-Springdale).

In May 2006, Lincoln voted in favor of S. 2611, a controversial immigration bill which would almost double the number of H1-B visas (see H1B visa). Lincoln, like almost all other senate Democrats and a few of her Republican colleagues (most notably Arizona's John McCain), argued that it was a compromise between those activists who seek the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, and those activists who believe in some form of amnesty. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Lincoln called for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, claiming that the firing of eight federal prosecutors has created a "serious breach between the Justice Department and Congress, a breach that I'm not sure can be repaired with Mr. Gonzales at the helm." She and her Senate colleague, Mark Pryor, were particularly upset that Gonzales reneged on a promise to have a replacement for Bud Cummins, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, go through Senate confirmation. Gonzales ultimately did resign, in August of 2007.

On December 13, 2007, Lincoln was responsible for killing the Farm Bill's Dorgan-Grassley amendment, which would have capped government farm supports at $250,000 per year, per farm. According to Lincoln, it was unfair to wealthy farmers in her state, notably cotton growers. Even though the amendment passed (56-43), Lincoln threatened a filibuster if any amendment did not get a 60 vote majority, so the amendment was withdrawn after passage. In an editorial in the Washington Post on December 14, 2007, the paper chastised Democrats, and called Lincoln out for her antics, calling both an "embarrassment".

[edit] Miscellaneous

Some observers initially considered Lincoln to have been a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election. However, she might be a compelling running mate for a Northern Democrat such as Barack Obama in 2008. A moderate Southern woman, with a solid record in Senate and two big Senate wins in Arkansas, she could be a good balance for the national ticket. Blanche has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton, whom she describes as "an effective and strong leader committed to the priorities of America’s working families,"^[5] in her 2008 bid for the White House.

Lincoln co-authored the book Nine and Counting with eight other female Senators relating their experiences in public service. Lincoln is married to Dr. Steve Lincoln and is the mother of twin boys, Reece and Bennett.

She is up for re-election to the Senate in 2010.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Committee on Finance
  • Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Health Care
  • Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness (Chairman)
• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Nutrition and Food Assistance, Sustainable and Organic Agriculture, and General Legislation
  • Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection and Price Support (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on National Parks
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• Special Committee on Aging

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• United States Senator Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues

v • d • e United States Senators from Arkansas Class 2: Fulton • Ashley • Sebastian • McDonald • Clayton • Garland • Berry • Davis • Heiskell • Kavanaugh • Robinson • Miller • Spencer • McClellan • Hodges • D. Pryor • Hutchinson • M. Pryor Class 3: Sevier • Borland • Johnson • Mitchel • Rice • Dorsey • Walker • Jones • Clarke • Kirby • T. Caraway • H. Caraway • Fulbright • Bumpers • Lincoln