| Carolyn Maloney | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 14th district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1993 |
|
| Preceded by | S. William Green |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carolyn Bosher February 19, 1946 Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Clifton Maloney (1976–2009, his death) |
| Children | Christina Maloney Virginia Maloney |
| Residence | New York, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Greensboro College |
| Occupation | United States Congresswoman |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
Carolyn Bosher Maloney (born February 19, 1946) is the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, popularly known as the "silk stocking district", includes most of Manhattan's East Side; Astoria and Long Island City in Queens; and Roosevelt Island.
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Maloney was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and graduated from Greensboro College. In 1970, she visited New York City and decided to stay.[1]
Maloney was elected to the New York City Council in 1982, defeating incumbent Robert Rodriguez [2] in a heavily Spanish-speaking district based in East Harlem and parts of the South Bronx. She served as a Councilmember for 10 years.[3] On the Council, she served as the first Chair of the Committee on Contracts, investigating contracts issued by New York City in sludge and other areas. She authored legislation creating the City's Vendex program, which established computerized systems tracking information on City contracts and vendors doing business with the City.[4] Maloney also introduced the first measure in New York to recognize domestic partnerships, including those of same-sex couples.[5] She was the first person to give birth while serving as a City Councilmember.[6]
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Maloney worked to ensure that the Bush administration maintained its commitment to New York's recovery and security efforts, prompting Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice to write that Maloney was "like a tiger in the House on every dollar due New York." [7] After the 9/11 Commission published its findings, Maloney co-founded the bipartisan House 9/11 Commission Caucus [8] and helped write and secure the enactment into law many of its recommendations to reform the nation's intelligence agencies [9][10] Congressional Quarterly wrote in its annual guide, 2006 Politics in America: "In the 108th Congress, Maloney reached out beyond her usual roles as a liberal gadfly and persistent Bush administration critic, helping win enactment of a sweeping bill to reorganize U.S. intelligence operations."[11] Following the Dubai Ports World controversy, Maloney helped secured the passage and enactment of her bill to reform the system for vetting foreign investments in the United States.[12][13] Maloney has supported Scientology's "New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project".[14]
After reports of corruption among military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Maloney later secured House passage of her bill to create a database to better monitor all federal contracts, the key provisions of which were later adopted into law as part of the defense budget.[15][16]
Politically, Maloney is ranked in the National Journal's annual ranking as the 114th most Progressive (or 314th most conservative) member of Congress, with more Progressive scores on foreign policy than on economic and social policy. Her score of 75.5 ranks her as modestly more Progressive than the New York Congressional delegation as a whole.[17]
Maloney has taken several actions on health care issues. Her measure to provide Medicare coverage for annual mammograms was included in the Fiscal Year 1998 federal budget.[18] Maloney also advocated for the cause of providing federal support for medical monitoring and health care for rescue and recovery workers who were at the Ground Zero site after the 9/11 attacks, many of whom later developed serious respiratory and other ailments.[19] In the 111th Congress, Maloney introduced "The Breastfeeding Promotion Act" to protect breastfeeding in the workplace under civil rights law and make it illegal for women to lose their jobs or otherwise be discriminated against for expressing milk during lunchtime or on breaks.[20] Maloney has advocated for international women's health and family planning programs supported by the United Nations Population Fund.[21]
A co-founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Working Group on Parkinson's Disease,[22] she serves on the boards of the Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation[23] and the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation,[24] both in New York City. Maloney introduced the “Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2007” (H.R. 2832), legislation that would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a comprehensive comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, which may resolve the heated controversy over the possible link between autism and vaccine components, including thimerosal and aluminum.[25] The original bill did not pass, but Maloney re-introduced the legislation in 2008.
In Congress, Maloney serves on the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Joint Economic Committee, and was previously the Chair of the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security. On January 21, 2009, Maloney was named Chair of the Joint Economic Committee for the 111th Congress. Previously, while serving as Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Maloney first introduced the "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights" in the 110th Congress, a measure that drew praise from some editorial boards and consumer advocates.[26][27] It was passed as the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act by both houses of the 111th Congress, prompting Money magazine to dub Maloney the "best friend a credit card user ever had".[28] President Barack Obama signed the Credit Card Bill of Rights into law in a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House attended by Maloney on May 22, 2009.[29]
Days after voting against cancellation of a $1 billion, 10-year subsidy plan for U.S. sugar farmers within the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill, Maloney hosted a fundraising event that netted $9,500 in contributions from sugar growers and refiners, according to Federal Election Commission records. Maloney's election attorney, Andrew Tulloch, called the timing of the 31 July fundraiser a "pure coincidence". The bill passed the House by a 282-144 vote.[30] The Sunlight Foundation pointed out that among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Maloney has the ninth-highest amount of investment in oil stocks.[31]
Maloney has been active on issues involving women, children and families since the beginning of her career.[3] A former Co-Chair of the House Caucus on Women's Issues, she authored and helped secure the enactment into law of a measure to provide federal funding to clear the backlog of rape kits for which evidence had been collected, but never entered into law enforcement DNA databases. It was called "the most important anti-rape legislation ever considered by Congress" by the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.[32] Maloney's bill, included in the "Justice for All Act of 2005", was named in honor of Debbie Smith, a rape survivor; the effort to enact it was later the subject of a Lifetime Television movie, A Life Interrupted: The Debbie Smith Story.[33] Maloney was played by Lynne Adams. Maloney also co-authored and helped secure passage of bipartisan legislation to curb the demand for sex trafficking.[34] She introduced the Child Care Affordability Act of 2007 to increase access to child care by providing tax credits [35] Maloney's amendment to a foreign aid bill succeeded in securing $60 million in funding for programs for Afghan women and girls and to help establish an Afghan commission on human rights.[36] She is the chief House sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment.[37] In 2008 and again in 2009, Maloney authored, and secured House passage of, a bill to provide four weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees.[38][39] She has also authored and introduced the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act that would expand the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act to include couples in domestic partnerships, civil unions, and same-sex marriages.[40] Legislation to create a National Women's History Museum that was jointly introduced by Maloney and her colleague Eleanor Holmes Norton was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in October, 2009.[41]
In 2008, Rodale Press published Maloney's book on women's issues, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier—and How We Can Make Real Progress for Ourselves and Our Daughters.[42] In the book, Maloney argues that progress for women has stalled and offers recommendations for resuming their advance toward full equality.[43]
Maloney appeared on The Colbert Report in the Better Know a District segment on July 29, 2008, speaking about women's issues.
In Congress, Maloney has helped secure funding for major mass transit projects, resulting in the commitment of billions of federal dollars for New York State.[44] Early in her tenure, she joined with colleagues to secure $306.1 million in federal funds for the 63rd Street Connector, a $645 million project that significantly expanded transit capacity between Queens and Manhattan [45] Maloney has been hailed as a champion of the Second Avenue Subway,[46] a project first conceived in the 1920s. In November 2007, the federal government signed a full funding grant agreement with New York State committing to providing $1.3 billion in federal funds for the subway's first phase on Manhattan's Upper East Side.[47] Maloney has also advocated for the East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Railroad (LIRR) trains directly to Grand Central Terminal and create a new LIRR stop in Sunnyside, Queens. In December 2006, the federal government signed a full funding grant agreement promising $2.63 billion to New York to complete East Side Access.[48]
In 2010, the Project On Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, presented Maloney with its Good Government Award for her contributions to government transparency and oversight, including her investigations into corruption and mismanagement in the Mineral Management Service and her support of a Federal Contractor Misconduct Database similar to POGO's.[49]
In 1992, Maloney was elected to the House of Representatives, narrowly defeating a 15-year incumbent, Progressive Republican Bill Green, in a victory considered an upset. She is the first woman to ever represent the district, and has been re-elected eight times. The 14th and its predecessors had been one of the few districts in the city where Republicans usually did well; in fact, they held the seat for all but eight of the 56 years between 1937 and Maloney's victory. Following Maloney's win, Republicans continued to hold most of the State Senate, Assembly, and City Council seats on Manhattan's East Side for nearly another decade. Since 2002, the Democrats have dominated the area, and now hold all of the area's seats in the state legislature and City Council.[50]
Maloney faced significant opposition from Republican City Councilman Charles Millard in 1994,[51] the year of a Republican tidal wave in the midterm congressional elections. She defeated Millard handily and hasn't faced serious opposition since.
In 2004, Maloney faced a potential Democratic primary challenge from Robert Jereski, a former Green Party political candidate and unsuccessful candidate for delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention on the slate of Dennis Kucinich. Jereski opposed the Iraq War while Maloney had initially voted for the resolution to authorize force; she later forcefully renounced the war, including most memorably at a town hall meeting in her district [52] with antiwar Congressman John Murtha. However, Jereski didn't qualify for the ballot because his petition was found to have invalid signatures, leaving him 4 short of the 1250 required.
In December 2008, Maloney hired a public relations firm to help bolster her efforts to be named by Governor David Paterson as Hillary Clinton's successor as a New York Senator. Maloney toured parts of the state, but was overshadowed by Caroline Kennedy's promotional tour for the same seat. Maloney interviewed with the governor for 55 minutes. Public opinion polls placed Maloney's support for the Senate seat in the single digits, trailing the front-runner, then-New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, although her bid was endorsed by the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee, the Feminist Majority Political Action Committee,[53] New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof,[54] and other columnists [55] and editorial boards.[56]
On January 23, 2009, Paterson named Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to the post.[57] Many urged Maloney to run against Gillibrand in 2010.[58][59]
On July 20, 2009, Maloney apologized after using the word "nigger" in repeating a comment made by a third party about Gillibrand.[60] Maloney was quoted by the City Hall News:[61]
I got a call from someone from Puerto Rico, [who] said Gillibrand went to Puerto Rico and came out for English-only (education). And he said, 'it was like saying nigger to a Puerto Rican'.
Although she had been leading Gillibrand in both the Rasmussen[62] and the Quinnipiac polls,[63] Maloney ruled out a run for the U.S. Senate and instead retained her congressional seat.[64]
In the Democratic Primary for Congress on September 14, 2010, Maloney defeated a well-funded opponent, Reshma Saujani, a 34-year-old Indian-American hedge fund lawyer, by a landslide, 62-percentage point margin, racking up more than 81% of the vote to Saujani's 19 percent.[65] That night, Saujani said, "I'm definitely running again,",[66] but three months later announced publicly that she would not challenge Maloney again.[67]
She married Clifton Maloney, an investment banker, in 1976. The couple had two daughters, Christina and Virginia. Her husband, the oldest American ever to summit an "eight-thousander",[68] the world's fourteen mountains that surpass 8,000 meters in altitude, died on a climbing expedition on September 25, 2009 while descending from the world's sixth tallest peak, Cho Oyu in Tibet.[69][70]
Maloney is a member of The Junior League of the City of New York.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Rodriguez |
New York City Council, 8th District 1982–1991 |
Succeeded by Adam Clayton Powell IV |
| Preceded by Ronnie Eldridge |
New York City Council, 4th District 1992 |
Succeeded by Andrew Eristoff |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by S. William Green |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 14th congressional district 1993– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Buck McKeon R-California |
United States Representatives by seniority 85th |
Succeeded by Donald Manzullo R-Illinois |