Barbara Jean Lee (née Tutt; born July 16, 1946) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . Now in her 12th term, Lee has served since 1998, and is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 9th district from 1998 to 2013, is based in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

and covers most of the northern part of Alameda County. According to the

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

, it is one of the nation's most Democratic districts, with a rating of D+40. Lee is a former chair of the

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce B ...

(2009–2011) and the chair emeritus and former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (2005–2009). She is the vice chair and a founding member of the

Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus The Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus was formed by openly gay representatives Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank June 4, 2008, to advance LGBT+ rights. The caucus had 165 members (164 Democrats and one Republican, Jeff Van Drew) in the 11 ...

. Lee has also co-chaired the House Democratic Steering Committee since 2019. She has played a major role in the antiwar movement, notably in her vocal criticism of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

and for being the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

Early life and education

Lee was born Barbara Jean Tutt in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

, the daughter of Mildred Adaire (née Parish) and Garvin Alexander Tutt, a lieutenant colonel. Lee is

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

, and according to a

DNA analysis Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

, she descends primarily from the people of

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. She was raised Catholic Church, Catholic. Lee moved from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1960 with her military family parents, and attended San Fernando High School in the Pacoima neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. A divorcee before she turned 20, Lee was a young single mother of two receiving public assistance when she began attending

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...

. She received an MSW from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

, in 1975.

Early political career

As president of the Mills College Black Student Union, Lee invited Representative

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional distr ...

to speak on campus and went on to work on Chisholm's 1972 presidential campaign, serving as her delegate at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. Also as a student, she was a volunteer at the

chapter of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

's Community Learning Center and worked on Panther co-founder

Bobby Seale Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", ...

's 1973 Oakland mayoral campaign.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Lee was a staff member for U.S. Representative

Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californ ...

as well as a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The ...

and the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. D ...

before entering the U.S. House of Representatives. She was elected to Congress for the 9th district in a 1998

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

with 66% of the vote, and won the general election later that year with 82.8% of the vote. She has since been reelected to the House of Representatives 13 times, representing the 9th district (1998-2013), 13th district (2013-2023), and the 12th district (beginning in 2023).

Tenure

Lee's voting record as a member of the House was ranked by the ''

National Journal ''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes d ...

'' in 2007, based on roll-call votes on economic, social and foreign policy issues in 2006. Lee scored an overall 84.3%, meaning she voted with a more liberal stance than 84.3% of the House. ''National Journal'' scored Lee as voting 82% liberal on economic issues, 92% liberal on social issues, and 65% liberal on foreign policy. The 92% rating on social issues came from Lee being grouped with 35 other House legislators who all tied for the highest, most liberal ranking. Lee received a 97% progressive rating from "The Progressive Punch" and a 4%

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

rating from the

American Conservative Union The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. Founded o ...

. In 2016, GovTrack's 2015 Report Card on members in Congress ranked Lee the 3rd most progressive member of the House. Lee endorsed

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

for president in the 2008 Democratic primary. In February 2019 she endorsed Kamala Harris in the

2020 Democratic primary Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party to select the 3,979 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention held on August 17–20 to determine the party's nomin ...

. As of October 2021, Lee had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.

AUMF opposition

Lee gained national attention in 2001 as the only member of congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF), stating that she voted no not because she opposed military action but because she believed the AUMF, as written, granted the president overly broad powers to wage war at a time when the facts regarding the situation were not yet clear. She "warned her colleagues to be 'careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. Lee has said:

It was a blank check to the president to attack anyone involved in the September 11 events—anywhere, in any country, without regard to our nation's long-term foreign policy, economic and national security interests, and without time limit. In granting these overly broad powers, the Congress failed its responsibility to understand the dimensions of its declaration. I could not support such a grant of war-making authority to the president; I believe it would put more innocent lives at risk. The president has the constitutional authority to protect the nation from further attack, and he has mobilized the armed forces to do just that. The Congress should have waited for the facts to be presented and then acted with fuller knowledge of the consequences of our action.

Her vote made national news and a large and extremely polarized response, with the volume of calls gridlocking the switchboard of her Capitol Hill office. Although it appears to have reflected the beliefs of the majority of her constituents, the majority of responses from elsewhere in the nation were angry and hostile, some calling her "communist" and a "traitor". Many of the responses included death threats against her or her family to the point that the Capitol Police provided round-the-clock plainclothes bodyguards. Lee was also criticized by politicians and in editorial pages of conservative-leaning newspapers, e.g. John Fund's column in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

.'' In 2002, she received the Seán MacBride Peace Prize from the International Peace Bureau for her vote. In her speech, she quoted

Nathan D. Baxter Nathan Dwight Baxter (born November 16, 1948) is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and the 1,010 in succession in the Episcopal Church. He was elected as bishop coadjutor on July 22, 2006, and consecrated on Octobe ...

, dean of National Cathedral: "As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore." On June 29, 2017, the House Appropriations Committee approved Lee's amendment to repeal the 2001 AUMF that was the foundation of the U.S.'s post-September 11 military actions. The amendment, if passed, would have required that the AUMF be scrapped within 240 days. In June 2021, Lee sponsored a bipartisan bill in the House to repeal the AUMF, which passed, 268 to 161. A similar bipartisan bill is set to be examined by the Senate.

Other foreign policy views

Although Lee is considered a progressive Democrat, she has occasionally split with members of her party throughout her career, especially on foreign policy. She voted to limit military operations in the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

, against authorizing air strikes, and for a Republican-backed plan to completely withdraw U.S. troops from the operation, all in 1999. Lee voted against the

Resolution in 2002. She was one of only 46 Democrats to vote for the Online Freedom of Speech Act of 2005. Lee was one of only 13 Democrats to vote against an emergency supplemental appropriations bill in 2007 which, among other things, funded the

but required withdrawal of U.S. forces to begin by October 1, but in favor of overriding President Bush's veto of the measure on May 2. In November 2009 Lee was one of 36 representatives to vote against House Resolution 867, which condemned the UN's Goldstone Report. She voted to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011. Lee also voted in favor of similar resolutions involving troop withdrawal from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and, most recently,

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. She joined her Republican colleagues, one of 70 Democrats to do so, in voting against a resolution to authorize limited use of force in Libya. Lee was also one of only 36 Democrats to vote to limit funds appropriated for military operations in Libya. In an August 2017 interview, Lee said of President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

's comments on

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, "His saber-rattling is putting the world at risk. The United States should be the grown-up in the room", and that his rhetoric reminded her of news about the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

during her mid-teens, adding, "the words of war weren't as profound and dangerous and scary henas they are now." In September 2018, Lee was one of 11 House Democrats to sign a statement announcing their intent "to introduce a new, privileged resolution in September invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from engaging in the Saudi-led coalition's conflict with the Houthis should additional escalations continue and progress fail to be made towards a peace agreement." In April 2019, after the House passed the resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi-led coalition in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

, Lee was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign "Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the

War Powers Act of 1973 The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) () is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to a ...

to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's armed conflict against Yemen's Houthi forces, initiated in 2015 by the Obama administration." They asserted the "Saudi-led coalition's imposition of an air-land-and-sea blockade as part of its war against Yemen's Houthis has continued to prevent the unimpeded distribution of these vital commodities, contributing to the suffering and death of vast numbers of civilians throughout the country" and that Trump's approval of the resolution would send a "powerful signal to the Saudi-led coalition to bring the four-year-old war to a close". In July 2019, Lee voted against a House resolution condemning the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel. The resolution passed 398–17. In October 2020, Lee co-signed a letter to Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

condemning

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

's offensive operations against the Armenian-populated enclave of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

. In April 2021, Lee supported Joe Biden's plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Gun control

Lee is a strong advocate for legislation restricting the availability of guns. She participated in the 2016 sit-in against gun violence in the House of Representatives. Democratic members of Congress adopted the slogan "No Bill, No Break" in an attempt to push the introduction of legislation increasing restrictions on guns. In a statement on the sit-in, Lee said: STS-129 Crew Meets With Members of Congress

STS-129 Crew Meets With Members of Congress

Environment

Lee introduced the Women and Climate Change Act in February 2018. The bill aims to create a Federal Interagency Working Group on Women and Climate Change. Lee said of the Act, "Climate change is already impacting communities around the world with a disproportionate effect on the world's poorest residents. Women make up the majority of the world's poor and are especially vulnerable to abrupt changes in the environment. As leaders in their families, women are called upon to find food and clean water, secure safe housing, and care for loved ones. As climate change worsens, provoking historic droughts,

rising sea levels Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starg ...

and violent storms, women and girls will bear the brunt of this global crisis".

Education

Lee is the author of the Shirley A. Chisholm United States-Caribbean Educational Exchange Act, which would enhance U.S. foreign relations with CARICOM nations. This act directs the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(USAID) to develop a comprehensive program that extends and expands existing primary and secondary school initiatives in the Caribbean to provide teacher training methods and increased community involvement in school activities. The bill is named for

, who helped inspire Lee to become involved in politics when Chisholm ran for the Democratic nomination for president; Lee was the Chisholm campaign's Northern California Chair.

Black Panthers

In 1968, Lee began volunteering at the Black Panther Party's Community Learning Center in

. She also worked on Bobby Seale's 1973 campaign for mayor of Oakland. Lee disagreed with the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

removing funding for a Black Panther Legacy Project in 2017. She released a statement saying, "It is outrageous that the National Park Service has stripped resources from the Black Panther Party Research, Interpretation & Memory Project. The

was an integral part of the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

and the public has a right to know their history. I call upon the National Park Service and the Department of Interior to provide a full explanation as to why these critical federal resources have been taken away".

Cannabis

Lee has supported a number of efforts to reform

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

laws in Congress. In 2018, she introduced the

Marijuana Justice Act The Marijuana Justice Act (S.597) was a 2019 bill to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, sponsored by U.S. Senator Cory Booker. An identical bill, H.R.1456, was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill was co-sponsored b ...

to remove cannabis from the

Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances is regulated. It was passed by the 91st United States ...

, penalize states that enforce cannabis laws disproportionately (regarding race or income status), and enact other social justice-related reforms. Additional legislation Lee has introduced includes the States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act, Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act, Restraining Excessive Federal Enforcement & Regulations of Cannabis (REFER) Act, and the Realizing Equitable & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades (RESPECT) Resolution. Lee was an original cosponsor of the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act when it was first introduced in 2011. In January 2019, she was named a co-chair of the

Congressional Cannabis Caucus The Congressional Cannabis Caucus is a registered caucus in the United States Congress, formed in 2017 during the 115th session. The bipartisan caucus was founded by Republicans Dana Rohrabacher and Don Young and Democrats Earl Blumenauer and ...

Presidential election objections

In 2001, Lee and other House members objected to counting

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

's electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election after a contentious

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

. Because no senator joined their objection, it was dismissed by Senate President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...

, who lost the election to George W. Bush. In 2005, Lee was one of 31 House Democrats who voted not to accept

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

's electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election. Bush won Ohio by 118,457 votes. After the 2016 presidential election, Lee objected to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

's and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

's electoral votes. Because no senator joined her objections, they were dismissed.

won Michigan by slightly over 10,000 votes and West Virginia by over 300,000 votes. Obama signs Ryan White extension

Defense budget

Lee called for a 10% cut to the military budget of the United States. She backed an amendment to reduce the size of the $740 billion

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 The William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 () is a United States federal law which specifies the budget, expenditures and policies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal year 2021. Analogo ...

, but a majority of Democrats and Republicans rejected it.

Housing

Lee has made

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

in the East Bay area and beyond a top priority. She has supported and backed legislation meant to expand home ownership opportunities, improve public housing quality, and assist the homeless.

Health care

Lee was strongly critical of the

Stupak–Pitts Amendment The Stupak–Pitts Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2010 (AHCAA). It was submitted by Representatives Bart Stupak ( Democrat of Michigan) and Joseph R. Pitts ( Republican of Pennsylvania). Its s ...

, which places restrictions on

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...

plans providing coverage for

abortions Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of preg ...

in the context of the

Affordable Health Care for America Act The Affordable Health Care for America Act (or HR 3962) was a bill that was crafted by the United States House of Representatives of the 111th United States Congress on October 29, 2009. The bill was sponsored by Representative Charles Rangel. ...

. She supports

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...

Abortion

Lee is pro-choice. On September 30, 2021, in a hearing of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform, she recounted having to travel to Mexico for a "back-alley" abortion in the 1960s. "I'm sharing my story even though I truly believe it is personal and really nobody's business—and certainly not the business of politicians. But I'm compelled to speak out because of the real risks of the clock being turned back to those days before ''Roe vs. Wade''", she said. Lee opposed the 2022 overturning of ''Roe v. Wade'', which she called an "attack on reproductive freedom" and blamed on a "decades-long coordinated strategic assault on women's rights by right-wing extremists".

Economic

On September 29, 2008, Lee was one of 95 Democrats to vote against the defeated

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It beca ...

. She voted for a modified version on October 3.

Death penalty

In 2002, Lee's opposition to the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

was recognized by

Death Penalty Focus Founded in 1988, Death Penalty Focus is a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of capital punishment through grassroots organizing, research, and the dissemination of information about the death penalty and its alternatives. With ov ...

, which gave her the Mario Cuomo Act of Courage Award.

Louis Farrakhan

In March 2018, Lee said, "I unequivocally condemn Minister Farrakhan's

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and hateful comments."

Committee assignments

* Committee on Appropriations ** Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs ** Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Programs ** Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. * Committee on the Budget On November 30, 2018, House Democratic leader

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

announced that she had recommended Lee to become one of three co-chairs of the Steering and Policy Committee, alongside Rosa DeLauro and Eric Swalwell. The change was approved on December 11, 2018.

Caucus memberships

* House Democratic Steering Committee (co-chair) * Medicare for All Caucus * Whip Task Force on Poverty, Income Inequality and Opportunity (chair) * Congressional Caucus on HIV/AIDS (co-chair) * Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus (co-chair) * Congressional Progressive Caucus (former co-chair and former whip) *

(former chair, 2008–2010) *

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is a caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI), and who have a strong interest in advocating and promoting issues and c ...

** Health care Task Force * Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety * United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus * Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus (vice-chair and founding member) * Congressional Social Work Caucus (chair) * Congressional Arts Caucus * Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus (co-founder and co-chair) *

Afterschool Caucuses The Afterschool Caucuses are bipartisan caucuses in the United States Congress established to build support for afterschool programs and increase resources for afterschool care. Senators Lisa Murkowski ( R- AK) and Tina Smith ( D- MN) chair the Se ...

(co-chair) On March 15, 2013, Lee announced the official relaunch of the Congressional Social Work Caucus to the 113th Congress as its new chair. Lee chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2008 to 2010. On November 28, 2018, Lee lost an attempt to become chair of the House Democratic Caucus to Hakeem Jeffries. She blamed ageism and sexism for her defeat.

United Nations assignments

* 68th and 70th

General Assemblies A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

(United States Representative)

Personal life

In 2002, the Peace Abbey in Boston gave Lee the Courage of Conscience Award for her vote against the call to war after the

. In her speech, she said, "let us not become the evil that we deplore." In 2003, Lee was recognized as a Woman of Peace at the

Global Exchange Global Exchange was founded in 1988 and is an advocacy group, human rights organization, and a 501(c)(3) organization, based in San Francisco, California, United States. The group defines its mission as, "to promote human rights and social, ec ...

Human Rights Awards in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

with Bianca Jagger, Arundhati Roy and

Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly (born 1952) is an American peace activist, pacifist and author, one of the founding members of ''Voices in the Wilderness'', and, until the campaign closed in 2020, a co-coordinator of ''Voices for Creative Nonviolence''. As part of pe ...

. In 2010, Lee took the

food stamp challenge A food stamp challenge or SNAP challenge is a trend in the United States popularized by politicians, religious groups, community activists and food pantries, in which a family of means chooses to purchase food using only the monetary equivalent of ...

and also appeared in the documentary film '' Food Stamped''. In 2014, Lee,

Hill Harper Francis Eugene "Hill" Harper (born May 17, 1966) is an American actor and author. He is known for his roles on ''CSI: NY'', '' Limitless'' and '' The Good Doctor''. Early life and education Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Harry D. ...

, and

Meagan Good Meagan Monique Good is an American actress. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter'' (1998–2001). Good received further ...

contributed to Enitan Bereola II's bestselling book ''Gentlewoman: Etiquette for a Lady, from a Gentleman.'' Lee was married before and divorced by the age of 20, raising her two sons as a single parent. They now both work in the insurance industry: Tony Lee is the CEO of Dickerson Employee Benefits, an African-American owned insurance brokerage/consulting firms, and Craig Lee is a senior executive at

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the lar ...

Electoral history

California Assembly

9th Congressional District

13th Congressional District

, - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #3333FF; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" , Democratic , class="fn" , Barbara Lee (incumbent) , style="text-align:right;" , 159,751 , style="text-align:right;" , 99.3 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #17aa5c; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" ,

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

, class="fn" , Laura Wells (write-in) , style="text-align:right;" , 832 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.5 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #E81B23; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" , Republican , class="fn" , Jeanne Marie Solnordal (write-in) , style="text-align:right;" , 178 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.1 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #FED105; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" ,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

, class="fn" , James M. Eyer (write-in) , style="text-align:right;" , 39 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.0 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #DDDDDD; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" , No party preference , class="fn" , Lanenna Joiner (write-in) , style="text-align:right;" , 26 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.0 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: ; width: 2px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" , American Independent , class="fn" , Vincent May (write-in) , style="text-align:right;" , 3 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.0 , - , - class="vcard" , style="background-color: #3333FF; width: 5px;" , , class="org" style="width: 130px" , Democratic , class="fn" , Barbara Lee (incumbent) , style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" , , style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" , 88.4 , -

12th Congressional District

References

External links

Congresswoman Barbara Lee
official U.S. House website
Barbara Lee for Congress
campaign website * *
Inventory of the Barbara Lee Papers
African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Barbara 1946 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Activists from California Activists from Texas African-American Christians African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American state legislators in California African-American women in politics American anti–Iraq War activists American anti–death penalty activists American people of Bissau-Guinean descent American people of Sierra Leonean descent Baptists from Texas Democratic Party California state senators American cannabis activists Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Mills College alumni People from El Paso, Texas Politicians from Los Angeles Politicians from Oakland, California San Fernando High School alumni UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare alumni Women state legislators in California Former Roman Catholics