Congresswoman Pat Schroeder 103rd Congress Patricia Scott Schroeder, Democrat, represents the First Congressional District of Colorado, comprising most of the city and county of Denver and parts of the cities of Aurora and Commerce City. Schroeder has been at the forefront of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, taking leadership on the critical issues of foreign and military policy, arms control and disarmament, women's economic equity and health, educational opportunity, and civil and constitutional rights. A recent Gallup pall rated her as one of the most respected women in America. Schroeder is Dean of the Colorado Congressional Delegation, as well as Congress' most senior woman. She has served in the House leadership as a Democratic whip since 1978, and was appointed a Deputy Whip in 1987, and co-chair of the Democratic Caucus' Task Force on National Security in 1983. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, and Chairs the Select Committee on Children Youth and Families. During the 102nd Congress, Schroeder made family issues, women's health, and defense burden sharing her top priorities. Before Schroeder was appointed to chair the House Select Committee on Children Youth and Families in February 1991, she had already outlined a Family policy agenda for the 21st century in her book, CHAMPION OF THE GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY. As Select Committee chair--one of only four women to head a House committee this century--Schroeder has explored ways in which both the public and the private sector can improve the condition of America's children and families. The Select Committee was abolished in March 1993; however, Schroeder will push to reform the Congressional Committee structure so that authority for children and family issues is focused. During the 102nd Congress, she reintroduced a bill that she authored, the Family and Medical Leave Act, which would provide workers with the minimum amount of job guaranteed, unpaid leave for the birth, adoption, or serious illness of a child or dependent parent, and for workers with a serious temporary health condition. She also introduced the Child Support Economic Security Act, which provides states with additional tools to enforce the collection of child support. In addition, she cosponsored the national Children's Advocacy Act of 1992, which would set up neighborhood-based facilities across the country to respond to cases of child abuse. Schroeder also co-chairs the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, a bipartisan group of representatives devoted to advancing women's legislation in Congress. Under her direction, the Caucus, which she helped found in 1977 has launched an effort to improve women's health policies, by, among other things, submitting a comprehensive legislative package, the Women's Health, Equity Act, and investigating gender discrepancies in health research and services. During the 102nd Congress two bills from this act were signed into law, the Infertility Prevention Act, which increases funding for Chlamydia screening; and the Mammography Quality Standards Act, which will ensure that mammograms meet federal standards for safety and accuracy. The Caucus also developed the Economic Equity Act, which includes private and public pension law reform, tax policy, child support enforcement laws, insurance, and child care policy. In the House Armed Services Committee, Schroeder chaired the Subcommittee on Research and Technology which also has jurisdiction over conversion and reinvestment issues. During the 101st and 102nd Congresses, Schroeder chaired the subcommittee on Military Installations and Facilities, and led efforts to improve much neglected military base facilities and infrastructures. As the first woman to serve on the committee, she has focused on cutting wasteful defense spending and improving benefits for military personnel and their families. As Chair of the House Armed Services Committee's Defense Burdensharing Panel in the 100th Congress, Schroeder led the first comprehensive committee effort to assess the costs and benefits of our mutual defense alliances. Since then, she has continued to be one of the most outspoken advocates of defense burdensharing, calling on our allies to contribute a greater amount of money and resources for their own defense. In the House Judiciary Committee, Schroeder sits on the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights and the Subcommittee on Economic and Commercial Law. During the 102nd Congress, she supported legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and is the sponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act, a bill that would put into Federal law the principles of Roe v. Wade, securing a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy and preventing states from restricting that right before viability. She also fought for the legalization of the French birth control pill, RU486. During the 102nd Congress, Schroeder put herself at the center of a national debate on the way that the military treats women and homosexuals when she helped expose cases of sexual harassment within the armed services, and called on the military to end its discriminatory policies toward- gays and women. In the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, she has devoted considerable attention to the reform of the career civil service and the protection of whistleblowers. She sits on the Subcommittee on Civil Service. She was born in Portland, Oregon, attended grade school in Texas, junior high in Ohio, and high school in Iowa . She graduated magna cum laude in 1961 from the University of Minnesota, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Schroeder received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1964. After practicing law and lecturing in Denver, she launched a successful bid for Congress in 1972. Since then, she has been reelected ten times, winning by 69 percent in 1992. Schroeder is married to attorney James Schroeder. They have a son, Scott, who graduated from Georgetown University in May 1988 and will receive a masters from Columbia University in May 1993; and a daughter, Jamie, who graduated from Princeton University in May 1992. Congresswoman Pat Schroeder Legislative Accomplishments and Voting Record 103rd Congress FAMILY As the Chairwoman of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, and the Democratic Co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's issues, Pat Schroeder puts a special emphasis on establishing federal policies that meet the needs of American families. She authored the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide workers with the minimum amount of job-guaranteed, unpaid leave for birth, adoption, or serious illness of a child or dependent parent and for workers with a serious temporary health condition. After being passed by both the House and the Senate during the 102nd Congress, the President vetoed Schroeder's bill. BUDGET DEFICIT Schroeder is a liberal Democrat with a fiscally responsible voting record. She advocates progressive social legislation while discouraging wasteful government spending. She has been rated more fiscally conservative by the National Taxpayer's Union than former Rep. Jack Kemp and House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich. ENVIRONMENT Throughout her Congressional career, Schroeder has encouraged the United States to develop independent energy sources; urged restraint in the development of nuclear power plants; and encouraged the use of solar energy, renewable resources and energy conservation as feasible alternatives. She has an excellent rating from the League of Conservation Voters. DEFENSE As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Schroeder advocates better pay and benefits for members of the armed services and their families; authored and passed the Military Family Act of 1985; fights against waste and fraud in defense weapons systems and led the fight against the MX missile, B-1 bomber, and Star wars. She is also a leading advocate of defense burdensharing. CIVIL RIGHTS As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Schroeder led the fight for passage of the Equal Rights Amendments and is a primary sponsor of the current ERA; sponsored and managed House consideration of the Civil Rights Restoration Act; fought for and managed the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and cosponsored the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1985 and 1986. FOREIGN POLICY Schroeder's efforts to redirect U.S. foreign policy have included supporting divestment from South Africa and halting funding for the Nicaraguan contras. She supports a renewed commitment to negotiation, diplomacy and economic development as the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. HEALTH CARE Schroeder authored legislation to provide health and pension benefits for part-time and temporary workers; pioneered legislation to provide health care benefits for former military, foreign and civil service spouses; cosponsored the Stark-Gradison bill, to protect elderly Americans from catastrophic health care costs; and cosponsored the Health Insurance Continuation Act, which is included in the Economic Equity Act of 1985 that provides continuation of health insurance benefits to laid-off employees, their spouses and dependents. She also supported increased funding for AIDS research and opposed mandatory AIDS testing. FEDERAL WORKERS As a member of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, Schroeder authored legislation to increase the productivity of the federal workforce and reduce cost and promote effective management in the civil service; and sought protection for whistleblowers who publicize federal agency mismanagement. TAX REFORM Schroeder supports a progressive income tax that would distribute tax burden more equitably and that would meet the financial responsibilities of the federal government.