Barbara Boxer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States Senator fromCalifornia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Alan Cranston | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kamala Harris | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's6th district | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Phillip Burton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Lynn Woolsey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Barbara Sue Levy (1940-11-11)November 11, 1940 (age 85) New York City,New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Brooklyn College (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boxer opening aSenate Environment Committee hearing on the environmental and economic impact of theDeepwater Horizon oil spill. Recorded May 11, 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Barbara Sue Boxer (néeLevy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in theUnited States Senate, representingCalifornia from 1993 to 2017. A member of theDemocratic Party, she served as theU.S. representative forCalifornia's 6th congressional district from 1983 until 1993.
Born inBrooklyn, New York City, Boxer graduated fromGeorge W. Wingate High School andBrooklyn College. She worked as a stockbroker for several years before moving to California with her husband. During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for thePacific Sun and as an aide to U.S. RepresentativeJohn L. Burton. She served on theMarin County Board of Supervisors for six years and became the board's first female president. With the slogan "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn", she was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1982, representing California's 6th district.
Boxer wonthe 1992 election for the U.S. Senate. Running for a third termin 2004, she received 6.96 million votes, becoming the first person to ever get more than 6 million votes in a Senate election and set a record for the most votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, until her colleagueDianne Feinstein, the senior senator from California, surpassed that number in her2012 re-election.[1] Boxer and Feinstein were the first female pair of U.S. senators representing any state at the same time.[2][3][4] Boxer was the ranking member of theEnvironment and Public Works Committee and the vice chair of theSelect Committee on Ethics. She was also the Democraticchief deputy whip. Boxer is known for her liberal perspectives.
Boxer did not seek re-election in2016.[5] She was succeeded by then–California attorney general and futurevice presidentKamala Harris. In January 2020, Boxer joinedWashington, D.C.–basedlobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs as co-chairwoman.[6] In January 2021, it was reported that Boxer was working as registered foreign agent forHikvision, a Chinese state-sponsored surveillance company implicated in human rights abuses.[7] After initially defending her work for Hikvision, Boxer reversed course and deregistered as a foreign agent.[8] In October 2021, Boxer and others led a high-profile mass exodus of employees from Mercury's California office to form their own public affairs and consulting company.[9]
Barbara Sue Levy was born inBrooklyn, New York City, to Sophie (née Silvershein) and Ira Levy,[10][11] aJewish couple.[10] She attended public schools and graduated fromGeorge W. Wingate High School in 1958.[12]
In 1962, she married Stewart Boxer and graduated fromBrooklyn College with abachelor's degree ineconomics. Barbara and Stewart Boxer moved to California in 1965.[11]
Boxer worked as astockbroker in the early 1960s while her husband went tolaw school.[12] In 1968, after relocating to California, she worked on the presidential primary campaign of antiwar challengerEugene McCarthy. In 1970, she co-founded the anti-Vietnam War Marin Alliance.[11]
Boxer first ran for political office in 1972, when she challenged incumbent Republican Peter Arrigoni, a member of theMarin County Board of Supervisors, but lost a close election.[citation needed] From 1972 to 1974, Boxer worked as a reporter and editor for thePacific Sun.[11] She then managed the Marin campaign ofJohn Burton, the brother ofPhillip Burton, who then was the congressman representing southernSan Francisco, California. John Burton intended to run against incumbent Republican District 6 CongressmanWilliam S. Mailliard fromBelvedere, California. The district would be renumbered as the 5th District in January 1975.[13][failed verification] However, Mailliard resigned on March 5, 1974, so John Burton also ran in the special election to fill the remainder of the incumbent's 6th District term.[14][failed verification] Burton narrowly won both crowded races and was sworn into office in 1974,[citation needed] and Boxer became his staff aide.[11]
In 1976, Boxer was elected to theMarin County Board of Supervisors, serving for six years.[12] She was the board's first female president.[15]
Boxer, then a Marin County supervisor, was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1982, succeedingJohn Burton.[11] Her slogan was "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn".[16] In the House, she representedCalifornia's 6th congressional district[17] for five terms. She narrowly won her first election with 52 percent of the vote, but easily won re-election in her subsequent races.[11]
Boxer was a member of the originalSelect Committee on Children, Youth, and Families[18] that was established in 1983. She sat on the Armed Services committee throughout her tenure in the House.
In 1992, Boxer was implicated in theHouse banking scandal, which revealed that more than 450 congressional representatives and aides, herself included, wrote overdraft checks covered by the House Bank's overdraft protection. In a statement, Boxer said, "In painful retrospect, I clearly should have paid more attention to my account". She wrote a $15 check to the Deficit Reduction Fund for each of her 87 overdrafts.[19]
In 1991, during theAnita Hill Senate hearings, where Hill accused U.S. Supreme Court nomineeClarence Thomas of sexual harassment, Boxer led a group of women House members to theSenate Judiciary Committee, demanding that the all-white, all-male Committee of Senators take Hill's charges seriously.[20]
Four-term incumbent Democratic SenatorAlan Cranston did not seek re-election in 1992.[21] Boxer opted to run for Senate. In what was billed as the "Year of the Woman",[22] Boxer beat fellow Rep.Mel Levine and Lieutenant GovernorLeo McCarthy in the Democratic primary, winning 44% of the vote.[23] In the general election, Boxer defeated RepublicanBruce Herschensohn by 4.9%.[24] A last-minute revelation that Herschensohn had patronized a strip club at least partially affected the outcome.[25] In 1998, Boxerwon a second term, beating sitting California State TreasurerMatt Fong by 10.1% of the vote.[26] In2004, after facing no primary opposition, Boxer defeatedGOP candidateBill Jones, the formerCalifornia Secretary of State, by 20%.[27] In 2010, Boxer defeatedRepublican candidateCarly Fiorina, former chief executive officer ofHewlett-Packard, by 10%.[28] Boxer did not seek re-election in 2016.[29]
A member of the Senate Democratic Leadership, Boxer served as the Democratic chief deputy whip, which gave her the job of lining up votes on key legislation.[30]
On January 6, 2005, Boxer joinedRepresentativeStephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in filing a U.S. congressional objection to thecertification of Ohio'sElectoral College votes in the2004 U.S. presidential election.[32] She called the objection her "opening shot to be able to focus the light of truth on these terrible problems in the electoral system".[33][34] The Senate voted the objection down 74–1; the House voted the objection down 267–31.[35] It was only the second congressional objection to an entire state's electoral delegation inU.S. history; the first instance was in 1877.[36][37]
As asuperdelegate, Boxer had declared that she would support the winner of theCalifornia primary, which was won byHillary Clinton.[38] However, she reneged on that pledge and remained neutral, only officially backingBarack Obama's candidacy the day after the last primaries, once he had garnered enough delegate votes to clinch the nomination.[39]
Prior toHillary Clinton's announcement, on October 20, 2013, Senator Boxer was one of sixteen Democratic female senators to sign a letter endorsing Clinton as the Democratic nominee in the2016 U.S. presidential election.[40]
After leaving the U.S. Senate, Boxer has given paid speeches; raised money for her political action committee (PAC for Change); hosted a weekly podcast with her daughter, Nicole Boxer; and worked as a lobbyist.[41]
In April 2017, Boxer served as the keynote speaker for the Environmental Student Assembly's Earth Month at theUniversity of Southern California,[42] and in 2020, Boxer served as a fellow at theUSC Center for the Political Future.[43]
In January 2020, it was reported that Boxer had become co-chair of Mercury Public Affairs, a prominent lobbying and public affairs firm, whose corporate clients have includedAirbnb andAT&T, along foreign governments such asQatar andTurkey.[41]
Prior to joining Mercury Public Affairs, Boxer had worked as a paid advisor toLyft, during which time she advocated against the passage ofAB-5, a California law that Lyft opposed which reclassified as "employees" many workers, including Lyft drivers, who had previously been classified as "independent contractors" under state labor law.[44][45]
Boxer also has worked as a paid consultant on behalf of Poseidon Water as part of that company's effort to install adesalination plant in Huntington Beach, California, and also for CityLift Parking, a company inOakland, California, that designs automated parking lifts.[46][47]
In October 2021, Boxer, former Los Angeles mayorAntonio Villaraigosa, and formerCalifornia State Assembly speakerFabian Nunez led a high-profile mass exodus of employees from the California office of Mercury Public Affairs to set up their own public affairs and consulting firm. At the time of their departure, the press reported Mercury's California based clients includedClorox,Lyft, the California Charter Schools Association, and theWestlands Water District, the utility that oversees the heart of the state's agricultural lands in theCentral Valley.[9]
On January 12, 2021, it was reported that the inaugural committee of president-electJoe Biden returned a $500 donation from Boxer after Boxer registered as aforeign agent on behalf ofHikvision, a Chinese state-owned manufacturer of surveillance equipment. The company has been accused of involvement in thepersecution of Uyghur Muslims in theXinjiang region. In an emailed statement to the press regarding the returned donation, Boxer defended her work as a registered foreign agent by saying, "When I am asked to provide strategic advice to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs."[7]
Later that same day, Boxer reversed course and publicly announced on Twitter that she would deregister as a foreign agent for Hikvision, writing, "Due to the intense response to my registration I have determined that my continued work has become a negative distraction from my effort to preserve American jobs and make the company better. Therefore I have deregistered."[8]
Boxer has been described as a "liberal lion",[48] as well as a "progressive force".[49]
Boxer andIowa SenatorTom Harkin were the only two Senate Democrats to supportWisconsin SenatorRuss Feingold's 2006 resolution tocensure PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[50]
During the confirmation hearings for theUnited States secretary of state nomineeCondoleezza Rice in January 2005, Boxer challenged her to admit to alleged mistakes and false statements made by the Bush administration in leading the United States into the2003 invasion of Iraq. Along with 12 other senators, Boxer voted against confirmation.[51][52] The 12 "no" votes were the most votes against a secretary of state nominee since 1825, whenHenry Clay was so named.[53]
Boxer voted againstJohn Bolton's nomination forU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in theSenate Foreign Relations Committee andfilibustered him on the Senate floor. Because of the strongDemocratic opposition, Bolton could not obtain Senate approval. However, President Bush bypassed the Senate by employing the constitutional right ofrecess appointment.[54]
Boxer voted against the confirmation ofChief Justice of the United States nomineeJohn Roberts and against the confirmation ofAssociate Justice nomineeSamuel Alito.[55][56]
On October 1, 2008, Boxer voted for theEmergency Economic Stabilization Act.[57]
On August 26, 2013, Boxer toldThe Ed Show onMSNBC that thefederal minimum wage should be raised to $10.00 an hour.[58]
Boxer established the Excellence in Education award to recognize teachers, parents, businesses and organizations working to make positive changes in education. Beginning in 1997, Boxer presented the Excellence in Education Award to 38 recipients.[59][better source needed]
Boxer voted for the 2002Help America Vote Act, which mandated the use of voting machines across the country, among other provisions. On February 18, 2005, Boxer and others introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2005, which would have provided a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast inelectronic voting machines and ensured access to voter verification for all citizens.[60] The bill did not pass.
Boxer introduced a bill on November 15, 2016, calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and to select future presidents by a simple national vote only. This bill was introduced six days after Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite losing the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton.[61]
Boxer opposed thenuclear energy deal between the United States and India. She believed that India should not receive aid from the U.S. in the civilian nuclear energy sector until it brokeits relationship with Iran.[62]
Boxer successfully led the 2003 Senate floor battle to block oil drilling in theArctic National Wildlife Refuge.[63] In 2005, Boxer voted again to block oil drilling at ANWR.
Boxer introduced the National Oceans Protection Act (NOPA) of 2005.[64]
Boxer was an original cosponsor of SenatorJim Jeffords' (I-VT)Clean Power Act.[65]
Boxer was the Senate sponsor of theNorthern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which was signed into law by PresidentGeorge W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The bill protected 275,830 acres (1,116 km2) of federal land aswilderness and 21 miles (34 km) of stream as awild and scenic river, including such popular areas as theKing Range andCache Creek.[66]
Boxer, along with her colleague Dianne Feinstein, voted in favor of subsidy payments to conventional commodity farm producers at the cost of subsidies for conservation-oriented farming.[67]
In 1999, the Senate passed a Boxer resolution opposing theTaliban as the official government ofAfghanistan because of its human rights abuses against women.[68]
She voted against the firstGulf War while a member of the House in 1991.[69]
In 2012, Boxer and a bipartisan group of six senators introduced a resolution condemning Russia for aidingSyrian PresidentBashar al-Assad's government as the countryfaced civil war.[70]
In October 2002, Boxer voted against thejoint resolution passed by theUS Congress to authorize the use of military force by the Bush administration againstIraq.[71][72][73]
In June 2005, Senators Boxer andRuss Feingold of Wisconsin, cosponsored Senate Resolution 171 calling for a timeframe forUS troop withdrawal from Iraq.[citation needed]
In 2005, Boxer criticizedSecretary of StateCondoleezza Rice's judgment in relation to thewar in Iraq: "I personally believe – this is my personal view – that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell the war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth."[74]
Boxer was sharply critical of US Army GeneralDavid Petraeus' testimony regarding the political and military situation of Iraq in 2007, charging him with reporting while wearing "rosy glasses".[75]
In January 2007, Boxer was in the news for comments she made when responding toBush's plans to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. "Who pays the price?" Boxer asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay a personal price with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families... not me, not you." When Rice interjected, Boxer responded by saying, "Madam Secretary, please. I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions. And the fact that this administration would move forward with this escalation with no clue as to the further price that we're going to pay militarily... I find really appalling."[76]
Senator Boxer joined colleagues to pass afederal ban on varioussemi-automatic firearms and established the COPS program.[77][78]
In the wake of the 2016Orlando nightclub shooting, Boxer posted on Facebook that it was an "unspeakable tragedy" and she encouraged others to support "common-sense gun safety laws to protect our communities from these weapons of war."[79]
Boxer co-sponsored theMatthew Shepard Act,[80] which expanded the federal definition of hate crimes to include crimes based on the victim'ssexual orientation andgender identity.
Boxer was part of a coalition to increase medical research to find cures for diseases. In 2007, she authored successful bipartisan legislation with SenatorGordon Smith to combat HIV/AIDS andtuberculosis globally.[81] In 1997, she authored a Patients' Bill of Rights. She has written a bill to makehealth insurance tax-deductible and a bill to allow any American buy into the same health insurance program that members of Congress have. She supported comprehensive prescription drug coverage throughMedicare and the right of all consumers to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs re-imported from Canada.[82][better source needed]
In October 2002, Boxer urged theBush administration to take specific steps to address the causes of thesteep increase in autism cases in California.[83]
Boxer advocated for embryonicstem-cell research, asserting that it has the potential to help those withdiabetes,Parkinson's disease,Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injuries, and other diseases.[84]
In 1996, Boxer was one of 14 senators to vote against theDefense of Marriage Act.[86] She also voted against theFederal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006,[87] although when San Francisco MayorGavin Newsomissued a directive to the city-county clerk to issuemarriage licenses tosame-sex couples, she stated that she supportedCalifornia's domestic partnership law but believed that marriage was between a man and a woman.[88] She opposedProposition 8, a constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage in California, and supported theUniting American Families Act.[89]
During her 2010 campaign, Boxer stated her strong support for same-sex marriage.[90]
Boxer opposed reforming marijuana policy and opposed a California ballot measure to legalize and tax marijuana for those 21 and older in the state.[91]
As a senator, Boxer was an outspoken supporter of abortion rights.[92] She authored theFreedom of Choice Act of 2004 and participated in the floor fight for passage of theFreedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.[93][94]
Boxer was critical of theStupak-Pitts Amendment to Obamacare.[95]
Boxer supported the then-current system ofSocial Security, and opposed PresidentGeorge W. Bush's plan for partial privatization of Social Security.[96][97]
In June 2008, Boxer spoke in the Senate in opposition to theFISA Amendments Act of 2008,[98] a pending bill in the United States Congress to amend theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act,[99] and later broke with her counterpartDianne Feinstein and voted against it.[100]
At 4 ft 11 in (150 cm), Boxer was one of the shortest members of the Congress. When addressing the chamber, she would sometimes stand on a portable platform, dubbed the "Boxer Box", which was carried by an aide.[101][102]
Boxer has made cameo appearances as herself in several television shows, includingMurphy Brown (1994),[103]Gilmore Girls (2002)[103] andCurb Your Enthusiasm (2007),[104] as well as a cameo (as herself) in the 2000 filmTraffic.[103] On November 2, 2005, she made an appearance onThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss her new novel,A Time To Run.[citation needed]
In September 2012, it was reported that Boxer and Republican SenatorOlympia Snowe would appear together in anNBC sitcom.[105] On September 20, 2012, she and Senator Snowe appeared in thefifth season premiere ofParks and Recreation. Boxer later returned toParks and Recreation alongside several other U.S. senators in early 2015 in theseventh season episode "Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington".[106]
In November 2016, Boxer appeared in an episode ofChelsea, presented byChelsea Handler, entitled "Do Not Despair About Our Country", filmed shortly after the final announced result of the2016 US presidential election, during which Handler wept about the result.[107][108]
Boxer's first novel,A Time to Run, was published in 2005 by San Francisco-basedChronicle Books.[109] Her second novel,Blind Trust, was released in July 2009 by Chronicle Books.[citation needed]
Barbara and Stewart Boxer had two children, Doug and Nicole.[11] On May 28, 1994, Nicole Boxer marriedTony Rodham, the younger brother ofHillary Clinton, in a ceremony at theWhite House attended by 250 guests.[110] (This was the first White House wedding sinceTricia Nixon marriedEdward Cox in 1971.)[110] Before divorcing, Boxer and Rodham had a son, Zachary, in 1995.[111]
In 2006, Barbara and Stewart Boxer sold their house in Greenbrae, California and moved toRancho Mirage.[112]
On July 26, 2021, Boxer wasassaulted androbbed of her mobile phone in theJack London Square section of Oakland, California. A $2,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest. Boxer was not seriously injured in the attack.[113][114]
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity| Public Buildings (1838–1857) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Public Buildings and Grounds (1857–1947) | ||
| Public Works (1947–1977) | ||
| Environment and Public Works (1977–present) | ||
| Class 1 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
