Ted Lieu
劉雲平
Official portrait, 2016
Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2023
Leader	Hakeem Jeffries
Preceded by	Pete Aguilar
Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee
In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 Serving with Matt Cartwright,Debbie Dingell, andJoe Neguse
Leader	Nancy Pelosi
Preceded by	Cheri Bustos David Cicilline Hakeem Jeffries
Succeeded by	Veronica Escobar Dean Phillips Lauren Underwood
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Henry Waxman
Constituency	33rd district (2015–2023) 36th district (2023–present)
Member of theCalifornia State Senate from the28th district
In office February 18, 2011 – November 30, 2014
Preceded by	Jenny Oropeza
Succeeded by	Jeff Stone (redistricted)
Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the53rd district
In office September 21, 2005 – November 30, 2010
Preceded by	Mike Gordon
Succeeded by	Betsy Butler
Personal details
Born	Ted Win-Ping Lieu (1969-03-29)March 29, 1969 (age 56) Taipei,Taiwan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Betty Chim ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	2
Education	Stanford University (BA,BS) Georgetown University (JD)
Signature
Website	House website Campaign website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Air Force Air Force Reserve
Years of service	1995–1999 (active) 2000–2021 (reserve)
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps
Awards	Meritorious Service Medal (1oak leaf cluster) Air Force Commendation Medal
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	劉雲平
Simplified Chinese	刘云平
Hanyu Pinyin	Liú Yúnpíng
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Liú Yúnpíng Wade–Giles Liu2 Yün2-p'ing2 IPA [ljǒʊ y̌n.pʰǐŋ]
Lieu's voice Lieu on his amendment to theFor the People Act of 2019. Recorded March 6, 2019

Ted Win-Ping Lieu (Chinese: 劉雲平;^[1]/ljuː/LEW; born March 29, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician. He is a member of theDemocratic Party and has representedCalifornia's 36th congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives since 2023. He represented the33rd congressional district from 2015 to 2023. The district includesSouth Bay andWestside regions ofLos Angeles, as well asBeverly Hills,Santa Monica, thePalos Verdes Peninsula, andBeach Cities.

Having emigrated fromTaiwan at age 3, Lieu is aTaiwanese American who is one of few members of Congress who arenaturalized U.S. citizens. He graduated with two degrees fromStanford University and earned hisJuris Doctor degree fromGeorgetown University. He represented the28th district in theCalifornia State Senate from 2011 to 2014, after being elected to fill the seat of deceased SenatorJenny Oropeza. From 2005 to 2010 he was aCalifornia state assemblyman, representing the53rd district, after being elected to fill the seat of deceased assemblymanMike Gordon.

Lieu served on active duty with theUnited States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1995 to 1999. From 2000 to 2021 he served in theAir Force Reserve Command, and he attained the rank ofcolonel in 2015. House Democratic leaderNancy Pelosi appointed Lieu assistantwhip of the115th Congress in 2017. He has beenvice chair of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023.

Lieu was born in 1969 inTaipei,Taiwan. His family immigrated to the United States when he was three years old, settling inCleveland, Ohio.^[2]

After graduating fromSaint Ignatius High School in 1987,^[3] Lieu studiedcomputer science andpolitical science atStanford University, where he was a member ofSigma Alpha Mu fraternity and received aBachelor of Science incomputer science and aBachelor of Arts inpolitical science in 1991. He then attendedGeorgetown University Law Center, becoming editor-in-chief of theGeorgetown Law Journal and graduating in 1994 with aJuris Doctor,magna cum laude.^[3]

After law school, Lieu served as alaw clerk to JudgeThomas Tang of theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1994 to 1995.^[4]

Lieu joined theUnited States Air Force in 1995 and served four years on active duty as a member of theJudge Advocate General's Corps. As a military prosecutor and adviser to commanders, he has received various awards and medals for his service, both abroad and locally, including theMeritorious Service Medal with oneOak Leaf Cluster, theAir Force Commendation Medal, and theHumanitarian Service Medal.^[3] Lieu continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve from 2000 to 2021; in this capacity, he was promoted to his terminal rank of colonel in December 2015.^[5][6]

On March 5, 2002, Lieu was elected to the Torrance City Council alongside Mike Mauno and Pat McIntyre. On April 9, they were sworn in to replace outgoing members Marcia Cribb, Jack Messerlian, and Dan Walker, who had been elected mayor. Lieu served until his election to the state assembly, and was succeeded by Rod Guyton via appointment.^[7][8]

Lieu won a September 13, 2005, special election to fill the53rd Assembly district following the death of incumbentMike Gordon. Lieu defeated three Republicans, including physician Mary Jo Ford and fellow Torrance city councilman Paul Nowatka.^[9]

Lieu was reelected in 2006 and again in 2008.^[10]

Lieu was chair of the Assembly Rules Committee. He was a member of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, Assembly Judiciary Committee and Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. Lieu was also chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace.^[11] In 2014 he joined the newly foundedFriends of Wales Caucus.

In 2008, in a surprising turn of events in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) English language controversy, Lieu and state senatorLeland Yee of San Francisco were able to help rescind the LPGA Tour Commission's suspension-penalty policy for players who failed to learn enough English to speak to sponsors and at award ceremonies. Both officials publicly challenged the legality and galvanized community attention to the LPGA's policy in August 2008 when it was released, which resulted in revision of the policy by the end of 2008.^[12][13]

Lieu is a strong supporter of expansion of public transit in West Los Angeles, LAX, and the South Bay.^[14]

Lieu coauthored a successful bill to bypass environmental quality regulations to build a football stadium in Los Angeles. The bill was intended to help the efforts of developerEdward P. Roski persuade theNational Football League to return to the city, and was controversial among many environmentalists and legislators.^[15] Further controversy ensued when it was announced that Roski had given over $500,000 to political campaigns, including $13,000 to Lieu's.^[16]

As an assemblyman, Lieu authored laws in the areas of public safety, child sex offenders, domestic violence, the environment, education, health care, veterans' issues and transportation.

Some of his legislative actions include the following:

• AB 1900 helps prevent convicted child sex offenders from working with children (Chapter 340, Statutes of 2006)^[17]
• ABx2 7, the California Foreclosure Prevention Act,^[18] requires lenders to operate a comprehensive home loan modification program or face a 90-day foreclosure moratorium. This is the first law of its kind in the nation (Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009)
• AB 2052 allows a victim of domestic violence to break a rental lease if the victim provides a police report or temporary restraining order to the landlord (Chapter 440, Statutes of 2008)
• AB 86 gives school districts the ability to discipline students who engage incyberbullying (Chapter 646, Statutes of 2008)^[19]
• AB 800 requires reporting of sewage spills, thereby allowing the local public safety officials to close down beaches and public areas affected by such spills (Chapter 371, Statutes of 2007)^[20]
• AB 236 mandates the state to prioritize the purchase of fleet cars to enhance fuel efficiency and carbon reduction, and requires alternative-fuel-capable vehicles to use alternative fuels (Chapter 593, Statutes of 2007)^[21]
• AB 392 requires employers to give spouses of Armed Forces members returning from deployment two weeks of unpaid leave if requested by the spouse (Chapter 361, Statutes of 2007)^[22] and
• AB 1150 bans health insurance companies from providing financial incentives to their employees for terminating health care coverage of patients (Chapter 188, Statutes of 2008).^[23]

Lieu sought the Democratic nomination in the2010 California attorney general election. He finished fourth in the June primary, which was won by futureVice PresidentKamala Harris.

Lieu won a February 15, 2011, special election to fill the28th Senate district following the death of incumbentJenny Oropeza. He defeated four Republicans, one Democrat, and two independents.^[24]

On January 30, 2014, Lieu voted in favor ofCalifornia Senate Constitutional Amendment 5.^[25] The proposed bill asked California voters to repeal provisions ofProposition 209 and permit state universities to consider an applicant's race, ethnicity or national origin in making admissions decisions. After hearing strong opposition to the bill from the Asian-American community, Lieu, along with senatorsLeland Yee andCarol Liu, who had also voted for the bill, jointly issued a statement on February 27 calling for the bill to be withheld pending further consultations with the "affected communities".^[26]

Lieu was the Democratic candidate for the33rd congressional district, formerly represented byHenry Waxman, who retired in 2014 after 40 years in Congress.^[27] The 2010 redistricting placed a portion of Torrance, including Lieu's home, in the 33rd.

Lieu placed second in the June primary, but defeated RepublicanElan Carr in the general election. He and Waxman are the only persons to represent this district since its creation in 1974 (it was the 24th from 1975 to 1993, the 29th from 1993 to 2003, the 30th from 2003 to 2013, and has been the 33rd since 2013).

Lieu successfully passed three laws in the 114th Congress, securing $35 million in funding to the West Los Angeles VA for seismic retrofits; reauthorizing the Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans; and restoring the Quarterly Financial Report. Lieu also introduced the Climate Solutions Act in the 114th Congress, which aimed to model national energy goals and climate emissions reduction targets after the state of California.^[28]

In the 115th Congress, Lieu introduced H.R. 669 – Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017, which would prohibit the president from using the Armed Forces to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a congressional declaration of war expressly authorizing such strike.^[29]

On March 8, 2017, Lieu introduced H.R. 1437 – No Money Bail Act of 2017. The bill proposes eliminating the money bail system for holding suspects in pretrial proceedings.^[30]

Lieu is one of twoTaiwanese American members of the114th United States Congress, along with New York'sGrace Meng.^[31]

He was voted Democratic Freshman Class president of the House by his colleagues, succeedingJoaquín Castro. Lieu serves on two influential committees in Congress: theHouse Judiciary Committee and theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee.

Lieu voted against theIran deal.^[32]

Lieu received praise from the online privacy community when he introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent states from forcing companies to weaken encryption for law enforcement purposes.^[33]

On September 16, 2015, Lieu andJustin Amash introduced a bill^[34] to reduce funding for theDrug Enforcement Administration's Cannabis Eradication Program,^[35] under which real estate and chattels can be seized if they have been used for marijuana trafficking and abuse.^[36]

On July 22, it was announced that Lieu would speak at the2016 Democratic National Convention, along with three other California House Democrats.^{[citation needed]}

On November 6, 2017, while the House of Representatives chambers was holding amoment of silence was held for the26 victims of a church shooting in Texas, Lieu filmed and posted a video message calling for gun law reform. Lieu said, "I’ve been to too many moments of silences. In just my short career in Congress, three of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history have occurred. I will not be silent. What we need is we need action. We need to pass gun safety legislation now."^[37]

Lieu is a member of theCongressional Progressive Caucus.^[38]

On April 25, 2018, 57 members of the House of Representatives, including Lieu,^[39] released a condemnation ofHolocaust distortion inUkraine andPoland.^[40] They criticized Poland'snew Holocaust law, which would criminalize accusing Poland of complicity in the Holocaust, and Ukraine's2015 memory laws glorifyingUkrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its leaders, such asRoman Shukhevych.^[39]

In 2019, Lieu signed a letter led by RepresentativeRo Khanna and SenatorRand Paul to President Trump asserting that it is "long past time to rein in the use of force that goes beyond congressional authorization" and that they hoped this would "serve as a model for ending hostilities in the future—in particular, as you and your administration seek a political solution to our involvement in Afghanistan."^[41][42]

In December 2019, an attorney for congressmanDevin Nunes sent a letter to Lieu threatening to sue over Lieu's comments about Nunes's relationship with Ukrainian-born American businessmanLev Parnas. In response, Lieu wrote, "I welcome any lawsuit from your client and look forward to taking discovery of Congressman Nunes. Or, you can take your letter and shove it."^[43]

In October 2020, Lieu co-signed a letter to Secretary of StateMike Pompeo that condemnedAzerbaijan’s offensive operations against theArmenian-populated enclave ofNagorno-Karabakh, denouncedTurkey’s role in theNagorno-Karabakh conflict, and called for an immediate ceasefire.^[44]

On January 12, 2021, Lieu was named animpeachment manager (prosecutor) for thesecond impeachment trial of President Trump.^[45]

Lieu voted in favor of three military aid package supplementals forUkraine,Israel, andTaiwan respectively in April 2024, along with most Democrats.^[46][47][48]

For the118th Congress:^[49]

• Committee on Foreign Affairs
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust

In the past Rep. Lieu has also served on theCommittee on Science, Space, and Technology.

• Black Maternal Health Caucus^[50]
• House Baltic Caucus^[51]
• Congressional Arts Caucus^[52]
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Whip)^[53]
• Congressional Equality Caucus^[54]
• Congressional Ukraine Caucus^[55]
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus^[56]
• U.S.-Japan Caucus^[57]
• Friends of Wales Caucus
• Medicare for All Caucus
• Congressional Progressive Caucus^[58]
• Congressional Direct Selling Caucus^[59]
• Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment^[60]
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus^[61]
• Rare Disease Caucus^[62]

From 2016 to 2018, Lieu made four donations totaling $51,046 from his campaign account to his alma mater, Stanford University.^[63] In 2020 Stanford admitted Lieu's eldest son, Brennan.^[64]National Review andThe Washington Examiner raised questions about the propriety of the donations.^[65] An opinion writer forThe Examiner noted that other members of Congress have donated to universities and asserted, "Lieu's $50,000 to Stanford is the second-largest contribution on record from an active congressional candidate to a college or university."^[66] FormerFEC chairmanBradley Smith told theReview that donations to universities from campaign funds were not improper and "It's actually relatively common for congressmen, especially senators who might have big campaign funds built up, to give a bunch of money to their alma mater."^[67] In 2012–13, parental donations needed to be at least $500,000 (nearly ten times the amount of Lieu's donations) before a student would appear on the list the Office of Development provided to the Stanford admission office.^[68][69]

Lieu is considered a political progressive. He voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the117th Congress, according to aFiveThirtyEight analysis.^[70]

Lieu describes himself as "100% pro-choice."^[71] As of 2022, he has a 100% rating fromNARAL Pro-Choice America and an F grade from theSusan B. Anthony List for his abortion-related voting record.^[72][73] Lieu opposed the Supreme Court decisionoverturning ofRoe v. Wade.^[74]

In 2012, Lieu authored a bill^[75] that bans the provision ofsexual orientation change efforts (includingconversion therapy) to minors. This bill passed both the State Assembly and Senate with substantial support, and was signed into law by GovernorJerry Brown in 2012.^[76] This made California the first U.S. state to have such a ban. Several other states and theDistrict of Columbia have followed in enacting bans on sexual orientation change efforts with minors.^[77] As U.S. representative, Lieu has introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, a bill for a federal ban on conversion therapy, following statements by President Obama opposing the practice.^[78]

Lieu supports banning hydrofluoric acid (HF) at oil refineries, where it is often the chemical used for producing the high octanealkylate component of gasoline.  He has pointed out the danger of storing the volatile chemical on site at refineries, where explosions are not uncommon, where there are limited safeguards against natural disasters and terrorist incidents, and where many plants already have long histories of limited accidental HF release incidents.^[79]  A larger release could cause a toxic ground hugging cloud leading to a mass casualty event in the vicinity of the release site.^[80]

On June 22, 2018, Lieu played an audio clip of children taken from their parents under theTrump administration family separation policy crying and calling for their parents.Karen Handel, Republican representative from Georgia, who was presiding over the session, called on Lieu to stop playing the clip, citing a rule (House Rule 17) that prohibits persons on the floor of the House from using "a mobile electronic device that impairs decorum."^[81] Lieu responded, "Why are we hiding this from the American people? I think the American people need to hear this."^[81]

Lieu has been publicly raising concerns over U.S. support forSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. In March 2016 he sent a letter to Secretary of StateJohn Kerry and Secretary of DefenseAsh Carter. Lieu wrote in the letter that the "apparent indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen seem to suggest that either the coalition is grossly negligent in its targeting or is intentionally targeting innocent civilians. ... Some of these strikes look like war crimes to me, and I want to get answers as to why the U.S. appears to be assisting in the execution of war crimes in Yemen."^[82]

In April 2017 Lieu again criticized U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabian military campaign in Yemen, highlighting thatAl Qaeda in Yemen "has emerged as a de facto ally of the Saudi-led militaries with whom [Trump] administration aims to partner more closely."^[83]

In 2015, Lieu called for a Justice Department investigation into the arrests of several Chinese-American scientists for espionage.^[84] On February 13, 2018, in aSenate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing focused onChinese espionage in the United States, SenatorMarco Rubio askedFBI directorChristopher A. Wray about the risk posed by China's students in advanced science and mathematics programs.^[85][86] Lieu criticized Wray's response as "irresponsible generalizations" implying that all Chinese students and scholars were spies.^[87]

In 2023, after the release ofChatGPT, Lieu wrote in the New York Times to call forregulation of artificial intelligence, arguing that "Failure to do so could lead to a future where the risks of AI far outweigh its benefits."^[88] Later the same year, Lieu signed anopen letter from theCenter for AI Safety, which stated "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."^[89]

Lieu and his wife Betty Lieu (a former California deputy attorney general) reside inTorrance, California, with their two sons, Brennan and Austin.^[90] Lieu is Catholic.^[91][92]

During thefirst presidency of Donald Trump, Lieu was known for rebutting Trump's tweets on his personal account, @tedlieu. Lieu said "I just decided that if Donald Trump was going to say 27 crazy, misleading things a week, I am going to point out that he said 27 crazy, misleading things, and to not allow him to get away with it".^[93]

In 2023, Lieu was honored with theCarnegie Corporation of New York'sGreat Immigrants Award.^[94]

• List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
• Taiwanese Americans in Los Angeles

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTed Lieu.

EnglishWikisource has original works by or about:

Ted Lieu

• Congressman Ted Lieu official U.S. House website
• Ted Lieu for Congress campaign website
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at theLibrary of Congress
• Profile atVote Smart

• 1969 births
• Living people
• 21st-century members of the California State Legislature
• 21st-century United States representatives
• 21st-century Roman Catholics
• American military lawyers
• American military personnel of Chinese descent
• American politicians of Taiwanese descent
• Asian-American state legislators in California
• California city council members
• California Democrats
• California lawyers
• California politicians of Chinese descent
• Catholic politicians from California
• Democratic Party California state senators
• Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
• Georgetown University Law Center alumni
• Members of the United States Congress of Chinese descent
• United States representatives of Asian descent
• Military personnel from Torrance, California
• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• Politicians from Cleveland
• Politicians from Taipei
• Politicians from Torrance, California
• Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)
• Stanford University alumni
• Taiwanese emigrants to the United States
• United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps
• United States Air Force officers
• United States Air Force reservists
• LGBTQ rights activists from California

• CS1 Chinese (Taiwan)-language sources (zh-tw)
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2021
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• Articles with hAudio microformats
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• People appearing on C-SPAN
• Articles containing video clips