Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

United States Senator

Political observers have credited Clinton with an effective approach to joining the Senate. To counter her polarizing celebrity, she kept a low public profile and learned the ways of the institution while building relationships with senators from both sides of the aisle. Indeed when Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina) joined the Senate in 2003 in somewhat similar circumstances, she modeled her initial approach after Clinton's.

Related Topics:
Elizabeth Dole - North Carolina - 2003

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Senator Clinton sits on four Senate Committees with a total of eight subcommittee assignments: the Senate Committee on Armed Services with three subcommittee assignments, on Airland, on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and on Readiness and Management Support; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with three subcommittee assignments on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety, on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water and on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment; the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, with two subcommittee assignments, on Aging and on Children and Families; and the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Related Topics:
Senate Committee on Armed Services - Senate Environment and Public Works Committee - Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

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Senator Clinton has made homeland security one of her top issues following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in downtown New York City, especially regarding obtaining funding for recovery from the attacks and for improving security capabilities in the New York City area. Senator Clinton worked to secure $21.4 billion in funding to assist clean up and recovery, to provide health tracking for first responders and volunteers at Ground Zero, and to create grants for redevelopment. In 2005, Clinton issued two studies that examined the disbursement of federal homeland security funds to local communities and first responders.

Related Topics:
Homeland security - September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks - World Trade Center - New York City - Ground Zero - 2005

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Clinton has used her membership on the Armed Services Committee to take a strong position in favor of U.S. military action in Afghanistan ? with the additional benefit that it greatly improved the lives of women in that country, who had suffered terribly under the rule of the Taliban http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,185643,00.html ? and a somewhat weaker position regarding action in Iraq (her vote in support of initial military action against Iraq was criticized for being equivocal). Senator Clinton has visited U.S. forces (such as the Fort Drum, New York-based 10th Mountain Division) in both countries. In February 2005 she stated that much of Iraq was functioning well, elections in Iraq had succeeded, and that the insurgency there was failing http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=515943. In July 2005 she co-introduced legislation to increase the size of the regular United States Army by 80,000 soldiers. http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050714/1063239.asp Senator Clinton became a national advocate for retaining and improving health and other benefits for veterans.

Related Topics:
Afghanistan - Taliban - Iraq - Fort Drum, New York - 10th Mountain Division - 2005 - United States Army

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Senator Clinton was a vocal opponent of the Bush Administration's tax cuts.

Related Topics:
Bush - Tax cuts

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Clinton has pressed for education, labor, and technology infrastructure programs to assist economic development in upstate New York and similar regions. For instance, in 2003, Senator Clinton solicited offshoring firm Tata Consultancy Services to set up shop in economically beleaguered Buffalo, New York as part of "bringing new businesses to the state of New York". In 2004, Clinton co-founded and became the co-chair of the U.S. Senate India Caucus with the encouragement and aid of the USINPAC Political Action Committee. In 2005, Clinton co-sponsored with Senator Lindsey Graham the AMTAC proposal regarding incentives and rewards for completely domestic American manufacturing companies http://www.amtacdc.org/. As an advocate for her state, Senator Clinton led a bipartisan effort to bring broadband access to rural communities; co-sponsored the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act; included language in the Energy Bill to provide tax exempt bonding authority for environmentally conscious construction projects; and introduced an amendment calling for funding of new job creation to repair, renovate and modernize public schools.

Related Topics:
2003 - Tata Consultancy Services - Buffalo, New York - 2004 - Political Action Committee - 2005 - Lindsey Graham - Broadband - Rural - Environmentally - Construction - Amendment - Public schools

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In May, 2005, Senator Clinton joined forces with her former adversary, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, on a proposal for incremental universal health care http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/06/klein.tm/index.html. In June, 2005, Senator Clinton united with Senator Bill Frist to push for the modernization of medical records, claiming that thousands of deaths caused by medical mistakes, such as misreading prescriptions, can be prevented by greater reliance on computer technology http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/16/clinton.frist.healthcare.ap/index.html.

Related Topics:
2005 - Newt Gingrich - Bill Frist

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In July 2005, Senator Clinton called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how hidden sex scenes showed up in the controversial video game '. http://leisure.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=73260&category=Entertainment

Related Topics:
2005 - Federal Trade Commission - Hidden sex scenes - Video game

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In 2005, during the intense debate over the filibustering of some of President George W. Bush's federal judicial nominations, Senator Clinton generally kept a low profile. http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-fwin25.html She was not part of the "Gang of 14" that resolved the dispute short of the "nuclear option", but she did vote to endorse that resolution and end debate on the nominations, thereby allowing the nominations to come to a vote. She subsequently voted against three of the nominees, but all were confirmed. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157604,00.html Regarding the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts, in September 2005 Clinton voted against his confirmation, saying "I do not believe that the Judge has presented his views with enough clarity and specificity for me to in good conscience cast a vote on his behalf," but that she hoped her concerns would be unfounded. http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=246324&& Roberts was confirmed by a solid majority, with half the Senate's Democrats voting for him and half against. http://www.ksbitv.com/home/1862927.html

Related Topics:
2005 - Filibustering - President George W. Bush - Gang of 14 - Nuclear option - Supreme Court - John Roberts

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Clinton sought to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina. She failed to win over a two-thirds majority needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate rules. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/14/D8CK6RV01.html

Related Topics:
9/11 Commission - Hurricane Katrina

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