Xavier Becerra

Infobox_Congressman
name =Xavier Becerra

---

date of birth= birth date and age|1958|01|26
place of birth= Sacramento, California
occupation= attorney, political assistant
alma_mater=Stanford University
state = California
district = 31st
term_start = January 3 1993
preceded =Edward R. Roybal
succeeded = Incumbent
party = Democrat
religion = Roman Catholic
spouse = Carolina Reyes
residence = Los Angeles, California

Xavier Becerra (born January 26 1958) is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing California's 31st congressional district ( [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ca31_109.gifmap] ), which is based in Los Angeles.

Becaerra was born in Sacramento, California, the son of working-class immigrants. He earned his B.A. in economics from Stanford University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He was initially a lawyer, working on cases involving individuals with mental impairment. He was also a staff member for California State Senator Art Torres and the Deputy Attorney-General of California. Becerra was a one-term member of the California State Assembly before entering the House.

Becerra ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He finished with 6 percent of the primary vote, finishing behind businessman Steve Soboroff, Councilman Joel Wachs, former California State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, and the eventual winner, then-City Attorney James Hahn.

He is the only member of Congress from Southern California on the Committee on Ways and Means. Becerra is also a prominate member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which he served as chairman during the 105th Congress.

Rep. Becerra is a frequent guest on "Kudlow & Company". He was featured on "The Colbert Report"'s Better Know a District on August 17, 2006.

Rep. Becerra is assistant to the Speaker in the 110th United States Congress. He considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice chairman, but deferred to the incumbent, John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair, which is the position Larson had been running for. [cite web|url=http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/110906/deal.html
date=November 9, 2006|title=House Dems strike leadership deal] He was also mentioned as a possible DCCC chairman. [cite web|url=http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/120606/contenders.html|date=December 6, 2006|title=Candidates for DCCC Chairmanship Campaign Quietly] He delivered the Democratic Response to President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address in English and Spanish. [cite web | title = Rep. Becerra Responds to State of the Union Address in Spanish | work = Multimedia/Video | publisher = Speaker of the United States House of Representatives | date = 2007-01-23 | url = http://speaker.gov/newsroom/multimedia?id=0010 | accessdate = 2007-01-24 ]

On January 27, 2008, Becerra formally endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama for President. [cite web | title = CONGRESSMAN XAVIER BECERRA ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA | url = http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/50337] Becerra is married to physician Carolina Reyes and has three children.

On September 29,2008 Becerra ultimately voted "no" on 700 billion dollars bail out bill because he “wanted to see direct protections for responsible homeowners” in the bill

Committee Assignments

*Ways and Means Committee
**Subcommittee on Oversight
**Subcommittee on Health
**Subcommittee on Social Security
*House Committee on Budget
*Vice Chair of the U.S.-Korea Interparliamentary Exchange
*Co-Chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus

References

External links

* [http://becerra.house.gov/ U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra] official House site
* [http://www.xavierbecerra.us/ Becerra for Congress] official campaign site
*CongBio|b000287
* [http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_detail/H2CA30143 Federal Election Commission — Xavier Becerra] campaign finance reports and data
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Xavier_Becerra.htm On the Issues — Xavier Becerra] issue positions and quotes
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00009774 OpenSecrets.org — Xavier Becerra] campaign contributions
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=H0411103 Project Vote Smart — Representative Xavier Becerra (CA)] profile
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Xavier_Becerra SourceWatch Congresspedia — Xavier Becerra] profile
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/b000287/ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Xavier Becerra] voting record