- Debbie Stabenow
-
Debbie Stabenow United States Senator
from MichiganIncumbent Assumed office
January 3, 2001
Serving with Carl LevinPreceded by Spencer Abraham Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Incumbent Assumed office
January 3, 2011Preceded by Blanche Lincoln Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan's 8th districtIn office
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001Preceded by Dick Chrysler Succeeded by Mike Rogers Member of the Michigan Senate In office
1991–1994Member of the Michigan House of Representatives In office
1979–1990Member of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners In office
1975–1978Personal details Born April 29, 1950
Gladwin, MichiganPolitical party Democratic Spouse(s) Dennis Stabenow (until 1990)
Tom Athans (2003-2010)Children Michelle Stabenow
Todd Stabenow
Gina Athans (stepdaughter)Residence Lansing, Michigan Alma mater Michigan State University (B.A., M.S.W.) Profession Social worker Religion Methodist Website Senator Debbie Stabenow Deborah Ann Greer "Debbie" Stabenow (born April 29, 1950) is the junior United States Senator from Michigan and a member of the Democratic Party. Before her election to the U.S. Senate, she was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Michigan's 8th congressional district from 1997 to 2001. She previously served as a member of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, Michigan House of Representatives, and Michigan Senate.
Stabenow defeated first-term Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham in the 2000 U.S. Senate election, becoming the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Michigan. She and Maria Cantwell were the first women to defeat incumbent Senators in a general election.
Stabenow currently serves as Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her current Senate term ends in January 2013, with an election for the seat being held in November 2012.
Contents
Early life, education, and early career
Stabenow was born in Gladwin, Michigan, to Anna Merle Hallmark and Robert Lee Greer.[1] She grew up in Clare, Michigan, where her father and grandfather owned an auto dealership. She graduated from Clare High School. She received a B.A. from Michigan State University in 1972 and a M.S.W. magna cum laude from Michigan State University in 1975.[2]
While in graduate school, Stabenow won her first election, to the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, a position in which she served from 1975 to 1978. She has also worked as a social worker, and a leadership training consultant.
Early political career
State legislature
She served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1979 to 1990, where she became the first woman to preside over the House. She also served in the Michigan Senate from 1991 to 1994. In 1994, she made an unsuccessful primary run for Governor of Michigan, after which she was chosen as nominee Congressman Howard Wolpe's running mate, but lost to the incumbent ticket of John Engler and Connie Binsfeld.
Stabenow was a leader in the passage of one of the first laws in the U.S. that required all Michigan children to ride in car seats until age five. She authored a domestic violence law which increased criminal penalties for those committing domestic violence offences. Republican members of the State legislature nicknamed her "D-Stabs" around this time[citation needed].
In the Michigan Senate, Stabenow was a leader in the passage of bills including Michigan's property tax cuts and school funding reform, small business reforms, and legislation to protect families and children in the state.
U.S. House of Representatives
She was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1996 from Michigan's 8th congressional district and served two terms. She did not seek reelection to the House of Representatives in 2000, but was elected to the U.S. Senate. Stabenow was considered the underdog for much of the Senate race, but rallied in the final weeks of the campaign to unseat Spencer Abraham by a narrow margin.
U.S. Senate
Elections
- 2006
Main article: Michigan United States Senate election, 2006Stabenow faced her first re-election in the 2006 election against Michael Bouchard, the Oakland County sheriff and former state Senate majority leader. Stabenow received 57 percent of the vote while Bouchard received 41 percent.
- 2012
Main article: United States Senate election in Michigan, 2012Stabenow has no known opposition in the Democratic primary, but faces several possible serious Republican opponents, including Scotty Boman, a Libertarian activist[3][4] Clark Durant, co-founder of the Cornerstone Schools[5] and Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. representative[6]
Tenure
Before her current committee assignments, Senator Stabenow also served on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Special Committee on Aging.
Stabenow is only the second person from Michigan to have served in both houses of the Michigan State Legislature and in both houses of the United States Congress. The first was Thomas W. Ferry. Stabenow is also the first person to have served as a Michigan state legislator to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate (until enactment of the Seventeenth amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, U.S. Senators were selected by the state legislature). No former Michigan state legislator had served in the U.S. Senate since 1894, when Francis B. Stockbridge died.
During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Stabenow was the first Senator to author legislation that would waive all transportation fees to Americans trapped in Lebanon, so that their deportation back to America would not cost them.
Stabenow became the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate on November 16, 2004, when she was elected by her colleagues to be secretary of the Democratic caucus. As caucus secretary, she assisted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to set the Democrats' agenda and priorities. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was elected Minority Whip, the Democrats' second-ranking spot. In November 2006, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that Stabenow would leave the caucus secretary position to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as chair of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, charged with "engag[ing] Democratic Senators and community leaders across the country in an active dialogue".[7]
Following the withdrawal of Tom Daschle as President Barack Obama's nominee as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, the National Organization for Women endorsed Stabenow for the position and urged the president to appoint Stabenow, saying, "Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has long focused on health care as a priority, and with her background as a social worker she is well positioned to take the helm of this agency that is so critical to women and families."[8]
Stabenow became the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2011, following the defeat of chairwoman Blanche Lincoln.[9]
- Fairness doctrine
Stabenow has expressed support in regulating talk radio via a measure like the Fairness doctrine. On February 5, 2009, she stated "I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves."[10]
Her support for these measures has been met with criticism about a conflict of interest, given that the primary target is conservative talk radio and that her former husband, Tom Athans, has been an executive at a number of liberal progressive talk radio networks.[11]
- Drilling in the Great Lakes
She authored the first law to ban drilling in the Great Lakes.
On August 31, 2006, Stabenow, along with Senator Carl Levin and Rep. John Dingell, announced an agreement that would completely cease Ontario's dumping of solid waste in Michigan within four years. This issue has been an issue in Michigan for the past several years. Previously in the Senate, Stabenow wrote legislation intended to reduce the dumping of Canadian trash into Michigan by requiring machines to search trash being dumped across the border.[12] In July 2006, the Senate unanimously passed a law sponsored by Stabenow requiring the payment of $420 inspection fee for every truckload of Canadian trash being brought into Michigan.[13]
- Global warming
On August 10, 2009, Stabenow was reported by The Detroit News as saying "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes."[14] However, she has opposed regulation of greenhouse gases, enhanced fuel efficiency standards in California, and greenhouse gas emission reporting standards.[15]
- SGR mechanism
Senator Stabenow has introduced a bill to end the SGR mechanism. In physician payment mechanisms, SGR refers to the "sustainable growth rate", used to calculate physician fees under Medicare, where theoretically, these fees would be reduced every year to compensate for an increase in Medicare spending overall. Medical organizations complain of being the only profession in the USA to live under government imposed price controls, controls which in actuality are not enforced. Because most often the US Congress responds to physician organization appeals, last-minute supplementary spending is approved (increasing the actual expenditures) so that no fee reduction occurs. A 21% cut would be due in January 2010.
- Health care reform
Stabenow supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; she voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009,[16] and she voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.[17]
Committee assignments
- Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit (Chair)
- Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology
- Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms
- Committee on the Budget
- Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
- Committee on Finance
- United States Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee (Chair)
Personal life
Stabenow was first married to Dennis Stabenow; the couple divorced in 1990. They have two children, Michelle and Todd.
In 2003, Stabenow married Tom Athans, now co-founder of Democracy Radio and former executive vice president of Air America. By this marriage, she has a stepdaughter, Gina. Stabenow and Athans divorced on May 28, 2010, approximately two years after Tom Athans was detained in Troy, Michigan, as part of a prostitution sting.[18]
Stabenow belongs to the Grace United Methodist Church.
Electoral history
Michigan U.S. Senate Election 2000 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Democratic Debbie Stabenow 2,061,952 49.5 +6.7 Republican Spencer Abraham (Incumbent) 1,994,693 47.9 Michigan U.S. Senate Election 2006 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Democratic Debbie Stabenow (Incumbent) 2,151,278 56.9 +7.4 Republican Michael Bouchard 1,559,597 41.3 Footnotes
- ^ 1 Rootsweb
- ^ "Debbie Stabenow | Congressional votes database | washingtonpost.com". Projects.washingtonpost.com. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/s000770/. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ Press, Associated (September 9, 2011). "Boman joins Republican Michigan US Senate race". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Boman-joins-Republican-Michigan-US-Senate-race-2163490.php.
- ^ Boman, Scotty. "Committee to Elect Scotty Boman". Committee to Elect Scotty Boman. http://boman12.org.
- ^ http://www.chron.com/news/article/APNewsBreak-Car-whiz-Lutz-to-help-Clark-Durant-2166371.php
- ^ http://www.detnews.com/article/20110720/POLITICS03/107200386/Hoekstra--Senate-campaign-will-focus-on-smaller-government--less-spending
- ^ "Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader". Democrats.senate.gov. 2006-11-14. http://democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=265865&. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ Women's Group Pushes Stabenow for HHS
- ^ http://www.freep.com/article/20101119/NEWS15/101119025/1285/news15/Stabenow-to-chair-agriculture-committee
- ^ "Politico.Com: Videos". Link.brightcove.com. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155201977/bctid10237007001. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ "Michael Calderone's Blog: Sen. Stabenow wants hearings on radio 'accountability'; talks fairness doctrine". Politico.com. http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0209/Sen_Stabenow_wants_hearings_on_radio_accountability_talks_fairness_doctrine.html?showall. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=5350340
- ^ "Stabenow Rallies Public In Fight Against Canadian Trash", Stabenow for Senate Press Releases, August 1, 2006
- ^ "DETNEWS | Weblogs | Henry Payne's Sketchbook". Community.detnews.com. 2009-08-11. http://community.detnews.com/apps/blogs/henrypayneblog/index.php?blogid=2041. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ http://climateprogress.org/2011/03/31/sen-stabenow-joins-the-climate-action-delayers/
- ^ [1]
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote". Senate.gov. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00105. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ "Stabenow divorced from husband caught with hooker". Chicago Tribune. December 5, 2010. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-stabenow-divorce,0,6568753.story.
External links
- United States Senator Debbie Stabenow official U.S. Senate site
- Stabenow for Senate official campaign site
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Profile at SourceWatch
- Michigan Liberal's Junior Senator section
United States Senators from Michigan Class 1 Class 2 Michigan's current delegation to the United States Congress Senators Carl Levin (D), Debbie Stabenow (D)Representatives Dan Benishek (R), Bill Huizenga (R), Justin Amash (R), David Lee Camp (R), Dale Kildee (D), Fred Upton (R), Tim Walberg (R), Mike Rogers (R), Gary Peters (D), Candice Miller (R), Thad McCotter (R), Sander Levin (D), Hansen Clarke (D), John Conyers (D), John Dingell (D)Other states'
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Chairpersons and Ranking Members of United States Senate committees Chairpersons (Democratic) Ranking Members (Republican) Debbie Stabenow (Michigan) – Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) – Appropriations
Carl Levin (Michigan) – Armed Services
Tim Johnson (South Dakota) – Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Kent Conrad (North Dakota) – Budget
Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia) – Commerce, Science and Transportation
Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) – Energy and Natural Resources
Barbara Boxer (California) – Environment and Public Works
Max Baucus (Montana) – Finance
John Kerry (Massachusetts) – Foreign Relations
Tom Harkin (Iowa) – Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Joe Lieberman (Connecticut) – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) – Indian Affairs
Patrick Leahy (Vermont) – Judiciary
Chuck Schumer (New York) – Rules and Administration
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana) – Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Patty Murray (Washington) – Veterans' Affairs
Barbara Boxer (California) – Ethics (Select)
Dianne Feinstein (California) – Intelligence (Select)
Herb Kohl (Wisconsin) – Aging (Special)Pat Roberts (Kansas) – Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Thad Cochran (Mississippi) – Appropriations
John McCain (Arizona) – Armed Services
Richard Shelby (Alabama) – Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Jeff Sessions (Alabama) – Budget
Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) – Commerce, Science and Transportation
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) – Energy and Natural Resources
Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) – Environment and Public Works
Orrin Hatch (Utah) – Finance
Richard Lugar (Indiana) – Foreign Relations
Mike Enzi (Wyoming) – Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Susan Collins (Maine) – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
John Barrasso (Wyoming) – Indian Affairs
Chuck Grassley (Iowa) – Judiciary
Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) – Rules and Administration
Olympia Snowe (Maine) – Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Richard Burr (North Carolina) – Veterans' Affairs
Johnny Isakson (Georgia) – Ethics (Select)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) – Intelligence (Select)
Bob Corker (Tennessee) – Aging (Special)Categories:- United States Senators from Michigan
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan
- Michigan State Senators
- Members of the Michigan House of Representatives
- County officials in Michigan
- American social workers
- American Methodists
- Michigan State University alumni
- 1950 births
- Living people
- Female United States Senators
- Female members of the United States House of Representatives
- Michigan Democrats
- Women state legislators in Michigan
- Democratic Party United States Senators
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