Barbara Lee Biography
Barbara Lee is a progressive leader in the United States Congress who has consistently taken courageous stands in opposition to reckless right-wing policies.
On September 14th, 2001, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was the lone voice in Congress who opposed the Bush administration’s call for unchecked warmaking authority, presciently warning that "We must not embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target."
As the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a co-founder of the Out-of-Iraq Caucus, Barbara has led the fight in Congress to end the Bush administration’s failed policy in Iraq and disavow the doctrine of preemptive war. When Congress voted in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq, she offered an amendment that would have allowed the UN weapons inspectors to finish their job. In July 2006, the House passed her legislation banning funds for permanent military bases in Iraq and preventing the administration from exercising control over Iraqi oil.
Barbara has been leading the fight in Congress for a foreign policy rooted in progressive values, first on the International Relations Committee, and now on the Appropriations Committee through her position on the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.
She has authored or coauthored every major piece of legislation dealing with the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, including the landmark bill that established the framework for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS.
She has been a leader in Congress on efforts to end the genocide in Darfur, traveling three times to the region and bringing attention to the issue by getting arrested while protesting in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC.
She has worked to support policies that foster global peace and security by strengthening diplomacy, increasing international development aid and addressing the root causes of terrorism and instability.
Here at home, Barbara is committed to making sure that our government really works for all Americans. Hurricane Katrina did more than expose the fact that the Bush administration had turned our nation's emergency management system into a political patronage operation. It exposed the bankruptcy of the Republican vision of government – not only the failure to acknowledge the massive poverty crisis in our nation, but the stubborn refusal to conceive of any constructive role for our government in addressing it.
Barbara believes that making the eradication of poverty a national priority is the first step to restoring a government that truly works for all Americans. In the wake of hurricane Katrina, she co-founded the Congressional Out-of-Poverty Caucus, and has worked to make the goal of eradicating poverty in the richest country in the world a national priority.
Barbara represents the Oakland-Berkeley area of Northern California, one of the most diverse and progressive congressional districts in the country. Both in her district and as the First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Co-Chair of the CBC Outreach Committee, she has seen first hand what can be accomplished by working with different communities and bringing people together, and she is determined to bring the power of that cooperation to Congress. In particular, Barbara wants to help empower communities that have been marginalized from the political process and are often overlooked by traditional campaigns.
In 2006, Barbara founded One Voice PAC to realize this goal. The organization works to give voice to the millions of Americans who stand with her in calling for change, and to make sure that their collective power helps elect more progressive voices to Congress.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Barbara graduated from Mills College in Oakland and got her MSW from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, she worked in the office of legendary progressive Congressman and current Mayor of Oakland, Ron Dellums, where she started as an intern and eventually became Chief of Staff. After serving in the California State Assembly and Senate, she was elected to Congress in 1998 to represent California’s ninth congressional district.
