Maria Cantwell (D-Wa)
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LEGISLATOR US Senator MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA) IN OFFICE CONTACT Up for re-election in 2018 Email Contact Form http://www.cantwell.senate. 3rd Term gov/public/index.cfm/email- Re-elected in 2012 maria SENIORITY RANK Web www.cantwell.senate.gov 26 http://www.cantwell.senate.gov Out of 100 Twitter @SenatorCantwell https://twitter.com/ SenatorCantwell DC 511 Hart Senate Office Office Building BGOV BIOGRAPHY By Chris Strohm, Bloomberg News Maria Cantwell isn’t one to back down from a challenge. An avid mountain climber, she has ascended some of the world’s tallest peaks, taking in the views atop the 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro -- the highest peak in Africa -- as well as the summits of domestic peaks such as the 14,411 feet Mount Rainier in Washington and the 13,770-foot summit of Grand Teton in Wyoming. In her political life, she has taken on another challenge that isn’t for the faint of heart: Wall Street. Elected to the Senate in 2000, Cantwell has made a reputation fighting financial deregulation and what she sees as corporate greed. She championed requiring transparency of arcane derivatives transactions as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulations rewrite. She initially opposed the legislation, saying its derivatives rules weren't strong enough. A book on the 2008 financial meltdown, “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President,” by Ron Suskind, depicted Cantwell as a hard-nosed, tireless advocate for changes on Wall Street. Early in her Senate career, before taking on Wall Street, Cantwell helped to uncover audio tapes and memos showing that energy giant Enron Corp. had manipulated deregulated energy markets. The company went bankrupt in December 2001. “I’m a free-market person,” she told the New York Times in November 2011. “I just don’t believe in casino capitalism.” Cantwell assumed the chairmanship of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee in February 2014 for the remainder of the 113th Congress, as part of a shuffle of chairmanships set off by the resignation of Max Baucus, who was Finance Committee chairman, to become U.S. ambassador to China. Cantwell, who has been on Small Business since 2001, says the government should help small businesses by increasing their access to capital and export opportunities. To take the panel’s chairmanship, Cantwell had to relinquish the gavel of the Indian Affairs Committee that she had held for barely a year. On Indian Affairs, she was the first woman to head the panel. “I am proud of my work with Washington state tribes on issues such as self-determination, education, health care and environmental issues including salmon restoration,” she said in a © 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved such as self-determination, education, health care and environmental issues including salmon restoration,” she said in a statement when she got the post, noting that support from Indian tribes helped her win election to the Senate in 2000. In 2014, she offered a bill to strip professional sports leagues of their tax-exempt status if they allowed a team to promote the term “Redskins” in connection with the football team. Her bill was a salvo in the debate over the use of that term by the National Football League team in Washington, D.C. Cantwell has backed legislation that she says is good for businesses and the economy -- especially in her state. She sponsored a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, which provides loans, insurance, guarantees and other financial support to promote foreign sales of U.S. goods and services. The Boeing Co., which was founded in Seattle, benefits under loan guarantees provided by the bank to sell airplanes abroad. “As of May 2012, Export-Import Bank has supported $66 billion in sales from 172 Washington state exporters over the past five years,” according to a statement from Cantwell’s office. “In Washington state, about 83,000 jobs depend on the Export- Import Bank.” In 2014 she helped Yakima obtain a federal grant to subsidize more passenger air service at the south-central Washington airport, which is about 150 miles from the SeaTac airport. Her state is the home of Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Nordstrom Inc., so in 2005 Cantwell voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement -- even though it was opposed by environmental groups. Still, she was a leader in the effort to prevent drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has tallied a 90 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters. Business Career Before she was elected to the Senate, Cantwell became a multimillionaire working for an Internet startup, Progressive Networks, which became the streaming audio and video pioneer RealNetworks Inc. She was head of consumer affairs at RealNetworks when the company was criticized for not disclosing that it was tracking customers’ behavior -- an experience that led her later to work to scale back the Patriot Act. She cites as one of her biggest accomplishments in the Senate helping to write and pass a 2010 bill aimed at creating jobs by providing small businesses with about $55 billion in tax relief, as well as incentives and private-sector lending. For her 2000 Senate campaign, Cantwell spent $10 million of her own money to defeat the incumbent Republican, Slade Gorton. She was admonished by the Federal Election Commission for failing to disclose loans to her campaign of about $3.8 million made just before the election. Early Years Cantwell got her first taste of politics when her father took her along in his successful campaigns for county commissioner, city councilman and state legislator in Indiana. She later worked on the failed 1982 Ohio gubernatorial campaign of Jerry Springer, the Cincinnati mayor turned TV tabloid talk-show host, and then moved to Seattle in 1983 to help Senator Alan Cranston, a California Democrat, with his unsuccessful presidential bid. She won her first public office in 1986, at the age of 28, to serve in the Washington House of Representatives. In 1992, she became the first Democrat in four decades to be elected to the U.S. House from Washington’s 1st Congressional District, but was ousted after just one term in the “Contract With America” wave of Republicans that then- Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich led in 1994. She lost to Republican Rick White by just 4 percentage points. After spending the next six years in the business world, Cantwell returned to politics in 2000. She won her first Senate election by less than 1 percentage point over Gorton. Her victory margin widened to 16 percentage points in 2006 and 20 points in 2012. Personal Notes -- Cantwell shares a home with her mother, Rose, in a northern Seattle suburb. -- Like her late father, Paul, she is an avid baseball fan. Updated Nov. 28, 2014 BIO FROM REPRESENTATIVE'S WEBSITE From the Senator's Website © 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved Maria Cantwell currently serves as a United States Senator for the State of Washington. As a respected leader ^ both in public service and in the private sector ^ Maria has always embraced the values she first learned growing up in a strong working-class family. With the help of Pell Grants, Maria was the first member of her family to graduate college. Later, a successful businesswoman in Washington's hi-tech industry, she helped build a company that created hundreds of high- paying jobs from the ground up. Maria was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and again in 2006, pledging to honor the hard work, aspirations and faith of the people of Washington state. She is working to create affordable opportunities for consumers, businesses and families, to make our nation more secure today, to foster innovation for tomorrow, and to stand with parents as they educate and care for their children. Maria gets results. She cut taxes for the middle-class by ensuring that Washington taxpayers can deduct state and local taxes from their federal returns. She fought attempts by the Bush Administration to raise local electricity rates. When bankrupt Enron officials tried to charge Washington ratepayers for millions of dollars in undelivered electricity, Maria led the effort that successfully stopped them. Maria has protected countless jobs in Washington's aerospace industry by cracking down on foreign companies' unfair trade practices and has worked to create still more well-paying jobs through effective investments in new technology and valuable job training. Maria successfully led the fight to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and is leading efforts in the Senate to make America more energy independent. She has been a proud advocate for better educational opportunities for our children and less expensive, more accessible health care for our families. Maria continues to build new growth and strong partnerships, insisting on responsibility and making life more affordable for all of Washington's families. PERSONAL PROFILE COMMITTEES Birthdate 10/13/1958 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Senate Committee on Finance Birthplace Idianapolis, IN Education Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Political Party Democratic Party Miami University/Oxford Oh Senate Committee on Energy and Bachelor's Degree 1989 Natural Resources Ranking Member Senate Committee on Commerce, 1987 - 1993 State Representative, Science, and Transportation (WA)House of Representatives 01-03-2001 Senate Committee on Indian Affairs - Present Senator:Washington, (US)Senate CAUCUSES Senate Impact Aid Coalition Senate New Democrat Coalition Senate Climate Action Task Force © 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved.