Jane Harman
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- Jane Harman is also a pseudonym of the British author Terry Harknett.
| Jane Harman | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1999 January 3, 2001 – present |
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| Preceded by | George Brown, Jr. (1993) Steve Kuykendall (2001) |
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| Succeeded by | Steve Kuykendall (1999) Incumbent |
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| Born | June 28, 1945 New York, New York |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Sidney Harman |
| Residence | Venice, California |
| Religion | Jewish |
Jane Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945), is a seven-term Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 36th District of California (map). She attended Los Angeles public schools, Smith College, and Harvard Law School. On November 7, 2006, she was reelected to the 110th Congress, defeating Republican challenger Brian Gibson. Harman is both a Blue Dog Democrat and a member of the New Democrat Coalition. She previously represented the district from 1993 to 1999 before leaving Congress to enter the 1998 California gubernatorial race. After losing to future Governor Gray Davis, she briefly taught public policy and international relations at UCLA before reclaiming her congressional seat in the 2000 election. During the 2006 Democratic takeover of the House, Harman was inline for the Chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi passed over her and placed Silvestre Reyes as the head of the House Intelligence Committee.
Harman is married to Harman International Industries Executive Chairman and founder Sidney Harman.
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[edit] Career
Jane Harman began her career in Washington by serving as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. She has also served as special counsel to the Department of Defense, deputy cabinet secretary under President Jimmy Carter, and Regent's Professor at UCLA.
[edit] Intelligence Committee controversy
Harman was the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 109th Congress. However, in October 2006 reports surfaced that Harman was under investigation by the FBI for "allegedly (with the help of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC) enlisting wealthy donors to lobby then-House Minority Leader (and current House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi to retain her position as the head Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee."[citation needed]
According to a Fox News article (cf. below) "The FBI has been looking into claims since mid-2005 that Harman of California, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, made explicit pledges to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, in exchange for the group's support in her quest to keep her spot on the intelligence panel.
The Washington Post reports one of those pledges was that for AIPAC's help, she would ask Republican administration officials to ease up on a probe of two former AIPAC lobbyists charged with violating the Espionage Act by receiving national defense information and transmitting it to journalists and Israeli Embassy employees''"
Speaker of the House Pelosi then chose Silvestre Reyes to be the Chair of the Intelligence Committee in the 110th Congress.
Supporters of Harman are critical of the decision. They note that term limits on the committee do not apply to the chair or the ranking member; furthermore, a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission was for longer tenures on intelligence panels in any case to foster continuity and institutional memory.[1] Newsweek suggests that:
- reports of an FBI probe into Harman would presumably give Pelosi cover to deny the chairmanship to Harman — a moderate Democrat whom Pelosi feels has not been aggressive enough in challenging the Bush administration.[2]
On CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Harman responded to Pelosi's decision:
- I am not angry. It was her choice. Obviously, I had hoped to stay. I thought I'd earned it and that it had been promised. But I think Silvestre Reyes is an excellent choice. He has my support. I'm going to stay in the game on these issues. Here I am, Wolf. But I also think that her majority is created by moderates and conservatives who won in Republican seats who talk tough and smart on security issues. And I will help them stay in Congress and help keep our majority in 2008.[3]
Nancy Pelosi was briefed about new CIA interrogation techniques, including waterboarding in 2002. Jane Harman was the only objector to the authorization of the techniques and filed a classified letter in February, 2003 related to this.
- Harman, who replaced Pelosi as the committee's top Democrat in January 2003, disclosed Friday that she filed a classified letter to the CIA in February of that year as an official protest about the interrogation program. Harman said she had been prevented from publicly discussing the letter or the CIA's program because of strict rules of secrecy.[4]
[edit] Position on the US House Resolution 106
Harman, who represents the 36th Congressional District in Southern California, was one of the original cosponsors of the US House Resolution 106, calling upon the US President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide.
This bill is introduced to the House of Representatives annually and on numerous occasions has been pulled from consideration or been allowed to die due to pressure from Turkey despite wide support in Congress. In 2007, new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi breathed new life into the bill as she had often expressed her support for it. Questions swirled around whether she would actually bring it to a vote, until the end of September when it was announced the bill would be marked up (and likely passed) at an October 10 Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Signs from the leadership indicate that it would be brought to the floor for a full House vote shortly after. As more than half of the 435 members in the House of Representative are cosponsors of the resolution, the bill was expected to pass easily.
In the wake of these announcements, Harman wrote a letter to Foreign Affairs committee chairman Tom Lantos and ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, imploring them to kill the bill:
[F]ollowing a visit to Turkey earlier this year that included meetings with Prime Minister Erdogan, the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch and colleagues of murdered journalist Hrant Dink, I have great concern that this is the wrong time for Congress to consider this measure.
In response, a peaceful protest was staged on October 6, 2007 by Armenian activists at an event in Los Angeles in which Jane Harman was to give a speech.[5]
As a member of the Democratic Leadership Council, Harman has combined a more conservative stance on economic issues with a far more liberal stance on social ones. For instance, she has voted with Republicans to restrict rules on personal bankruptcy, for lawsuit reform, and to abolish the estate tax. On social issues she has voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions, lawsuits against gun manufacturers, the Defense of Marriage Act, and banning indecent broadcasting.
[edit] Submission of the US House Resolution 1955
Jane Harman has taken criticism from the ACLU and others for submitting US House Resolution 1955, also known as the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, which passed in the House 404-6. The ACLU claims the bill includes unconstitutional limitations on free speech and beliefs. A related piece of legislation, Senate Bill 1959, has been submitted by Maine Republican Susan Collins.
[edit] Committee Assignments
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism
- Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment (Chairwoman)
- Committee on Energy and Commerce
- SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET
- SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND AIR QUALITY
[edit] References
- Exclusive: Feds Probe a Top Democrat's Relationship with AIPAC
- What’s for Dinner? On the House Intelligence Committee, it’s a heaping plate of controversy.
- Probe of Harman's AIPAC Ties Confirmed
- FBI Investigating Whether Harman Made Improper Promises to Pro-Israel Group
[edit] External links
- U.S. Congresswoman Jane Harman, House site
- Jane Harman for U.S. Congress, Campaign site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
| Preceded by George Brown, Jr. |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 36th congressional district 1993–1999 |
Succeeded by Steve Kuykendall |
| Preceded by Steve Kuykendall |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 36th congressional district 2001 – present |
Incumbent |
