Hillary Clinton's Biography

From Clinton's Senate Web site
Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the United States Senate by the people of New York on November 7, 2000, after years of public service on behalf of children and families. She is the first First Lady of the United States elected to public office and the first woman elected independently statewide in New York State. A strong advocate for New York, Senator Clinton works with communities throughout the state to strengthen the economy and expand opportunity. The Senator supports a return to fiscal responsibility because she knows that wise national economic policies are essential to protect America's future.

She serves on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; the Special Committee on Aging; and she is the first New Yorker ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Clinton worked with her colleagues to secure the funds New York needed to rebuild. She fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit businesses, and health care for front line workers at Ground Zero. She continues to work for resources that enable New York to grow, to improve homeland security for New York and other communities, and to protect all Americans from future attacks. She has introduced legislation to provide for direct and threat-based homeland security funding to ensure that first responders and high-target communities have the resources they need.

In 2004, Senator Clinton was asked by the Department of Defense to serve as the only Senate member of the Transformation Advisory Group to the Joint Forces Command. She has visited troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; at Fort Drum in New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division; and at Walter Reed Military Hospital to learn first hand the challenges facing American combat forces. She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

In the Senate, she has continued her work for children and families by leading efforts to ensure the safety of prescription drugs for children, with legislation now included in the Pediatric Research Equity Act; working to strengthen the Children's Health Insurance Program, which increased coverage for children in low income working families; and helping schools address environmental hazards.

Senator Clinton continues to work to increase access to health care. She authored legislation that has been enacted to improve recruitment and retention of nurses, to improve quality and lower the cost of prescription drugs, and to protect our food supply from bioterrorism. She sponsored legislation to increase America’s commitment against Global AIDS, and is now leading the fight for expanded use of information technology in the health care system to decrease administrative costs and reduce medical errors.

To encourage business expansion, Senator Clinton co-sponsored legislation enacted in 2004 to extend tax credits to communities in regions designated as Renewal Communities. She has sponsored conferences and business development tours throughout the state aimed at attracting new investment; introduced legislation to increase access to broadband technology in rural areas; and serves as chair of the advisory board for New Jobs for New York.

Senator Clinton has spoken clearly about the importance of protecting our constitutional rights, respecting such landmark Supreme Court decisions as Roe v. Wade. Her commitment to supporting Roe and working to reduce the number of abortions, by reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, was hailed by the New York Times as “frank talk… (and) a promising path.”

Strongly committed to making sure that every American has the right to vote in fair, accessible and credible elections – and that every vote must be counted, Senator Clinton introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2005, to provide a verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines; set a uniform standard for provisional ballots, and require the Federal Election Assistance Commission to issue standards that ensure uniform access to voting machines and election personnel in every community.

Senator Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1947. She is the daughter of Dorothy Rodham and the late Hugh Rodham. Her father was a small businessman and her mother a homemaker. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. She is married to former President William Jefferson Clinton. They have one daughter, Chelsea.

Senator Clinton is the author of best selling books including her autobiography, Living History; It Takes A Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us; Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets; and An Invitation to the White House as well as numerous articles.