Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Florida's 20th District



For over fifteen years, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has dedicated her public life to working on behalf of the people of Southern Florida. On January 4, 2005, she was sworn in as a member of the United States House of Representatives to continue this fight as the Congresswoman from Florida's 20th Congressional District.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz serves on the House Committee on Appropriations. The Committee has what is commonly described as “the power of the purse” because it, along with its Senate counterpart, sets the specific expenditures of funds by the government of the United States. On the first day of the new 110th Congress, the House Committee on Appropriations recommended that Rep. Wasserman Schultz serve as a “Cardinal,” chairing the Legislative Branch Subcommittee. The subcommittees determine the Congressional appropriations of funds for particular parts of the federal government. As the subcommittee Chair, Rep. Wasserman Schultz will oversee the subcommittee that determines the funding level for the entire legislative branch, which includes the Library of Congress. She also serves on the Financial Services Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz also serves on the Committee on the Judiciary. Often called the lawyer for the House of Representatives, the committee maintains jurisdiction over matters relating to the administration of justice in Federal courts, administrative bodies, and law enforcement agencies. It also handles issues relating to bankruptcy, espionage, terrorism, the protection of civil liberties, constitutional amendments, immigration and naturalization, claims against the United States, Presidential succession, antitrust law, revision and codification of the statutes of the United States, state and territorial boundary lines, and patents, copyrights and trademarks. Particularly important in our time is the Committee's oversight responsibility for the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.

Her first term was marked with remarkable success for a freshman member then serving in the minority. She was one of the key leaders in the Terri Schiavo debate, challenging President Bush and arguing forcefully that the courts had ruled in this case on multiple occasions and Congress would set a dangerous, and likely unconstitutional, precedent if the Legislative Branch attempted to circumvent the courts’ decisions. She introduced a resolution, passed unanimously by the House of Representatives, calling on the President to declare a Jewish American Heritage Month. The President subsequently did so, with the inaugural month in May, 2006. She passed key amendments to legislation protecting children from sexual predators (H.R. 4472 and H.R. 5005). Her legislation (H.R. 3639) outlawing discrimination by life insurance companies against those who want to travel to countries like Israel and Kenya passed the House of Representatives, however, failed to pass the Senate. She passed an amendment protecting women and children from legislation which would have outlawed warning labels on food containing high levels of mercury. Because of her role outlining the constitutional issues surrounding the Terri Schiavo debate, Rep. Wasserman Schultz was asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Her experience serves to enhance her commitment to lower health care costs, improve the quality of education, protect Social Security and Medicare, and provide a sensible homeland security plan to protect our citizens from the ongoing threat of terror. She continues to fight to ensure that our first responders, our local police and firefighters, have the tools they need to do their jobs. And she continues to take up the fight to give our troops the equipment and compensation they deserve.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz was born in 1966 on Long Island, NY. She attended the University of Florida and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 1988 and with a Master’s Degree in 1990. She has been married to Steve Schultz for 17 years and together they have three children. The Congresswoman is proud to call South Florida home where she resides with her family in Weston.