Senate Report Card: Barbara Boxer D-CA

Senator Barbara Boxer is the junior Democratic United States Senator from the state of California. Senator Boxer assumed office in 1993.

Senator Boxer serves on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Foreign Relations and Environment and Public Works Committees, which she is the chairman of. She currently serves as the Chief Deputy Whip of the majority.

Senator Boxer is passionate about increasing medical research to find cures for diseases. She authored successful bipartisan legislation to accelerate global HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis cures. She authored a Patients' Bill of Rights. She has written a bill to make health insurance tax deductible and another bill to let any American buy into the same health insurance program that members of Congress have. She supports comprehensive prescription drug coverage through Medicare and the right of all consumers to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs re-imported from Canada, which the Bush Administration opposed.

She offered an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that authorized $1.25 billion in funding and would increase by $250 million per year. She offered the Early Education Act that provides grants for states to expand the existing education system to include at least one year of early education.

Senator Barbara Boxer supports gay couples right to equal rights under the law through either marriage or civil unions. She staunchly opposed the proposed amendment to the Constitution that would ban gay marriage. Boxer is a cosponsor of the Uniting American Families Act, a bill that would allow U.S. citizens and legal residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for residency.She authored the Violence Against Women Act. She is a cosponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

As the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Boxer has dedicated her career to protecting the environment and making it healthier for U.S. citizens. Boxer authored the California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which would protect 2.5 million acres of public lands. These areas would remain open for recreational activities but not for logging or new mining or drilling activities. She created legislation that required the Bush Administration to set a tougher standard for arsenic in drinking water. She coauthored the bipartisan Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act that assists communities in their efforts to clean up abandoned, contaminated waste sites. She has led a charge to ban the toxic gasoline additive MTBE. She won legislation that called for a halt to any development for the next year on the 36 undeveloped oil leases off the coast of California. She successfully blocked oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She introduced the Salmon Restoration Bill, Safe Drinking Water bill and blocked a proposed nuclear waste dump at Ward Valley California.

Senator Boxer voted against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She has subsequently referred to that vote as the best vote of her career. She is in favor of a gradual pullout from Iraq, and a strong supporter of U.S. troops and veterans.

Senator Barbara Boxer has won reelection by widening margins each election and is expected to win election fairly easily in 2011.