House, Oregon , District #5

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Bio

Darlene Hooley was born on a family farm in Williston, North Dakota. She moved to Salem, Oregon when she was eight and has lived, worked and raised a family in Oregon's Fifth Congressional District ever since. A former reading, music, and physical education teacher, Hooley began advocating for safer playgrounds in the mid-1970's. After serving on the Park District Board, she was elected to the West Linn City Council where she served for four years. She went on to serve in the Oregon State Legislature and as a Clackamas County Commissioner.

During her four terms in the Legislature and more than two terms as a Clackamas County Commissioner, Hooley earned a reputation as a serious, consensus-building lawmaker more interested in formulating policy than engaging in the usual political and ideological bickering. The Congresswoman helped to reform the state's welfare system, authored the state's first recycling laws, rewrote Oregon's land-use laws, and wrote and passed equal pay laws.

In November of 1996, Hooley was elected to Congress as the representative of Oregon's 5th Congressional District. She was elected a President of her Freshman class in 1997. During her second term in Congress, she was selected as Whip at Large and served in that role until 2003, when she was named Senior Whip. In 2003, she was elevated to the Executive Council of the The New Democrat Coalition, the largest and one of the most influential caucuses in the House. From education reform to a balanced budget, and from China PNTR to ID theft prevention, New Democrats have frequently provided the key votes needed to pass legislation to promote economic growth.

Although only in her fourth term in the United States House, Congresswoman Hooley has already developed a reputation as a member of Congress who gets things done. Since her election to Congress, she has been an outspoken advocate for fiscal responsibility and for providing much needed tax relief to working families, farmers and small business owners. From her vantage point on the Financial Services Committee, she has been the leader in advocating for protections in the areas of medical and financial privacy, and identity theft. As a Budget Committee member, Congresswoman Hooley has fought for increased federal funding for homeland security efforts, school modernization and education improvements, measures to level the playing field for farmers,  fair Medicare reimbursement for Oregonians, fair pricing and coverage of prescription drugs for seniors, quality healthcare for our nations veterans, and funding for our salmon restoration and natural disaster mitigation. At the commencement of the 108^th Congress, Congresswoman Hooley was appointed to serve on the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs.  As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee she has worked to improve VA health care and adequately fund VA Medical Centers. Congresswoman Hooley serves as ranking Member of the VA Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee.

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