Lee, Barbara (1946–)

One of the nation's most liberal congressional representatives, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) is most famous for being the lone dissenting vote against House Resolution 64, which handed President George W. Bush broad authorization to wage war against multiple targets in retaliation for the World Trade Center attacks. The conclusion of her address to Congress that day implored Congress to not become the evil that it said it deplored. This sentiment was quickly [Page 839]picked up as a motto for the nascent anti-war movement. Her vote of dissent placed her in the tradition of Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin, who voted against entrance into World War I and World War II, and Vito Marcantonio, Harlem's leftist congressional representative who opposed the Korean War.

Lee was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1946. Her father was a career officer in the U.S. Army. She was educated at Mills College, a private women's institution in Oakland, California. She was employed as a social worker and later as a staff member of Representative Ron Dellums. Dellums, often credited as a mentor for Lee, voted so far to the left on most issues that it was mistakenly assumed that he was a member of the Black Panther Party. Before being elected to Congress, Lee served in the California State Assembly from 1990 to 1996 and in the California State Senate from 1996 to 1998. When Dellums retired in 1998, Lee ran for his seat and won.

A member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Lee belongs to a political tradition that has sought the realignment of the Democratic platform toward the left. Lee has been vilified by right-wing news pundits for her stand against war and criticized by some elements of the left for continuing her membership in the Democratic Party. Her constituents have returned her to office election after election by impressive margins. In the election that followed her Resolution 64 vote, she captured more than two thirds of the electorate. She has consistently secured funding for human services in her district, championed AIDS relief and affordable housing, and opposed the Patriot Act. Also a voice on international issues in 2006, she was arrested in an act of civil disobedience protesting inaction on the genocide in Darfur.