Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, is the Junior Senator from New York in the United States Senate. She represented the 20th Congressional District of New York between 2007-2009. On January 23, 2009, Gillibrand was appointed by New York Governor David Paterson to fill the seat in the United States Senate vacated by Hillary Clinton, who assumed the office of United States Secretary of State in President Barack Obama's administration. She resigned from the House of Representatives on January 26, 2009, and was sworn in as a senator on January 27.

Political courage test
Rep. Gillibrand did not respond to the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.

Financial bailout bill
Gillibrand voted against the $700 billion bailout bill in the 110th Congress, saying the bill did not do enough to protect taxpayers nor did it provide enough financial return for taxpayers investment.

Energy
Gillibrand campaigned in 2008 on a record of voting to improve automotive mileage standards, for investments in renewable energy, and for tax credits to small businesses that embraced the use of alternative energy supplies. She also called on domestic energy producers to use existing leases for oil and gas development and for a release of oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Health care
During her 2008 re-election campaign, Gillibrand pledged to support a national health-care system that Americans could buy into. This plan would be an alternative to plans already offered by private insurers. She also said small businesses should be encouraged, through the use of tax credits, to offer health insurance to their workers, and she also approved of giving tax credits to low-income families who elected to purchase health care.

Gun rights
In 2008, the National Rifle Association gave Gillibrand a 100-percent rating in its lawmaker scorecard. Gillibrand also introduced legislation in the farm bill that would have increased lands available for conservation and hunting.

Schedule posting
Gillibrand became the first member of the House to post their schedule online after pledging to do so in the 2006 campaign. An archive of her daily postings can be found here.

Gillibrand said she was also among the first to post her earmark requests online and to voluntary post her personal financial disclosure forms as well.

Biography
Born in Albany, Gillibrand graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of California, Los Angeles Law School. After graduation, she worked as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. At the time she ran for Congress in 2006, she was a partner in the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. She and her husband Jonathan have two children.

2006 elections
In the 2006 congressional elections, Gillibrand defeated incumbent Rep. John Sweeney to take control of her seat.

2008 elections
Gillibrand faced Sandy Treadwell (R), a former New York State GOP chairman, in the 2008 congressional election. The incumbent raised more than $4 million to beat back Treadwell's self-financed challenge, holding on to her conservative upstate district with a centrist message and record in Congress.

Senate appointment
On December 1, 2008, then President-elect Barack Obama announced his nomination of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Clinton's confirmation created a vacancy in the Senate to be filled by appointment by Gov. David Paterson. Gillibrand was one of several people rumored by the media, including Caroline Kennedy and Gillibrand's former boss, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, to be under consideration as Clinton's replacement. Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State and resigned her Senate seat on January 21, 2009.

On January 23, Paterson named Gillibrand as his appointee to Clinton's vacated seat. Paterson said Gillibrand would serve in that role until a special election is held in November 2010 for remainder of Clinton's term (which ends with the 112th Congress in January 2013). Gillibrand acknowledged many New York residents did not know her, and pledged to follow in Clinton's example and work hard for her constituents. Gillibrand resigned from the House of Representatives on January 26, 2009.

On the day of the appointment, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) announced she would challenge Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic primary. A likely Republican opponent is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who has shown interest in running for the Senate seat. The seat's regular election cycle continues in 2012, for the six-year term ending in 2019.

Money in politics
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Committees and Affiliations

 * House Committee on Agriculture
 * Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research
 * Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
 * Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces
 * Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities

External resources

 * Gillibrand for Congress, official campaign site.
 * See how you compare to Kirsten Gillibrand

Related Sourcewatch resources

 * Kirsten Gillibrand/Schedule: The Congresspedia archive of Rep. Gillibrand's daily schedule.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * 20 True Blue
 * Simply Left Behind