Virginia Foxx

Virginia Foxx is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 5th Congressional district of North Carolina. She was first elected in 2004.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Hurricane Katrina
In September 2005 Foxx was one of 11 members of Congress to vote against the $51 billion aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina. She cited "high potential for the waste, fraud and abuse of federal tax dollars" as her reason for opposing the aid. 

Inflammatory Comments
Foxx has made several false or outrageous statements during the 2009 healthcare debate. She claimed that Republican proposals were better than those of Democrats because it would "not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.", giving the false impression that a proposal to fund counseling would give government officials power over end-of-life care. She later argued that "we have more to fear from the potential of [ the Affordable Health Care for America Act ] passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country."

Bio
Foxx, born June 29, 1943, is a former member of the North Carolina General Assembly where she represented the state's 45th Senate District. A business owner from Banner Elk, North Carolina, Foxx served a total of five terms, spanning 1995 to 2004, in the North Carolina Senate, before being elected to Congress.

Due to the highly partisan makeup of the 5th district (only the 10th district is considered more Republican), the 2004 primary quickly became "the most expensive congressional primary in the nation." Foxx was the only woman in a field of eight candidates; most of her ugliest spats occurred with Vernon Robinson, also an outspoken social conservative. Robinson skewered all of his opponents as being liberals, and Foxx, one of the most conservative members in North Carolina's legislature, was attacked for being "pro-gay" and "pro-tax". Although Robinson was the highest vote-getter in the primary and heavily outspent Foxx (having raised more than $2million from out of state sources), she decisively defeated him (55%-45%) in the runoff. By contrast, her general election campaign against Jim Harrell, Jr., which she won easily (59%-41%), was most cordial.

Congressional career
Foxx is proud of her conservative voting record. She posted on her home page (April 3, 2006): "United States Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.-5) is one of the nation's most conservative Members of Congress, according to National Journal. An article in the magazine's February 25th issue rates Rep. Foxx's 2005 voting record as more conservative than 91.3 percent of her colleagues." 

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Roger Dean Sharpe to face Foxx in her November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) Foxx retained her seat.

Money in politics
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Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * House Committee on Agriculture
 * Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
 * Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
 * House Committee on Education and Labor
 * Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
 * Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
 * House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcomitee on National Security and International Relations

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Committee on Agriculture
 * Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Foreign Agriculture Programs
 * Subcommittee on Livestock and Horticulture
 * Subcommittee on Department Operations Oversight Dairy Nutrition and Forestry
 * House Committee on Education and the Workforce
 * Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness
 * Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations
 * House Committee on Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census
 * Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Drug Policy and Human Resources
 * Subcommittee on Government Management Finance and Accountability

Twitter
 Virginia Foxx posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/virginiafoxx/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/virginiafoxx.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

External Resources

 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Swankville