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Earl Blumenauer (born August 16, 1948) is the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 3rd congressional district, serving since 1996. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River. He previously spent over 20 years as a public official in Portland, including serving on the Portland City Council from 1987 to 1996.
Blumenauer was born in Portland on August 16, 1948. In 1966, he graduated from Centennial High School on the eastside of Portland and then enrolled at Lewis & Clark College in the southwest part of the city.[1] He majored in political science and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark in 1970.[2] Blumenauer completed his education in 1976 when he earned a Juris Doctor degree from the school's Northwestern School of Law (now Lewis & Clark Law School).[3] Starting before law school in 1970 and continuing until 1977, he worked as an assistant to the president of Portland State University.[1][4]
In 1969–70, Blumenauer organized and led Oregon's "Go 19" campaign, an effort to lower the state voting age (while then unsuccessful it supported the national trend which soon resulted in the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution which lowered the voting age to 18). In 1972, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat representing District 11 in Multnomah County.[5] He won re-election in 1974 and 1976, and continued representing Portland and Multnomah County until the 1979 legislative session.[1] From 1975 to 1981 he served on the board of Portland Community College.[1] Following his time in the Oregon Legislature, he served on the Multnomah County Commission from 1979 to 1986.[1] He lost a race for Portland City Council to Margaret Strachan in 1981. He left the county commission in March 1986 to run again for city council.[6]
Blumenauer was elected to the Portland City Council in May 1986.[7] His first term began in January 1987,[8] and he remained on the council until 1996.[4] From the start of his first council term, he was named the city's Commissioner of Public Works,[4] which made him the city council member in charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (also known as the Transportation Commissioner).[9] During his time on the city council Blumenauer was appointed by Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt to the state's commission on higher education, and he served on that board in 1990 and 1991.[10] In 1992, Blumenauer was defeated by Vera Katz in an open race for mayor of Portland—to date, only the second time that Blumenauer has ever lost an election. At the time he was described as "the man who probably knows the most about how Portland works", but left local politics to run for Congress.[11] After winning election to Congress, he resigned from the city council in May 1996, to take up his new office.[12] In 2010, Earl Blumenauer received The Ralph Lowell Award for outstanding contributions to Public Television.[13][14]
Blumenauer was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1996 in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the election of then-U.S. Representative Ron Wyden to the U.S. Senate.[11] He received 69% of the vote, defeating Republican Mark Brunelle.[15] He was elected to a full term that November, and has been re-elected eight more times by wide margins in what has long been the most Democratic district in Oregon. He was most recently reelected in 2012, winning almost 78% of the vote over Republican Ronald Green, who won 16%.[16]
Blumenauer served as Oregon campaign chair for both John Kerry's and Barack Obama's presidential campaigns.[17]
In Congress, Blumenauer is noted for his advocacy for mass transit, such as Portland's MAX Light Rail and the Portland Streetcar,[18] and, as a strong supporter of legislation that promotes bicycle commuting, cycles from his Washington residence to the Capitol and even to the White House for meetings.[19]
Among the bills that Blumenauer has sponsored that have become law are the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004[20] and the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005.[21] In addition, the Legal Timber Protection Act passed as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, while the Bicycle Commuter Act passed with the 2008 bailout bill.[22]
He is active in pressuring the United States to take greater action on the Darfur conflict.[23]
In the political aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Blumenauer noted that he was among those who had pointed out the vulnerability of New Orleans and encouraged Congress to help that city and the gulf coast get better prepared:
Blumenauer is a supporter of the
Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1996, write-ins received 531 votes. In 2000, write-ins received 576 votes. In 2002, write-ins received 1094 votes.
In 1996, during Blumenauer's first year in congress, he voted in support of the Defense of Marriage Act which was ultimately passed that same year. The law was found unconstitutional in 2013 and repealed.[38] On October 1st, 2015, following the Umpqua Community College shooting, Blumenauer tweeted[39] his report[40] addressing the issue of gun violence in America titled 'Enough is Enough: A Comprehensive Plan to Improve Gun Safety' which he had published earlier in the year.[41]
On July 24, 2014, Blumenauer introduced the Emergency Afghan Allies Extension Act of 2014 (H.R. 5195; 113th Congress), a bill that would authorize an additional 1,000 emergency Special Immigrant Visas that the United States Department of State could issue to Afghan translators who served with U.S. troops during the War in Afghanistan.[36][37] Blumenauer argued that "a failure to provide these additional visas ensures the many brave translators the U.S. promised to protect in exchange for their services would be left in Afghanistan, hiding, their lives still threatened daily by the Taliban."[37]
Blumenauer has received some media attention during the [35]
In February 2009, after an incident in Connecticut wherein a domesticated chimpanzee severely mauled a woman gained national attention, Blumenauer sponsored the Captive Primate Safety Act to bar the sale or purchase of non-human primates for personal possession between states and from outside of the country.[30] The previous year, in June 2008, Blumenauer had sponsored legislation to ban interstate trafficking of great apes, which had passed in the House but been tabled by the Senate.[31]
[29].Peru Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). On September 24, 2007, four labor and human rights activists were arrested in Blumenauer's office protesting the congressman's support for the Central America Free Trade Agreement Blumenauer's support for these free trade agreements has angered progressives, environmental and labor activists. In 2004, he voted against the [28] as well as Africa and the Caribbean.[27] and has voted for "free trade" agreements with Peru, Australia, Singapore, Chile[26]
Democratic Party (United States), Republican Party (United States), United States, United States House of Representatives, United States Congress
Republican Party (United States), Democratic Party (United States), United States Senate, United States Congress, United States
United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, Oregon, Peter DeFazio, Bob Packwood
United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, Libertarian Party (United States), Ron Wyden, Earl Blumenauer
Gary Johnson, Libertarianism, United States presidential election, 2012, Democratic Party (United States), Ron Paul
United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, Oregon, Peter DeFazio, Ron Wyden
United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, Oregon, Ron Wyden, Libertarian Party (United States)
United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, Oregon, Oregon House of Representatives, Democratic Party (United States)