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 Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur,
who represents Northern Ohio's Ninth Congressional
District, is currently serving her twelfth term
in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the senior-most Democratic woman
in Congress and is one of only 82 women out of 535 members of the 109th
Congress.
Training & Education
Congresswoman Kaptur, of Polish-American heritage with humble, working class
roots, mirrors the boot-strap nature of her district. Her family operated a
small grocery where her mother worked after serving on the original organizing
committee of an auto trade union at Champion Spark Plug. Congresswoman Kaptur
became the first family member to attend college, receiving a scholarship for
her undergraduate work. Trained as a city and regional planner, she practiced
15 years in Toledo and throughout the United States before seeking office.
Appointed as an urban advisor to the Carter White House, she helped maneuvered
17 housing and neighborhood revitalization bills through the Congress during
those years.
Subsequently, while pursuing a doctorate in urban planning and development
finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her local Party recruited
her to run for the House seat in 1982. Kaptur had been a well-known party
activist and volunteer since age 13. Though outspent by 3 to 1 in the first
campaign, her deep roots in the blue collar neighborhoods and rural areas of
the district made her race the national upset of 1982.
Congress
Congresswoman Kaptur fought vigorously to win a seat on the
House Appropriations Committee
.
Since elected, she has risen in seniority and is now the senior Democratic
woman on Appropriations. She has secured subcommittees on Agriculture, the
leading industry in her state, and Defense. Kaptur is the first Democratic
women to serve on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. In her
legislative career, she has also served on the Budget; Banking, Finance and
Urban Affairs; Veterans Affairs Committees, and on Veterans Affairs-Housing and
Urban Development and Independent Agencies (Environmental Protection, Veterans,
and NASA and the National Science Foundation), Foreign Operations, and Military
Construction Appropriations Subcommittees, which have allowed her to pursue her
strong interests in economic growth and new technology, community rebuilding,
and veterans.
 Congresswoman Kaptur has
focused strong efforts on rebuilding the economic might of her district such as
improvements in bridge, road, rail and port facilities, including the
New Maumee River Crossing
- the largest bridge project in Ohio's history; expansion of
Toledo's Farmers'
Market; development of the
Maumee River Heritage Corridor
between Ohio and Indiana, which includes passage of legislation and funds to
acquire
Fallen
Timbers
as a national affiliate of the U.S. Park Service; clean-up of the waterways
adjacent to Lake Erie; development of initiatives to enhance the earnings
potential of Northwest Ohio crops; shipping of federal cargos on the Great
Lakes; acquisition of wildlife refuges and shoreline recreation; and expansion
of university-related research.
Kaptur directed federal support to acquire Quarry Pond as the centerpiece for a
new conservation and lands legacy endowment for northwest Ohio. Lucas
County-based 180th Tactical Fighter Squadron underwent a F-16 modernization
attributable to her efforts. Current and former Defense Department and other
private-sector workers who were exposed to and suffer from beryllium were the
beneficiaries of a major piece of legislation Kaptur guided to passage. She was
awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Americanism Award, in part for introducing
the legislation authorizing the National World War II Memorial in Washington in
1987, as well as for her longstanding commitment to America's veterans. She
also received the Prisoner of War "Barbed Wire" Award for her commitment to
veterans’ affairs.
The
National World War II Memorial
was dedicated on May 29, 2004 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., capping
a 17-year legislative effort. Hundreds and thousands of veterans and their
families have visited the memorial, the idea that came from the grassroots of
Ohio. In 1986, Roger Durbin, a rural letter carrier from Berkey, Ohio, asked
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur at a fish fry at a township hall why there was no
memorial to World War II in Washington, D.C. Kaptur helped make Roger Durbin's
dream a reality by introducing legislation in Congress to create the memorial.
There were stops and starts, but nothing could stop this powerful idea that
sprang from the grassroots of America.
Dedicated to the principle that fiscal responsibility begins in "one's own
backyard," Congresswoman Kaptur has consistently returned money to the federal
Treasury. She refuses to accept Congressional pay raises and donates them to
offset the federal deficit and charitable causes in her home
community.
International Aid
 Demonstrating international
leadership through diplomatic contributions to the Middle East Peace process,
Congresswoman Kaptur is responsible for directing the first surplus farm
commodities in 1999 to support the peace process in the Middle East in Lebanon,
Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As a result of the intifada, only the war
torn region of Lebanon has progressed forward with over 200 villages
undertaking community development. She also remains dedicated to democratic
institution-building across the globe and has spearheaded private charitable
efforts for peoples' of underdeveloped nations, including Ukraine and Vietnam.
As Co-Chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, she has lead efforts to
establish a Congressional-Rada exchange program. She is the key sponsor of
regulatory changes that force accountability on Russian food aid relief,
helping to insure one billion dollars of United States resources go to people
in need, not into the black market or pockets of government bureaucrats. As
leader on issues related to international trade and human and labor rights,
Kaptur will continue to assess the impact of NAFTA and actively engage upcoming
trade negotiations on the side of workers.
Awards
Marcy Kaptur is a life-long resident of Toledo, Ohio, a member of Little Flower
Roman Catholic Church, and a graduate of St. Ursula Academy. In 1968, Kaptur
earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from the University of Wisconsin.
She received her Masters' Degree in urban planning from the University of
Michigan. In 1993, Congresswoman Kaptur was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws
degree by the University of Toledo in recognition of her "effective
representation of the community," of the University and of Northwest Ohio. St.
Ursula Academy named Kaptur Alumna of the Year in 1995. Last year, the
University of Michigan honored Congresswoman Kaptur with the Taubman College
Distinguished Alumna award. Kaptur is the first woman so recognized and the
first graduate of the Urban and Regional Planning Program to receive this
award.
Kaptur recently received the Director’s Award from the Edmund A. Walsh School of
Foreign Service at Georgetown University for her commitment to increased
understanding and appreciation of the peoples and cultures of Eurasia, Russia
and East Europe.
She was named the National Mental Health Association's "Legislator of the Year"
for her championing mental health and received the 2002 Ellis Island Medal of
Honor.
Kaptur is also the author of a book, Women in Congress that was published
by Congressional Quarterly.
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