Chris
Van Hollen was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 8th Congressional District in November
2002 and was reelected in 2004 with 75% of the vote.
Rep. Van Hollen serves on the Committee on the Judiciary,
the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the
Committee on Government Reform. He is also the Vice
Chair of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Caucus, a Co-Chair of the Congressional Chesapeake Bay
Watershed Task Force, and a Vice-Chair of the Democratic
Task Force on Tax Policy and the Budget.
Rep. Van
Hollen has been recognized for his efforts and leadership
in a range of areas of including education, foreign
policy, environmental protection, protecting the rights
of federal employees and civil rights. Roll Call newspaper
named him one of the “rising stars” in Congress
and the Washington Post noted that Van Hollen
“has distinguished himself as a shrewd legislative
player.” In his first term, he was singled out
as the “Outstanding New Member of the Year”
by the Committee for Education Funding, which is the
nation’s largest and oldest non-partisan education
coalition, and he has already received numerous other
awards for legislative leadership.
Rep. Van
Hollen has demonstrated his legislative expertise by
offering numerous successful amendments on the House
floor and in committee. He has also been recognized
nationally for being a key leader in the effort to close
a loophole that has allowed lenders to pocket billions
of taxpayer dollars at the expense of college students.
In the fight
for fair treatment of federal employees, Rep. Van Hollen
achieved major victories on the floor of the House when
– despite veto threats from the Bush Administration
– his amendments to roll back President Bush’s
privatization rules passed with bipartisan support.
Rep. Van
Hollen has had extensive legislative success in getting
amendments attached to bills in committee (including
the 9/11 Commission bill, Head Start and Department
of Defense Reorganization). He has also been a key leader
in highlighting the gap between rhetoric and reality
when it comes to funding for No Child Left Behind, IDEA
(special education), and Head Start.
At the local
level, Rep. Van Hollen has been successful in securing
federal support for critical transportation initiatives,
community policing, regional homeland security efforts,
education programs and community development projects.
Prior to
his election to Congress, Rep. Van Hollen served in
the Maryland General Assembly from 1991 to 2002 -- four
years in the House of Delegates and eight years in the
State Senate, where he was Vice Chair of the Budget
and Taxation Committee and Chair of the Health and Human
Services Subcommittee. During his service in the Maryland
legislature, he authored landmark education funding
legislation, the Patient Protection Act, the Clean Energy
Incentives Act, the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act and
was a key Senate leader in the passage of Maryland's
gun safety law. For his broad-ranging legislative achievements,
the Washington Post called Rep. Van Hollen “one
of the most accomplished members of the General Assembly."
The son of
a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Rep. Van Hollen was
born January 10, 1959 in Karachi, Pakistan and lived
in Turkey, Sri Lanka, and India. After receiving a graduate
degree in public policy and national security studies,
Rep. Van Hollen worked in the 1980s as a professional
staff member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and as the Legislative Assistant for national security
issues to U.S. Senator Charles Mathias.
Rep. Van
Hollen is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law
Center. He holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy
from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
and an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College.
Rep. Van
Hollen and his wife, Katherine, live in Kensington,
Maryland with their three children - Anna, Nicholas,
and Alexander.
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