Position: Secretary

Type of Appointment/Position: Presidential with Senate confirmation    

George Miller

Current Rating:

Professional background:

* Senior Democrat, House Education and the Workforce Committee Member, House Resources Committee, where he has represented the 7th District of California in San Francisco's East Bay since 1975 * Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee * Top-ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee * Chairman, House Resources Committee (1991-1994) formerly known as the Natural Resources Committee * Founding chairman of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families (1983 - 1991)

Legislative Achievements:

* One of the four key congressional authors of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law on January 8, 2002. * Led an effort to increase federal funding of public lands conservation and wildlife and coastal protection in 2000 * Authored the Central Valley Project Improvement Act in 1992 * Co-authored the 1994 California Desert Protection Act with Senator Dianne Feinstein * Authored laws concerning forest management and timber reform, foster care and adoption reforms, child care, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program, aid to victims of family violence, children's mental health care, and, numerous education reforms * Has sponsored and fought to enact legislation to increase funding to Native American tribes, expand Indians educational, health care, and economic opportunities, protect gaming rights, promote dam safety, strengthen tribal courts and law enforcement and expand self-governance. * Helped develop the Democratic Economic Stimulus Plan * Leading an effort to protect the traditional pension plans of employees at mid-size and large corporations

Has pushed for Congressional oversight for:

* U.S. policy in Central America in the 1980s and 1990s * 1989 Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill, authoring major portions of the 1990 oil spill liability law and sections of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 * Bringing Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet to justice. * Sweatshops, child labor, and the conditions of farm workers.

Education:

* Diablo Valley Community College * San Francisco State University * J.D., University of California, Davis, Law School

Quotations:

"Too often, we find that public programs for young people focus on the problems of youth and respond with piecemeal policies that seek to redress negative behaviors like juvenile delinquency or teen pregnancy. But the most promising approaches are those that foster positive youth development, build social competence, and link young people with adult mentors. This is the future of youth social programs in the 21st century and it is an approach we seek to advance through this legislation."

Press Release, September 20, 2000