Virginia Foxx
Ranking Member of the House Education and Labor Committee
Incumbent
January 3, 2019
	Bobby Scott (Education and the Workforce)
Chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee
January 3, 2017 - January 3, 2019
	John Kline
	Bobby Scott (Education and Labor)
Secretary of the House Republican Conference
January 3, 2013 - January 3, 2017
Leader	John Boehner Paul Ryan
	John Carter
	Jason T. Smith
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district
Incumbent
January 3, 2005
	Richard Burr
Member of the North Carolina Senate
1994 - January 1, 2005
	John A. Garwood
Constituency	12th District (1994-2003) 45th District (2003-2005)
Personal details
Born	Virginia Ann Palmieri (1943-06-29) June 29, 1943 (age 77)
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Thomas Foxx
Education	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) University of North Carolina at Greensboro (MA, EdD)
Signature

Virginia Ann Foxx (née Palmieri;^[1][2] June 29, 1943) is the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 5th congressional district, which encompasses much of the northwestern portion of the state and a portion of Winston-Salem. Foxx is a member of the Republican Party and served as Secretary of the House Republican Conference from January 2013 until January 2017.^[3] She is the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Early life, education and career

Foxx was born in The Bronx, New York, to Dollie (née Garrison) and Nunzio John Palmieri. She was reared in a rural area of Avery County, North Carolina. Foxx grew up in a poor family and first lived in a home with running water and electricity at 14 years old.^[4]

While attending Crossnore High School in Crossnore, North Carolina, she worked as a janitor at the school and was the first in her family to graduate from high school.^[5] She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor's degree in 1968 and later earned both a Master of Arts in college teaching (1972) and Ed.D (1985) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.^[2][6] With her husband, Virginia Foxx owned and operated a nursery and landscaping business.^[6]

Foxx worked as a research assistant and then an English instructor at Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute and Appalachian State University before moving into university administration. From 1987 until her 1994 entry into politics, she was president of Mayland Community College. Under North Carolina Governor James G. Martin, Foxx served as Deputy Secretary for Management.^[6] From 1994 to 2004, Foxx served in the North Carolina Senate.^[7]

United States House of Representatives

Committee assignments

• Committee on Education and the Workforce (Ranking member)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ^[8]
• Italian American Congressional Delegation

Caucus memberships

• Republican Study Committee^[9]
• Congressional Constitution Caucus^[10]

Political campaigns

Virginia Foxx talking with constituents in Yadkinville, NC

Foxx was first elected to the U.S. House in 2004, defeating Jim Harrell, Jr. with 59% of the vote.^[11]

Foxx was briefly targeted for defeat in the 2006 elections, but the Democrats' top choice, popular Winston-Salem mayor Allen Joines, decided not to run. Joines later said that he didn't have the stomach for the kind of race he felt it would take to defeat Foxx.^[12] Her 2006 opponent was Roger Sharpe, whom she defeated.

Roy Carter of Ashe County, North Carolina was Foxx's opponent for her seat in the 2008 election; she won by a substantial margin.

In November 2010, Foxx was reelected with about 65% of the vote.^[13]

In November 2014, Foxx was reelected with about 60% of the vote, defeating software developer Josh Brannon.^[14]

In November 2016, Foxx was reelected with about 59% of the vote, again over Josh Brannon.^[15]

In November 2018, Foxx was reelected with 57% of the vote, defeating DD Adams, a Council Member for the North Ward of Winston-Salem.^[16]

Tenure

Foxx during the 110th Congress

Hurricane Katrina

In September 2005, Foxx was one of 11 members of Congress to vote against^[17] the $51 billion aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities (HERO) Act

The first bill sponsored by Foxx to have been signed into law since 2006, the Hero Act, signed by President Bush on Memorial Day, 2006, allows U.S. troops to increase their retirement savings by investing a portion of their combat pay into Individual Retirement Accounts.

Electronic Pay Stub Act

The second bill sponsored by Foxx and subsequently signed into law is the Electronic Pay Stub Act which gives federal employees the choice of receiving their pay stubs electronically. This legislation is projected to save taxpayers millions of dollars. Studies have shown that it costs 10 times more to purchase and distribute paper stubs than it does to distribute electronic stubs.^[18] This bill was signed into law in October, 2008.^[19]

Troubled Asset Relief Program

Shortly after Congress approved the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Foxx identified a provision in the law that allowed her to force consideration of a measure to deny the second, $350 billion, tranche of the TARP bailout. On November 19, 2008, she introduced H.J.Res. 101, which met all of the parliamentary requirements for consideration once the President requested the second tranche.^[]

In the following (111th) Congress, she reintroduced the measure as H.J.Res. 3, and shortly before leaving office, President Bush requested the second tranche, thereby activating the trigger allowing her to commandeer the House floor, although she was not a member of the majority party. Her measure passed the House 270-155; the act was never addressed in the Senate.^[20]

During an interview in 2007, Foxx was quoted as saying: "We have the best economy we have had in 50 years."^[21]

Opposition to LGBT rights

In April 2009, Foxx expressed opposition to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, claiming that the murder of Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime. While debating the act at the House of Representatives, she called the murder a "very unfortunate incident" but claimed "we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay." She ultimately called that allegation "a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing hate crimes bills."^[22] Some media outlets, including the New York Times,^[23]Washington Post,^[24] and Huffington Post,^[25] criticized her statements. Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a congressional colleague, did the same.^[26] Democratic sources claimed that Matthew Shepard's mother was present at the time of Foxx's statements.^[26]

Foxx later retracted her comments, suggesting her use of the word "hoax" was in bad taste.^[27] She suggested that Shepard's murder was a tragedy and that his killers had received appropriate justice.^[27]

In 2010, Foxx voted against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act.^[28]

In 2019, Foxx strongly opposed the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and urged Congress members to vote against it.^[29]

Health care debate

When commenting on the House version of the reform bill that funds counseling for end-of-life issues, Foxx said, "Republicans have a better solution that won't put the government in charge of people's health care," and "(The plan) is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."^[30] She later said 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."^[31][32]

Turkish American Caucus

Foxx has been a member of the Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans since 2005. Her former son-in-law is a Turkish businessman, Mustafa Özdemir.^[33][34]

Opposition to birthright citizenship

In January 2013, Foxx co-sponsored legislation that would stop children born in the United States to undocumented parents from gaining citizenship.^[35]

Trump impeachment

On December 18, 2019, Foxx voted against both articles of impeachment (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress) of President Trump.

Political positions

Abortion

Foxx opposes abortion. She voted in support of a bill to repeal a rule requiring state and local governments to distribute federal funds to qualified health centers, even if they perform abortions.^[36] WXII 12's Bill O'Neil interviewed Foxx in 2014, asking her if she has any exceptions regarding when an abortion was acceptable. She replied that, even in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother, an exception should not be made to justify abortion.^[37]

Legislation

• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (H.R. 803; 113th Congress) - Foxx introduced the bill on February 25, 2013.^[38] The bill would consolidate job training programs under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) into a single funding stream.^[39] It also would amend the Wagner-Peyser Act, reauthorize adult-education programs, and reauthorize programs under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.^[39]
• Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (H.R. 4983; 113th Congress) - Foxx introduced this bill on June 26, 2014.^[40] The bill would reserve $1 million from funding for the United States Department of Education to replace the current College Navigator website with a new website and change the type of information that the website would need to provide.^[41] The bill also would amend the requirements for the department's net-price calculator, which provides details on the costs of post-secondary education.^[41]
• Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act (H.R. 1313; 115th Congress) - Foxx introduced this bill on March 2, 2017.^[42] The bill would eliminate the genetic privacy protections of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-233); allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars; and would let employers see that genetic and other health information.^[43][44]
• H.R. 150: Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019 (GREAT Act) -- introduced by Foxx on January 3, 2019.^[45] Pertains to open data.

See also

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx official U.S. House website
• Virginia Foxx for Congress
• Virginia Foxx at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress