Jackie Speier for Congress: Speeches

The Insider: Speier-tips

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

REP. JACKIE SPEIER paid a visit to the Times this week to provide an update on her first year in Washington.

Speier touched on several topics over the course of about 45 minutes, starting with the first federal bill she's authored, an attempt to lower America's oil consumption by setting a national speed limit of 60 mph in urban regions and 65 mph in rural areas.

The legislation has sparked a bit of an outcry, which is understandable, since Americans love their cars and love to drive fast. Great numbers of U.S. citizens enjoy watching automobiles drive in a circle for hours, and they'll pay large sums and absorb near-fatal doses of sunlight to do it.

But Speier said she's not deterred by the criticism.

"I'm not there to make friends," she said. "I'm there to do the people's work."

Speier said reducing oil consumption is the sort of thing that's missing right now from the national debate about energy, with Republicans screaming for offshore oil drilling that won't yield its miniscule benefits for more than a decade and Democrats pushing for alternative-energy incentives.

Speier acknowledged that it's unlikely H.R. 6458 will get a hearing during the September congressional session, meaning the bill may not get off the ground until next year.

In case you were wondering, all of Highway 101 from San Jose to San Francisco would be a 60 mph zone, according to federal guidelines for defining urban and rural areas.

Worries about Obama

Speier also offered her take on a subject that's had many Democratic voters on edge for weeks: Barack Obama's recent inability or unwillingness to counter the relentless attacks from his Republican opponent's newly dirty campaign.

It's been one bad news cycle after another for Obama during the month of August, at least until this week when John McCain forgot how many houses he and his wife own and cable TV news shows began obsessing about Obama's choice for vice president.

But Speier said she's confident that Obama will pull out of it. Obama is a quick study, she said, and he's more aggressive in responding to political attacks than John Kerry was in 2004.

"The truth is the public loves a competition," Speier said of the presidential race. "They want it to be close right now."

(The Insider happens to agree with this assessment, but only if you substitute the word "media" for the word "public.")

"They're swiftboating" Obama, Speier said of the McCain campaign, which is now being run by political operatives trained by Karl Rove.

The common perception in 2004 was that Kerry's biggest strength was his military experience, which could protect him from Republican smears suggesting he hated America and despised the troops.

Obama's biggest strength is his personal magnetism, which makes McCain look creaky and creepy by comparison, so the McCain team has launched its "celebrity" ads to turn Obama's star power against him, Speier said.

"You take someone's absolute strength and try to wrap it around their neck and choke them," said Speier.

Speier said Obama needs to frame the election around the Supreme Court, since the next president will choose as many as two or three justices. The choices to replace the justices who are on the verge of retirement will have a major impact for "the rest of this century," Speier said.

Speier proves quick study on Capitol Hill

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Caution tends to be a defining trait of new members of Congress. "You go along to get along" is one of its venerable mantras. Freshman Rep. Jackie Speier has shown a willingness to go along when necessary. But she also is willing to shake things up.

Speier wasted no time announcing her presence. On her first day, April 10, the Hillsborough Democrat was booed on the House floor by Republicans who objected to her speech about the specter of a 100-year U.S. engagement in Iraq: "History will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one."

Four months into her tenure, Speier, who was elected to serve out the term of the late Tom Lantos, has also shown that she can be a team player. She voted for a farm bill that - while laced with some modest reforms on nutrition and more support for California fruit and vegetable farmers - continues to lavish subsidies on agribusinesses that are enjoying a windfall from high prices.

When Speier met with our editorial board last week, I noted my surprise that she, long regarded as a fierce consumer advocate, had voted yes on the bloated farm bill. She chuckled and nodded - and did not attempt to cook up a phony rationale, as most politicians are wont to do when a vote conflicts with their better judgment.

"You should be surprised to see my yes vote on the farm bill," Speier said. She had been in office just three weeks, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi needed Democratic votes. Speier took one for the team.

If there is a political polar opposite of a Mother's Day resolution, it is trying to regulate how Americans drive. Speier has done just that with her very first bill, which would set a national speed limit of 60 mph in cities and 65 mph in rural areas.

"It's like guns - don't mess with my car, my Harley or my gun," Speier observed. "I know it's not going to make me a lot of friends, but I didn't go there for that reason."

It might seem like an uphill climb in view of America's car culture, but Speier attacks it with relish. She notes the relatively small differences in travel times between 70 mph and 60 mph, against the potential savings of more than 2,000 lives and the reduction in this nation's carbon footprint and dependence on imported oil. Speier contends the lower speed limit (and corresponding drop in fuel consumption) would have far more near-term impact on gas prices than the other plans (offshore drilling, alternative fuel incentives) that have been kicking around in the House.

In the larger picture, Speier goes back to the subject of the speech she made on her first day in Congress: the war in Iraq, which has claimed 4,500 U.S. lives and has consumed more than $10 billion a month.

"Part of our reason for going there was oil," she said. Many Americans, she said, have not felt a direct sacrifice of the war. A reduced speed limit would be at least a small sacrifice, or, as Speier put it, "an act of patriotism."

She is persuasive, even if her proposal would seem to be a longshot. Supporters include the American Trucking Association, which recognizes both the safety and economic value of a lowered speed limit.

In Sacramento, Speier's tenacity was both a source of her effectiveness and an object of disdain. She certainly made many of her colleagues - not to mention Gov. Gray Davis - extremely uncomfortable with her insistence on meaningful legislation to give consumers control over their personal financial information. At many points during Speier's three-year effort, her fellow legislators were eager for a "solution" that would produce a press release and a facade of privacy protections. Speier stood firm, and the nation's strongest financial privacy bill was signed into law by Davis five years ago.

Washington, beware: Speier is showing signs of similar resolve in stopping the "earmarks" in appropriations bills that provide goodies for lawmakers' districts, and in some cases to preferred corporations without competitive bidding. Speier pointed out that the earmark "reform" passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress provided only a limited amount of "transparency." It did not stop a recent supplemental appropriations committee bill from containing 35,000 earmarks. It did not stop one subcommittee chairman from stuffing 70 earmarks into a spending bill to benefit colleges in his home state of Mississippi.

"Before I got there, I didn't comprehend the nature of these earmarks," Speier said.

She does now. It's already clear that there is no need to worry about Speier going along to get along in Washington. Rare is the freshman who dares to ask Americans to slow down and Congress to put the brakes on one of its most cherished practices.

John Diaz is The Chronicle's editorial page editor.

Newcomer to Congress Speier unafraid to rock boat

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON - On her first day in office, Rep. Jackie Speier criticized the Iraq war and John McCain, eliciting boos from Republicans. By her own count, three committee chairmen have chastised her for her questions during recent hearings.

And her first bill won national attention with its effort to mandate lower speed limits to save gas.

At 58, Speier, a San Mateo County Democrat who replaced the late Tom Lantos in April, is not your average new member of Congress. By speaking bluntly, rocking the boat and not shying away from controversy, she has established a higher profile in three months than some representatives manage in years.

"I'm too old to come to this institution and sit on my hands for 15 years before I make a peep," Speier said in an interview. "That's not my personality, that's not my style and that's not why I was elected by the people in my district."

"I'll make waves when I think that's necessary, but I'm also a team player," she added. She is conferring with several members, including Republicans, on ways to restrict House members' ability to secure earmarks for pet projects - a practice she says has been abused.

Speier's sense of urgency and direct approach stem from her belief that the war, the economy and the need for government reform demand immediate attention, she said. But it may also be the result of her remarkable personal story.

Thirty years ago, Speier was a young aide accompanying Rep. Leo Ryan of South

San Francisco on a visit to Jonestown, Guyana, to investigate the Peoples Temple cult. As Ryan and his staff waited at an airstrip to leave the area, cult members opened fire on them.

Ryan was killed. Speier, shot five times, lay on the tarmac for 22 hours while more than 900 cult members were coerced to commit suicide by their leader, Jim Jones.

Speier recovered, ran for Ryan's seat and lost. She then launched a career in local and state politics, serving 18 years in the state Legislature. She was pregnant with her second child when her husband was killed in a car crash.

"My life experiences have helped me to be less fearful," she said last week. "In politics, that has allowed me to take on issues sooner rather than later."

Speier won a special election after Lantos died in February. She took office in April, 29 years after she first ran. Moments after she was sworn in, she used her first speech on the House floor to urge the start of troop withdrawal from Iraq and chided McCain for suggesting "we could be in Iraq for 100 years."

Republicans booed and hooted, and some walked out.

The congresswoman said she was surprised by the reaction: "I had no idea a new member was supposed to say, 'Thank you very much,' and sit down. I saw it as an opportunity to make a substantive speech."

Last month, Speier clashed with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and her Financial Services Committee chairman, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, during a hearing.

Speier sharply questioned Bernanke over whether he was doing enough to regulate investment banks. She conceded she had little expertise but said the committee should do more to avoid future bailouts like that of Bear Stearns in March.

Frank quickly jumped in: "I very much disagree with the gentlewoman's statement." He wondered if Speier had been present for the entire hearing.

"I was," she replied quickly.

It was not an isolated case. "Three chairmen in the last two weeks have told me, 'You're new. You're wrong,' " she said.

Speier worries that the lack of federal regulation of high-risk investment practices may have consequences, "and I don't think the American people will tolerate another bailout of a Bear Stearns."

As gas prices soared this summer, Speier asked people to make a sacrifice. Her bill would lower the speed limit to 60 mph (65 in rural areas) to conserve fuel, reduce demand and possibly lower prices.

"This is something that can be done right now and have an impact," she said. Speier knows the bill will go nowhere this year but has hopes for 2009.

Perhaps Speier's biggest accomplishment so far was landing a seat on the major investigative panel in the House: the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Under the aggressive leadership of Rep. Henry Waxman, a Los Angeles Democrat, the committee investigates everything from military contractor scandals to the Valerie Plame spy case, health insurance and steroids in sports.

Speier's experience chairing a state Senate committee investigating fraud in state government helped her get the new post.

"Oversight is as important as legislating," Speier said. "We have to make the bureaucracy - the government - work better."

Her motivation, she said, comes from voters, whose urgency matches hers: "They want change. Not a label 'change.' They want the real thing."

Speier seeks national speed limit to save gas

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Congress is searching for ways to address rising gas prices, and one Bay Area lawmaker thinks she's found one: Lower the speed limit on highways.

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Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, in her first bill as a member of Congress, is proposing a national speed limit of 60 mph for freeways in urban areas and 65 mph in less populated areas.

It's a throwback to the 1970s, when Congress and President Richard Nixon imposed a 55 mph national speed limit in response to the Arab oil embargo. While supporters say the law saved lives and fuel, it was unpopular with many drivers and some states balked at enforcing it. Congress repealed it in 1995.

But with the average price of gas at $4.10 per gallon nationwide and $4.60 in San Francisco, Speier said, reducing driving speeds could save families hundreds of dollars a year.

"There is no need to wait for OPEC or the oil companies to help us out," Speier said. "Every driver can effect change simply by easing up on their right foot."

The bill is already stirring objections from some motorist groups, which fear it would slow traffic and increase speeding tickets and insurance premiums. Opponents said the law isn't necessary because drivers already have the choice of reducing their speed to save gas.

"If they want to get in the right-hand lane and drive 55 mph on the highway, there is no restriction on that," said Jim Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, a group formed in 1982 to repeal national speed limits. "They are welcome to do that."

But Speier said those who drive below the speed limit often find themselves "with someone breathing down your back fender." A national maximum speed limit would reduce the pace of traffic and result in greater fuel savings, she said.

No one disputes that driving slower saves money. Most cars are designed to get their best fuel economy at speeds of about 55 mph, but fuel efficiency starts falling at speeds higher than 60 mph.

The Web site run by the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, www.fueleconomy.gov, states that "you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional 30 cents per gallon for gas."

David Friedman, research director of the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, estimates that by reducing speed from 70 to 60 mph, the owner of a midsize sedan would save about $200 a year and the owner of an SUV about $300, based on gas prices of about $4.50 per gallon.

Friedman's group has endorsed the bill as a way to reduce U.S. dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions, "and you can save money and lives at the same time," he said.

Speier isn't the only politician pushing the idea. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., sent a letter on July 3 to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, asking him to study what speed limit offers the best fuel efficiency and whether the administration would support an effort in Congress to lower speed limits.

Warner cited a study by the Congressional Research Service that showed that the 1974 law - which set a national speed limit of 55 mph - saved 167,000 barrels of oil per day, 2 percent of U.S. highway fuel consumption.

"Given the significant increase in the number of vehicles on America's highway system from 1974 to 2008, one could assume that the amount of fuel that could be conserved today is far greater," he wrote.

Speier's bill is similar to the 1974 law, which threatened to withhold federal highway funds from states that refused to embrace the 55 mph speed limit. If a state refuses to comply under her bill, it would risk having its highway construction funds shifted to transportation safety and education projects. "It's a softer penalty," she said.

Many states objected to the 1974 law, and some states barely complied with it. Montana, which had no daytime speed limit before 1974, charged speeders a $5 fine, which was payable on the spot. Congress relented in 1987, allowing states to raise the limits to 65 mph on rural highways. After the GOP-led Congress repealed the law in 1995, several states raised speed limits in rural areas to 70 or 75 mph.

Critics of a national speed limit note that many drivers simply ignore it. A federal study in 1982 found that 83 percent of vehicles monitored on New York's interstate system were exceeding the 55 mph limit.

But the law's supporters point out that lower speed limits succeed in reducing fatalities on highways. A National Academy of Sciences study found that the 55 mph limit saved between 2,000 and 4,000 lives each year.

Judie Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a coalition of consumer groups and insurance companies that opposed the repeal of the 55 mph speed limit, said her group is generally supportive of Speier's legislation.

"It's a good idea both for safety and for fuel conservation," Stone said.

But Michael Geeser, a spokesman for AAA of Northern California, which has 5 million members, said his group favors leaving decisions on speed limits to the states.

"The state limits should really be dictated by two things: engineering and enforcement," he said. "If the engineering of a road dictates that a speed limit should be set at a certain rate, that to us is the strongest evidence, as opposed to what (a driver) might save in gas mileage."

Ways to boost fuel economy

Even without lowering speed limits, experts suggest ways to change driving and car maintenance habits to cut your payments at the pump:

Drive more gently: Speeding and rapid acceleration and braking can reduce gas mileage by one-third on highways and 5 percent on city streets.

Remove excess weight: Getting rid of 100 pounds can improve mileage by 2 percent.

Stay tuned: A vehicle that is out of tune or fails an emission test can reduce mileage by 4 percent.

Check air filter: Replacing a clogged filter can boost mileage by 10 percent.

Check tire pressure: Keeping tires properly inflated can save at least 3 percent on mileage.

Use the right motor oil: Not using the recommended grade can cost you 1 to 2 percent on fuel economy.

Don't overload roof rack: On car trips, stacking items on top of your car can lower mileage by 5 percent.

Buy a fuel-efficient car: Replacing a car that gets 20 mpg with one that gets 30 mpg will save an average driver $1,020 per year.

Source: www.fueleconomy.gov

New Career on the Hill For Survivor of Killings

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Of all the comebacks on Capitol Hill, Rep. Jackie Speier's ranks among the most unexpected. Her first stint here, 30 years ago, nearly killed her.

In November 1978, Speier, then a 28-year-old legal aide to Rep. Leo J. Ryan (D-Calif.), accompanied the maverick lawmaker, a handful of reporters and concerned family members into the jungles of Guyana to investigate the People's Temple cult. The group's roughly 1,000 members had abandoned San Francisco and built a compound in the South American nation.

Cult members attacked and killed Ryan and several members of the entourage. Speier was shot five times and left for dead, and more than 900 cult members committed mass suicide at the urging of their leader, Jim Jones.

After recovering, Speier made an unsuccessful attempt to win the special election to succeed Ryan, then settled into a life of local and state politics, intending to erase the horrors of the experience.

"I had kind of washed my hands of D.C. There were a lot of painful memories," she said in a recent interview, her voice trailing off as she recalled the time. "It just didn't hold the same interest that it held before."

Now Speier, a Democrat, is in the House seat once held by her old boss, representing a portion of Silicon Valley, after winning a special election this spring to succeed the late Tom Lantos (D). .

She used her first floor speech, on the day she was sworn in, to excoriate President Bush's handling of the war and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the likely GOP presidential nominee, for suggesting troops could be in Iraq for decades to come. She was heckled by Republicans in response.

"After I was booed, I really felt like I do belong here," she said. "I'm not unaccustomed to the rough-and-tumble world of high-stakes politics, and there's a lot at stake....To evoke that kind of response, it suggests you hit a chord."

Throughout her political career, Speier has battled assertions that her public profile came from one searing moment that made worldwide headlines. Speier said that she has forged her own political identity, one that goes far beyond her Guyana experience, and that she is much more than just the 20-something who barely survived tragedy.

She has served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and in the state Assembly and Senate, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2006. She touts a record of passing more than 300 pieces of legislation in her 16 years in Sacramento, including hard-fought battles with the insurance industry and prison guards. She has suffered other tragedies as well, including the death of her first husband in a 1992 car accident.

"I think I have been able to, over the years, overcome that [Jonestown] moniker," she said.

Yet Speier freely admits that her experience at the People's Temple settlement, including waiting 22 hours to be rescued by Guyanese police, is the defining moment that guides her political philosophy.

"I think the experience in Guyana just made me more fearless, because I believe that once you have looked death in the eye you're just not nearly as afraid," she said. "So there's a real sense that, once I survived, I didn't want grass to grow under my feet. And I didn't want to ever forget the lessons learned in that experience: You're just not guaranteed a tomorrow."

Ryan, whose constituents included members of the People's Temple, began investigating the cult after complaints from family members. The visiting delegation's suspicions were confirmed when a member slipped a note that read "help me get out" to an NBC reporter.

When Ryan tried to take some defectors with him, Jones ordered an attack at the airstrip that killed the congressman, an NBC cameraman, a San Francisco Examiner photographer and two others. Speier was shot five times on her right side.

While Speier and a couple of reporters who survived the attack awaited rescue, Jones launched the mass suicide at the compound.

Speier was flown to Andrews Air Force Base, where she underwent four hours of emergency surgery. Then came a grueling recovery period that included treatment for gas gangrene and about 10 more surgeries, including skin grafts.

She eventually recovered and, at 29, ran for Ryan's seat but lost to a Republican in a special election. Lantos claimed the seat in 1980 and held it until his death this year, making Washington the last place Speier thought she would end up.

"It's also very humbling, because it makes me realize, you know, that there's a plan out there, there's a plan for each of us. You're not always privy to it," Speier said.

But just before the Memorial Day recess, Speier learned the reality of life in the Capitol: No matter how well-known you may be at home, you're still just one of 435 in the House. Hoping to win a seat on the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, with its oversight of the technology and biotech issues important to her district, Speier instead was given a seat on the Financial Services panel.
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Despite not getting her first choice, Speier said she is happy to have been assigned a committee after five weeks of waiting. "I kept telling people, 'come and visit me -- I have nothing to do,' " she said.

Honoring vets past and present

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As the flag rose slowly Monday morning over Golden Gate National Cemetery, hundreds of people of all ages stood silently to remember fallen veterans laid to rest at the San Bruno site and elsewhere.

In many ways, the annual Memorial Day ceremony was a traditional homage to those who paid the ultimate price, complete with a brass band playing American classics and more than 112,000 miniature flags waving in the green hills.

But attendees of the annual Memorial Day ceremony were also reminded to keep active military men and women in their thoughts as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.

"There are no words I can offer to lighten their burden or make their mission any less dangerous," said newly elected U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, the event's keynote speaker.

But she promised that when the troops come home, "we'll have their back" with education funding and robust health care.

"A headstone and six feet of earth should not be the extent of the package we guarantee our fighting forces," Speier said.

Monday was the 140th observance of Memorial Day and ceremonies across the Bay Area took place to honor the memory of military service-people. On the Peninsula, Speier also spoke at an afternoon ceremony at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma.

Speakers at the San Bruno event said they were grateful for the ample turnout, which left standing room only in front of the speaker's podium.

"It is your unwavering support that makes me proud to serve this great nation," said Maj. Ted Wong of the U.S. Marine Corps, a 22-year veteran of the service.

The day started with a parade featuring Boy Scouts, California Kids for Troops and the United Services Organization marching to the sounds of a bagpiper.

Occasional references to the ongoing military conflicts were unavoidable, but the service focused more on those who died in past wars, dating to 1868 when Memorial Day was first conceived by Gen. John Logan to honor Civil War veterans on both sides.

Capt. Roland Harris of the U.S. Navy, a fourth-generation member of the service, choked up a bit when mentioning his father, who was shot down near the end of the Vietnam War.

"We are all family because we have done something that few can ever really grasp - that is, a true service above self," Harris said.

Several also spoke in homage to Rep. Tom Lantos, the longtime San Mateo Congressman who died in February of cancer.

Anita Maxwell, president of the Avenue of Flags committee that put on the ceremony, said Lantos "has always been supportive of the veterans' needs and he loved this great country called America."

Speier, who on her first day in office gave a fiery speech calling for troop withdrawals from Iraq, said troops that have died in combat should be remembered with hopes "that others never have to meet their fate."

"They deserve our solemn and unabiding guarantee that, from this day forward, the powers that decide when and where we commit our military will think less of politics and economics than they do the lives and families and communities that are devastated by the atrocities of war," Speier said.

E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.

Speier's first weeks a whirlwind

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Jackie Speier's 58th birthday was memorable, not for any celebration or family gathering but for how it underscored the new world she has entered as a rookie congresswoman.

After a long day in the Capitol, including an important roll-call vote on the farm bill, she finished work at about 8 p.m. and headed back to her apartment alone.

"I got back to my apartment, put on my pajamas, ate a bowl of soup and watched CNN,'' Speier recalled. Laughing, she added, "This is not a glamorous job.''

Perhaps not, but that isn't stopping the newly elected Democrat from Hillsborough from throwing herself into it. In her first six weeks in office, she has made headlines with controversial comments about the Iraq war, proposed legislation regulating pharmaceutical imports, confronted anguishing choices on floor votes and begun assembling ideas for bills on consumer protection.

And each weekend, she flies back home to the district to be with her family. Unlike her predecessor, the late Tom Lantos, Speier said she does not intend to move to the Washington, D.C., area.

"When that happens, there is a mind-shift," she said, "and I don't want that mind-shift to take place. I love this area. I love the people. I love the people coming up and stopping me in the stores to talk to me."

On Tuesday, Speier discussed what she's been up to so far and what she has in mind for the future. Despite her 18 years of experience in the state Legislature, she is finding that a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives comes with its own steep learning curve.

"It's like drinking from a fire hose," Speier said.

She started her tenure in Congress with a bang that set Republicans booing and scurrying for the exits. In her remarks to the House chamber after being sworn in, she took a swipe at likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain and called for U.S. troops to come home from Iraq immediately.

She took a humbler path when faced with a vote on the farm bill earlier this month.

Championed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, the $300 billion bill has taken heat from environmentalists and fiscal conservatives alike for its heavy subsidies. Speier admitted she disliked major aspects of it, but she fell in line with her party's leadership and voted for it anyway.

"I regret that vote now," she said. "You cannot defend the kind of subsidies we are providing to agribusiness. But to be on board for three or four weeks and buck your entire party before you've even been assigned to a committee."

As it turned out, Speier didn't get her top-choice assignment, the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She had hoped to use the post to push for regulations on pharmaceutical companies.

Speier said she had in mind a law requiring that all imported drugs be labeled with their country of origin, but she found out the committee chair already had such legislation in the works.

Instead, she was named last week along with two other brand-new Democrats to the House Committee on Financial Services. In the wake of the news, Speier said she is "shifting gears" to focus on consumer protection and financial privacy — issues she was known for in the California Legislature.

Her goal in the committee, Speier said, is to "upload all the bills I had signed into law in California" to the national stage. Those include the landmark California Financial Information Privacy Act, the toughest of its kind in the nation when she authored it in 2003.

"Financial privacy is something that should be a right for everyone," not just Californians, Speier said.

She'd also like to someday see a national consumer financial services commission. It would be similar in concept to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but for things such as subprime mortgages instead of coffee makers.

Meanwhile, Speier has been seeking advice from the Congressional Research Service on how to tackle the issue of legislative earmarks, which she views as a corrupting influence in Congress.

So far, she has allowed local earmarks pushed by Lantos to move forward. But Speier said she hasn't sought any of her own and won't entertain lobbyists' requests.

"I've put everyone on notice," Speier said, "it's not going to be business as usual on my watch."

Speier wins seat on banking committee

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Bay Area's newest lawmaker, Rep. Jackie Speier of Hillsborough, got her first committee assignment Thursday: the House Financial Services Committee, which could give her a powerful perch to continue her push for new consumer privacy laws.

As a state senator in Sacramento, Speier made headlines -- and enemies in the financial services industry -- for spearheading some of the nation's toughest consumer measures, including a prohibition on banks and insurers selling consumers' private information. She chaired the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee for eight years.

The House committee could also be a financial boon for Speier: Lawmakers on the panel often draw huge donations from Wall Street and the industries they regulate.

Speier easily won a special election in April to fill out the term of Rep. Tom Lantos, who died of cancer in February, with 77 percent of the vote. But a big campaign war chest would scare off future challengers and boost her power in Congress by allowing her to help more vulnerable House Democrats.

Speier said she had asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the assignment.

"I've spent the lion's share of my legislative career fighting for consumers, and under Chairman (Barney) Frank's leadership, I am optimistic that we can bring some of the reforms enacted in California to the rest of the nation," she said in a statement.

Frank, D-Mass., whose committee has recently been rewriting the nation's housing and mortgage rules, issued a statement saying that Speier's "expertise in consumer protection, especially privacy issues, will make a great contribution to the work of the committee."

Speier had made other committee requests. She learned early on that she would not get a coveted seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad authority on issues ranging from energy and the environment to health care. She is still angling for a seat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the House's chief investigative panel, which Lantos served on for two decades.

The assignment was approved by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, a panel controlled by lawmakers loyal to Pelosi. Speier's aides said Pelosi felt the freshman lawmaker could use her assignment to help Californians hit hard by the mortgage debacle.

In a statement, Pelosi said: "Congresswoman Speier has a deep understanding of the housing crisis facing our state and will be a leader in our efforts to strengthen our economy and protect the American dream."

E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@sfchronicle.com.

Mortgage crisis tops Speier's concerns

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Newly elected U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, marked her first 30 days in Congress with a town hall meeting and residents expressed their concerns about the mortgage crisis, health care and foreign affairs.

Speier who spent the last few months on the campaign trail listening to concerns from constituents was prepared with answers on a number of different issues Saturday at the Doelger Community Center in Daly City. At least 200 people turned up for Speier's first community meeting and it seemed as though there were as many questions for the junior delegate.

Speier, a longtime consumer rights advocate, told constituents she was most interested in working to solve the home mortgage crisis and reforming health care into a single payer system.

Speier is supporting a plan that would in part allow judges to help determine loan settlements and grant $15 billion in federal funding to help save people from defaulting on their loans, she said.

A number of residents asked Speier specific questions related to their loan situations. Those residents said they were frustrated by major lenders that would not work with them to re-negotiate loans as they worked to avoid the possibility of foreclosure.

Much of the room applauded Speier's call for a single-payer health care system.

"We've got to get serious about health care in this country. Fifty percent of people who file for bankruptcy do so because of a health situation. Of that, 70 percent have health care," Speier said.

Sparked by a personal experience obtaining her father's prescription at the hospital, Speier said she is also plans to introduce legislation that would require the origin of medicine be listed. She recently learned that the majority of this countries prescription medication is manufactured outside the United States. In her recent experience, she learned her father's medication was recalled because it was produced at double strength.

"Some things need regulation. It's important we have regulations about health and safety issues," she said.

Speier was also urged to continue in the footsteps of the late Tom Lantos, who previously held the seat, in terms of foreign affairs. She was urged to support Burma, Israel and prevent escalating tension between the United States and Iran.

Speier said she plans to hold another town hall meeting marking her 100th day in Congress.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.

Speier to talk about first month in Congress

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Rep. Jackie Speier will hold a town hall meeting this morning in Daly City to talk about her first 30 days in office since she won a special election last month that sent her to Washington.

Speier, D-San Mateo, was elected by a landslide April 8 to fill the term of Tom Lantos, who died in February. She received 77 percent of the vote in the 12th Congressional District, beating a fellow Democrat, two Republicans and a Green Party candidate.

On her first day in Congress two days later, Speier criticized President Bush's Iraq policies and called for an immediate troop withdrawal, prompting some Republicans to boo and walk out of the chambers.

Since then, she has voted for a bill that would ban private firms from collecting IRS debts and another, signed Wednesday by Bush, that guarantees federal student loans will continue to be issued despite a turbulent economy.

Speier also has co-sponsored 21 bills, among them measures to recognize the Armenian genocide, protect students' health coverage and hold China accountable for unsavory business practices, but has not yet authored any legislation.

"This is just going to be the first time she's gotten to talk to the public and her supporters about what the first month has been like," said Alex Tourk, her campaign manager.

Speier still is hiring staff and waiting for a committee assignment, said her spokesperson, Mike Larsen.

"We thought we were going to hear the second week but we haven't yet," Larsen said. "It's been kind of frustrating for her."

Speier still is in campaign mode, with less than a month until the June 3 primary to become the Democratic nominee for the 12th District in the November election. That's when voters will choose someone to serve a new two-year term beginning in January 2009.

The town hall meeting starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Doelger Center, 101 Lake Merced Blvd., Daly City. A luncheon at noon will follow.

Inside the endorsement process

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

On Tuesday, voters in the 12th Congressional District will choose a successor to the late Rep. Tom Lantos. The Chronicle editorial board has endorsed Jackie Speier. In the interest of providing some insights into our endorsement process, here are some of my notes and observations from our interviews with the five candidates:

Jackie Speier, Democrat: Speier, obviously, is a known quantity. I've seen her at work in the State Capitol, I've observed her at a town-hall meeting with constituents, I've moderated a debate with her and other candidates for lieutenant governor and I've had countless phone calls and numerous editorial board meetings with her -- especially when she was moving her financial privacy legislation against all all-out industry campaign to stop her. So it didn't take long after introductions to dive into issues such as Iraq and health care. But, still, there were revealing moments. I'm familiar with her life story -- the aide to Leo Ryan who survived serious wounds in the Jonestown massacre -- but I never had an opportunity to discuss it with her. At one point, Speier raised the issue of her first run for Congress, in a 1979 special election to replace Ryan. She spoke movingly of the way her entry into that 6-week campaign helped her overcome the pain of the injuries she sustained on that tarmac in Guyana. She raised $20,000, lost the election, and ended up several thousand dollars in debt. As her career shifted to Sacramento, she never thought much more about going to the nation's capital. "You have to be there 20 years to get anything done," she said. Speaker Pelosi has assured Speier that the environment for talented newcomers is better now and "you'll hit the ground running," Speier said. Another interesting side note of our meeting: She pointed out that if she is elected, she could be sworn in to the House of Representatives as early as Wednesday. She also would become a superdelegate in the 2008 Democratic primary. For those keeping count: She is a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

[...]

Interview: Jackie Speier, Former Red Cross Youth

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Interview: Jackie Speier, Former Red Cross Youth

Last fall, I had the exciting opportunity to interview Jackie Speier, a longtime public servant and current congressional candidate. Ms. Speier is also a Red Cross volunteer -- and she started her career as a youth.

I was inspired by this interview since I share many of the same experiences with Ms. Speier. It is remarkable to see how volunteering for the Red Cross literally changes lives.

How did you get started as a Red Cross youth?

I started out stuffing monkeys at my youth club at Mercy High School in Burlingame. I later became president of the club. Then I was on the regional board for the Bay Area Chapter, and I became president of that, too. I also attended the Bay Area’s Leadership Development Center (LDC) as a delegate and then as a counselor. Attending LDC had a profound effect on me; it is the reason I decided to go into public service and seek public office. The Bay Area Chapter sent me to another camp and I was a delegate and then a counselor there, too. I also took my first airplane trip with the Red Cross; when I was 17 I went to National Convention in Denver.

What skills did you gain? How do you use these skills today?

Leadership development training created confidence in me and showed me that I had leadership skills. That is how it works -- someone takes notice of your innate skills and helps you build on them.

What message do you have for a young person just starting as a Red Cross volunteer?

I would tell him or her to take full advantage of the opportunities the Red Cross has because they are experiences you will use for the rest of your life. Your personal and professional development will be greatly enhanced. Plus, the American Red Cross is the greatest non-profit in the history of the world.

Sandy Tesch, California

Jackie Speier's statement on the passing of Congressman Tom Lantos

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Today is a sad day for the Bay Area, our country and, indeed, the world. My heart and prayers, and those of my family, are with Tom's wife, Annette, his daughters, Katrina and Annette, and their families.

Congressman Tom Lantos was an inspiration to anyone who ever dreamed of a better life; he strove to overcome adversity and refused to quit, even against overwhelming odds.

Little did Tom know, as a young man, bravely resisting both Nazis and Communist that his calling in life would take him far from his native Hungary. He could not have dreamed that someday he would serve the United States of America in a position as high as Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. And how proud must his ancestors be, after being persecuted and executed for their faith, that Tom Lantos would accomplish so much for the freedom and security of his people and the dispossessed everywhere.

Congressman Lantos’ tireless and passionate work for human rights around the globe is legendary. No one was more articulate, persuasive or tenacious in fighting for all people, and no adversary was too large for Tom.

I have many fond personal memories of Congressman Lantos, as does anyone who was privileged to have known him. Of the many things we can learn from him, perhaps the most important is: Never give up. Fight for what is worth fighting for, because you don't know what life has planned for you.

My only regret is that those of us who proudly called Tom Lantos our Congressman did not have the opportunity to see him one last time, to show him how much we appreciate his hard work and 28 years of service to our district.

I think the highest compliment that could be paid to him is to say, "Congressman Lantos was a great American."