Virginia Foxx
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Richard Burr
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Thomas Foxx
Residence	Banner Elk, North Carolina
Alma mater	University of North Carolina, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Occupation	college professor/administrator
Religion	Roman Catholic

Virginia Foxx (born June 29, 1943) is an American politician and Republican Congresswoman from the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina, first elected in 2004. The district takes in much of the northwestern portion of the state and a portion of Winston-Salem.

Foxx was born in The Bronx, New York. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a bachelor's degree. She later earned a master's and doctoral degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Foxx worked as a research assistant at UNC and later became a professor at Appalachian State University. She was an English professor before moving into university administration. From 1987 until her 1994 entry into politics, she was president of Mayland Community College.^[1]

[edit] North Carolina State Senate

From 1994-2004, Foxx served in the North Carolina Senate.

[edit] United States House of Representatives

[edit] Republican Primary 2003-2004

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

When 5th District Congressman Richard Burr opted for an ultimately successful run for the United States Senate, Foxx was one of the first candidates to join the race. Her state senate district was virtually coextensive with the northwestern corner of the congressional district. Due to the highly partisan makeup of the district, the primary quickly became the most expensive and one of the nastiest in the history of North Carolina.

Foxx was the only woman in a field of eight candidates; most of her ugliest spats occurred with Winston-Salem city councilman Vernon Robinson. Although Foxx was one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, Robinson skewered her and the other primary challengers as liberals, and attacked Foxx for taking money from a gay rights group. Foxx explained that the group had given her a small donation during her first campaign for the state Senate, but never did again after they saw her voting record. Although Robinson was the highest vote-getter in the primary and heavily outspent Foxx, she defeated him (55%-45%) in the runoff.

The Fifth district primary was the most expensive race in the United States in 2004.

[edit] General election campaigns

Virginia Foxx talking with Constituents in Yadkinville, NC

In contrast to the primary, her general election campaign against Jim Harrell, Jr., which she easily won (59%-41%), was more cordial.

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.^[2] Her 2006 opponent was Roger Sharpe, who was 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.

[edit] Legislative record

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

In September 2005, Foxx was one of 11 members of Congress to vote^[3] against the $51 billion aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina. She was also one of only 33 Republicans to vote against the extension of the Voting Rights Act in July 2006.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.^[4] This bill was signed into law in October, 2008.^[5]

[edit] 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^{[citation needed]}. 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 new, 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 for her to commandeer the House floor, even though she was not a member of the majority party. Her measure passed the House with the overwhelming bipartisan vote of 270-155; the act was never addressed in the Senate.^[6]

[edit] Matthew Shepard Act

In April 2009, Foxx expressed opposition to the Matthew Shepard Act, claiming that the murder of Matthew Shepard was not a hate crime. While debating the act at the House of Representatives, which was attended by Matthew Shepard's mother, she called the incident a "very unfortunate incident" but also "we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay." She continued that "It's really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing hate crimes bills."^[7]

[edit] 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."^[8] 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."^[9][10]

[edit] No Earmark Pledge

As reports of earmark abuse have come to light, Congresswoman Foxx has voluntarily agreed not to request earmarks until the process for allocating them has been reformed. Alleged pay-to-play schemes involving earmarks secured by members such as Reps. John Murtha, Peter Visclosky, and Alan Mollohan highlight the continued need for new oversight and accountability protections against corruption and favoritism. Foxx regularly votes for amendments aimed at stripping unnecessary earmarks from appropriations legislation. She has cosponsored measures such as H.Con.Res. 201 which would establish a Joint Committee on Earmark Reform. ^[11]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Rules
  • Subcommittee on Rules and the Organization of the House

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Virginia Foxx

• U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx Official House site
• Virginia Foxx for Congress Campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• North Carolina Republican Party