Allyson Schwartz

Allyson Schwartz
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 13th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Joe Hoeffel
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate from the 4th district
In office January 1, 1991 – January 4, 2005
Preceded by	Joe Rocks
Succeeded by	LeAnna Washington
Constituency	Part of Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Dr. David Schwartz
Residence	Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	Simmons College Bryn Mawr College
Committees	Ways and Means, House Budget Committee
Website	Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz

Allyson Young Schwartz (born October 3, 1948) is an American politician and former health care executive. She is currently a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district since 2005. The district (map) includes parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia.

Before her election to Congress, Schwartz was a member of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1991 to 2004. She previously ran a women's health clinic and worked in health issues for the municipal government in Philadelphia. A native of Queens, she is a graduate of both Simmons College and Bryn Mawr College.

Schwartz and Kathy Dahlkemper are the only women in Pennsylvania's delegation to Congress.

Family and background

Schwartz was born in Queens, New York, to Everett and Renee (née Perl) Young. Her mother left Vienna in 1938 after Germany annexed Austria and came to the United States, where she settled at a Jewish foster home in Philadelphia. Her father was a dentist in Flushing, Queens, and a veteran of the Korean War. She has a brother, Neal, and two sisters, Nancy and Dale.

Schwartz graduated from the Calhoun School, on the Upper West Side of New York City, in 1966 and then enrolled at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Simmons in 1970, as well as a Master of Social Work degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1972. She worked as assistant director of the Philadelphia Health Services Department from 1972 to 1975, and executive director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia, from 1975 to 1988. In 1988, she was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

She is a resident of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Schwartz is married to Dr. David Schwartz, a cardiologist. They have two adult sons. Schwartz is Jewish.

Political career

Early career

In 1990, Schwartz was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, representing a district in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia. In what was considered an extremely bitter campaign, Schwartz was able to unseat incumbent Republican Joe Rocks. Perhaps the most notable example of the tenor the campaign took on was the assertion from the Schwartz campaign that Rocks had an alcohol problem and engaged in promiscuous behavior. The comments had apparently been prepared as a joke by a staffer, released accidentally, and Schwartz apologized, but the campaign became increasingly acrimonious from that point forward.

Schwartz was re-elected in 1994, 1998, and 2002. The district was extended into Montgomery County in the legislative reapportionment of 1991 and Schwartz moved in early 2004 to Jenkintown in Montgomery County, where she still lives. In 2000, she ran in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate seat of freshman Republican Rick Santorum. She finished second behind Pittsburgh-area Congressman Ron Klink but won Montgomery County and Philadelphia with impressive numbers.

In a 2002 PoliticsPA feature story designating politicians with yearbook superlatives, she was named the "Best Dressed," to which she responded "I appreciate the honor...it must be the scarves."

Congressional elections

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 2008 § District 13

In 2003, Pennsylvania 13th District Congressman Joe Hoeffel decided not to run for a fourth term, opting instead to make a Senate run against Republican Arlen Specter. Schwartz had originally planned to run for Auditor General, but changed her plans after Hoeffel's announcement. She narrowly defeated former Philadelphia deputy mayor and National Constitution Center director Joe Torsella in the primary.

In 2006, Schwartz retained the seat by defeating opponent Raj Bhakta, who is most famous for his appearance on the television show The Apprentice 2.

Allyson Schwartz is a member of the New Democrat Coalition and the chair of the New Democrat Coalition Taskforce on Health. In this position, she has actively pushed for the greater use of interoperable and secure electronic prescribing systems throughout the country in an attempt to decrease medical errors as well as costs and liability to providers, health systems and patients.

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Social Security
  • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

Congressional record

The following list shows votes by Allyson Schwartz on several bills, nominations and resolutions that have come before the 109th Congress. The list is based on an analysis of the potential impact of the legislation on policy and politics.

Date	Vote	Legislation
12/06/06	No	Vote 526: H RES 6099: To ensure that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child.
6/16/06	No	Vote 288: H RES 861: This vote pledged support for the War in Iraq and rejected a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
5/10/06	No	Vote 135: H R 4297: Extended the Bush tax cuts.
2/1/06	No	Vote 4: H RES 653: Cut nearly $40 billion from the federal budget by imposing substantial changes on welfare, child support and student lending programs.
12/16/05	No	Vote 661: H R 4437: This bill would clamp down on illegal immigration and toughen border security. It does not include any new avenue for current illegal immigrants to gain legal status.
12/14/05	Yes	Vote 630: H R 2863: Supported a ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees held by U.S. forces and to requires the military to follow the Army field manual for interrogations.
9/29/05	No	Vote 506: H R 3824: Would have forced the government to compensate property owners if development plans were stymied by attempts to protect endangered species and would have given political appointees more power to make decisions about which species and areas would be subject to government intervention aimed at protecting plant and wildlife.
7/28/05	No	Vote 445: H R 6: Offered tax breaks and incentives in what supporters said was an effort to spur oil and gas companies to provide innovative ways to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, conserve resources and reduce pollution.
7/28/05	No	Vote 443: H R 3045: Established a free trade zone among the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua; a separate agreement with the Dominican Republic was also included in the measure.
6/22/05	No	Vote 296: H J RES 10: This vote approved the proposal of a Constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the American flag. The same bill was later defeated in the Senate.
6/15/05	Yes	Vote 258: H R 2862
5/24/05	Yes	Vote 204: H R 810: Would have repealed restrictions on federal spending on embryonic stem cell research.
3/21/05	No	Vote 90: S 686: Gave federal courts jurisdiction in the Terri Schiavo dispute.
1/4/05	No	Vote 6: H RES 5: Instituted a number of changes in the ethics rules that govern the conduct of individual members of Congress.

Fundraising

While most former state legislators raise comparatively more money through PACs than individual donations, she raised $4,597,032 from individual donations and comparatively little ($558,376) in PAC donations.

References

• Berkman, Michael, and James Eisenstein. “State Legislators as Candidates: The Effects of Prior Experience on Legislative Behavior and Fundraising,” Political Science Quarterly, 52, no. 3 (1999): 481–498.

External links

Media related to Allyson Schwartz at Wikimedia Commons

• Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz official U.S. House website
• Allyson Schwartz for Congress official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart