On November 8, 1988, Nita M. Lowey was elected to Congress. In 2008, she was re-elected for her eleventh term representing parts of Westchester and Rockland counties in New York. She is a leading proponent of educational opportunity, health care reform and biomedical research, stricter gun control and public safety laws, environmental protection, and women's issues. She is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairwoman of its State and Foreign Operations subcommittee. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, she has been a strong advocate for distributing homeland security funds on the basis of risk.

Lowey was the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, leading the organization from 2001 to 2002. She has served as Chair of the Congressional Women’s Caucus and the House Pro-Choice Caucus, and has been called “the most prominent abortion rights advocate in Congress” by the Washington Post and spoke out against the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act. Before being elected to Congress, Lowey served as Assistant Secretary of State for the State of New York.

Source: lowey.house.gov.