Many consider Congresswoman Maxine Waters one of the most influential women in American politics of the 21st century. She gained a reputation as a fearless, courageous and outspoken advocate of women, children, people of color and the poor. Find out more details at layes.info.
Congresswoman Waters entered history as the first woman and first African-American chair of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. She is a member of the Democratic leadership of the US Congress. In addition to that, Congresswoman Waters is a member of the Steering and Policy Committee and a co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. She is also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well as a member and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Find out more about Steve Danes and his political activities.
Biography
Maxine Waters was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She became the fifth of 13 children. They were raised only by their mother. Therefore, Maxine began working at the age of 13 in factories and different restaurants. After moving to Los Angeles, she worked in garment factories and in a telephone company. She attended California State University in Los Angeles, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Maxine began her career in public service as a teacher and coordinator of volunteers in the Head Start program.
Maxine Waters is married to Sidney Williams, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. She is the mother of two adult children, Edward and Karen, and has two grandchildren.
The Beginning of Political Career
After the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, Congresswoman Waters confronted the national media and public to change the hopelessness and despair in cities across America. Over the years, she has brought government officials and politicians to her south-central Los Angeles district to get an increasing number of necessary resources. Among them were President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Housing and Urban Development secretaries Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo as well as Alan Greenspan, a chairman of the Federal Reserve System. After the riots, she founded Community Build, a grassroots urban renewal project.
At that time, Maxine Waters used her skills to shape government policy and deliver goods: $10 billion for 108 credit guarantees to cities to develop the economy and infrastructure, housing and small business expansion. In addition to that, she appropriated $50 million for the Youth Fair Chance program, which created an intensive work and life skills training program for unskilled and unemployed youth. She became part of a plan to expand the US debt relief for Africa and other developing countries. She also participated in the creation of the Center for Women Veterans.
Legislative Leadership
For more than 40 years of public service, Maxine Waters has been at the forefront of U.S. politics, tackling complex and often controversial issues. She combined her strong legislative and state political acumen in Democratic Party activities with an unusual ability to engage in grassroots organizing.
Prior to her election to the House of Representatives in 1990, Congresswoman Waters had already drawn national attention for her political style. During her 14 years in the California State Assembly, she rose to the powerful position of chair of the Democratic Caucus. She was responsible for some of the boldest legislative acts California has ever seen: the largest divestment of public pension funds from South Africa, landmark affirmative action legislation, the nation’s first statewide child abuse prevention program, a ban on police searches for nonviolent misconduct and the introduction of the nation’s first law to close factories. As leader of the National Democratic Party, Congresswoman Waters has long been highly visible in Democratic Party politics and has served on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) since 1980. She was a key leader in five presidential campaigns of Senator Edward Kennedy (1980), Jesse Jackson (1984 and 1988) and President Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996). In 2001, she was instrumental in founding the DNC’s National Institute for Development and Voting Rights and appointing Mayor Maynard Jackson as its chairman.
Political Direction
The representative Waters continues to be an active leader in a broad coalition of housing communities, environmental activists and elected officials who aggressively advocate for mitigation of harmful effects of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) expansion plan. In addition to that, she continues initiatives to preserve the unique ecological qualities of the wetlands and the Ballona cliffs, the treasures of her district.
She is a co-founder of the Black Women’s Forum. It is a nonprofit organization with more than 1,200 African American women in the Los Angeles area. In the mid-80s of the last century, she also founded Project Build, working with young people in residential complexes of Los Angeles on training and employment.
When she is faced with issues such as poverty, economic development, equal justice according to the law and other issues affecting people of color, women, children and poor people, Waters has broad support from various communities across the country.
Assistance to African Countries
Throughout her career, Congresswoman Waters has been an advocate for international peace, justice and human rights. Prior to her election to Congress, she was a leader of the movement to end apartheid and establish democracy in South Africa. She opposed the 2004 coup d’état in Haiti, which overthrew the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. She protects the rights of political prisoners in the Haitian prisons. She leads the efforts of Congress to cancel debts, which poor countries in Africa and Latin America are obliged to pay to rich institutions such as the World Bank, and free poor countries from the burden of international debts.
Congresswoman Waters is the founder and former chair of the Congress “Out of Iraq”. Formed in June 2005, the Out of Iraq Caucus of Congress was created to bring to Congress a lengthy discussion about the Iraq War and the Administration’s justification for the decision to go to war to urge for the return of US service members to their families as soon as possible.
Expanding access to healthcare services is another of Congresswoman Waters’ priorities. She led the development of the Minority AIDS Initiative in 1998, to address the alarming spread of HIV/AIDS among African Americans, Latinos and other minorities. Under her leadership, funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative increased from an initial budget of $156 million in fiscal year 1999 to approximately $400 million. She is also the author of legislation to expand healthcare services for patients with diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Congresswoman Waters has led the efforts of Congress to mitigate the redemption and maintenance of American families in their homes during the housing and economic crisis, particularly because of her role as chair of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. She is the author of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides grants to states, local authorities and nonprofit organizations to combat repurchase, abandonment of buildings and reconstruction of neighborhoods. Thanks to two infusions of funds, the Congresswoman was able to provide $6 billion to implement the program.
Support of Voters
African American entrepreneurs praise her for her work to expand the functionalities of contracts as well as procurement and strengthening of business. Active in the women’s movement, Congresswoman Waters has provided encouragement and financial support to women seeking employment in public office.
Many young people, including those in the hip-hop music community, praise her for supporting and understanding young people and their efforts to express themselves. One of the testimonies of her work is the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center. It is a multimillion campus providing education and employment opportunities to residents of the Watts area.
Maxine Waters was elected in November 2020, to her sixteenth term in the United States House of Representatives. Then, in the election, she won more than 70% of the votes in the 43rd Congressional District of California. Congresswoman Waters represents a significant part of South Los Angeles, including the communities of Westchester, Playa del Rey and Watts as well as unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County consisting of Lennox, West Athens, West Carson, Harbor Gateway and El Camino Village. The 43rd district also includes the diverse cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita and Torrance.