Ideology and Voting

DW-NOMINATE and Party Loyalty Scores

Barbara Boxer was scored at -.488 for her service during the 113th Congress. This DW-NOMINATE score is further left of center than typical Senate Democrats, who (on average) hold a score of about -.39.

Additionally, Boxer scored a 99.279 for Party Unity during the 113th Congress, which is higher than most of her colleagues scored during the same session.

Boxer's party loyalty and relatively more liberal DW-NOMINATE score may be tied to the very liberal demographics that Boxer represents in her home state of California. Because her constituents tend to hold views consistent with the Democratic party, Boxer is able to represent her constituents while maintaining party loyalty. Additionally, the relatively liberal nature of California in comparison to the rest of the states helps to explain why Boxer was scored to be more liberal than many of her colleagues who represent constituencies that aren't as liberal. 

Bipartisanship

Despite the strength of Boxer's liberal ideology, she has still pushed for bipartisan support for some legislation and worked with conservative senators on other issues. For example, Boxer is currently working with Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian conservative, to pass the Invest In Transportation Act. The bill itself seeks to repatriate offshore funds in order to fund investment in transportation infrastructure. 

Blog #4 - Committees

Blog #4 -- Committees

Senator Boxer currently serves on three committees: the standing Committee on Environment and Public Works, the standing Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on Ethics.

Committee on Environment and Public Works

Boxer's position as the ranking democrat on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works provides her with many important opportunities. The committee holds jurisdiction over many issues such as environmental policy, air pollution, flood control, public works, and even highways. This wide environmental jurisdiction has allowed Boxer many opportunities for credit-claiming. For example, Boxer's recent remarks on the Clean Power Plan and the Clean Air Act explained the necessity of such legislation especially for her own constituency in California. Boxer cited the threat of worsening droughts and evidence of exceptionally high temperatures in the region to illustrate how the legislation, along with other efforts to act on climate change, was something to be proud of. 

Additionally, Boxer's environmental jurisdiction has allowed her to even expand opportunities for credit-claiming for other senators. The best example of expanding this opportunity for credit-claiming has been the creation of the "Climate Action Task Force", a coalition among senators created with the goal of providing consistent votes and support to take action on climate change. The group itself doesn't necessarily bind senators to acting a certain way--instead, the group serves a purpose similar to a committee in that it offers a very vague and noncommittal way for Senators to show their constituencies that they're pushing for action.  

Boxer's work on this committee has provided her with opportunities for credit claiming; however, Boxer's impending retirement makes it unlikely that this credit claiming is her motivation for her work on the committee. The task force's expansion of credit claiming for other senators that share many of Boxer's views on climate change is a better example of the importance of Boxer's work because this expansion makes easier for those senators to keep their seats and continue Boxer's work on climate change. 

Committee on Foreign Relations

The senate committee on foreign relations holds jurisdiction on a number of issues dealing with international affairs such as diplomacy, international law, global energy policy, and foreign aid. With the emergence of ISIS on the world stage, the committee has dealt with a slew of information and legislation surrounding terrorism and the potential for the use of US military force in the area. 

Regarding terrorism, Boxer's position on the senate committee on Foreign Relations has proven to be an excellent source of credit-claiming as well. For example, the committee voted on a somewhat limited authorization of military force against ISIS, providing the opportunity for committee members to say they completed their parts of the process despite the fact that the chamber never reached a floor vote on that specific authorization. 

Committee on Ethics

Boxer's work on the Senate Ethics Committee has been somewhat atypical because of the nature of the committee. Many of the issues that this committee handles, such as the investigations of Sen. John Ensign or Rep. Tom Petri, are dealt with in a typically private setting and don't frequently reach public awareness. The private nature of the committee makes it difficult to see how it might benefit individual senators; however, the presence of an ethics committee fosters a generally more positive public image of congress as a whole, which could provide reason enough to keep the committee around. Boxer, an experienced and retiring senator, is one of the ideal people for her vice chairmanship on the committee because she can afford the negative perception of being a watchdog or handling investigations more privately whereas senators seeking re-election would have more reason to avoid such negative perception of themselves.

Barbara Boxer: The Senior Senator from California

Biographical Info:
(http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b000711)

Barbara Boxer (74 years old) is a Democratic senator and former representative from California. Boxer was born on November 11th, 1940 and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She was raised in a Jewish family and practices Judaism today. She graduated from Wingate High School in 1958 and Brooklyn College in 1962, where she met her husband of 50 years, Stewart Boxer.

(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#early-life)
Boxer received a Bachelor's degree in Economics and got a job as a stockbroker before moving to California in 1965 and having two children, a son and daughter.

Boxer first ran for office in 1972, unsuccessfully seeking a position on the Marin County Board of Supervisors. Four years later in 1976, Boxer began work as a journalist at The Pacific Sun. During the same year, Boxer ran for the same office she sought in 1972, this time successfully. Six years later, Boxer ran successfully to represent California district 6 in the House of Representatives, which was a major step in her political career.

Her Political Career:

(https://www.congress.gov/member/barbara-boxer/116?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22barbara+boxer%22%5D%7D)

Boxer served in the House, representing district 6 from 1983 until 1992, at which point she ran successfully for the Senate, where holds her seat today.


(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#democratic-leader)
Boxer developed a strongly liberal identity immediately during her time in Congress. She's a staunch advocate for abortion rights and environmental causes and a vocal opponent of going to war, especially during the First Gulf War.

Boxer served as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and, as a member, brought much attention to misuse of military funding for the Pentagon.

During her time in the Senate, Boxer has also opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and use of military force in Iraq in 2002. Boxer also pushed efforts for voting reform, specifically by co-sponsoring the Count Every Vote Act in 2005. Additionally, Boxer served as Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic party after her re-election in 2004 and currently serves on the Environment and Public Works committee as the highest ranking Democrat.


Boxer will not be seeking re-election this year, which may prompt her to act atypically compared to other Senators.

The State:

According to the US Bureau of Census, California is home to roughly 39 million people currently which is about 4 million more than the population of Canada. As a result, California has 53 congressional districts--more than any other state in the union.

(http://religions.pewforum.org/maps)

According to Pew, California is home to more Catholics and Unaffiliated persons per capita than the national average, both by about a 5% margin. There are also fewer Protestants per capita in California compared to the national average. Additionally, California is known for being a more liberal state on average for many reasons. One such reason is urbanization in the state with enormous cities like Sacramento (capital), Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and San Diego.

(http://www.city-data.com/states/California-Industry.html)

California is known for its large and burgeoning manufacturing industry, which supports a number of other industries including technological development for computers in Silicon Valley and development and manufacturing of aerospace technologies.

California is most notorious for Hollywood, the capital of the film industry. Hollywood film and TV production maintains hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates roughly $42 billion for the Californian economy annually.

Fun facts!

(http://www.biography.com/people/barbara-boxer-597336#early-life)

Senator Boxer has had some elections that were, if nothing else, rather eventful or memorable.

Boxer's race for the Senate in 1992 ended successfully for her as her opponent's (Bruce Hershensohn) campaign crashed and burned after reports that he was visiting a nude bar. That's certainly one way lose votes.

Later during her 2004 election, Boxer defeated the Republican Candidate (Bill Jones) by nearly 7 million popular votes, which was a difference in the amount votes received between two candidates that still remains a national record today.