Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.)

He "believes a public program option should be available to all."

Foreign Affairs and National Security

Since coming to Congress, Schiff has concentrated on improving U.S. intelligence gathering, implementing the 9/11 commission recommendations and working to revamp the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to meet modern challenges.

In 2003, he founded the Democratic Study Group on National Security to promote progressive positions on national-security issues.

"For a long time, particularly in the House, it has been a little lonely to be a Democrat who specializes in security. Members too often regarded it as the other party's issue. Adam sincerely believes the Democratic Party has to reassert its leadership on national security," Will Marshall, head of the moderate Democratic Leadership Forum, said in 2005.

In 2007, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Schiff to the new House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. The following year, he was also appointed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which also drafts the laws that govern the intelligence agencies operations. That committee is also responsible for overseeing the 16 agencies that comprise the intelligence community, which include components of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State and Energy.=

In January 2011, Schiff was tapped to continue serving on the House Permanent Select Intelligence committee as ranking member of the Technical and Tactical (T&T) Intelligence subcommittee. T & T oversees the technical aspects of intelligence gathering, including space-based assets, as well as cybersecurity. T & T also has primary oversight over the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial Agency and other military-intelligence programs.

The Economy

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Schiff is in a prime position to secure congressional spending for his district. Along with the majority of the Democratic Party, he voted for the $787 billion federal stimulus package that passed in February 2009, but he and the rest of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats wanted to ensure that balancing the federal budget would be a goal in the future.

"We all acknowledge the need to inject money into the economy to create jobs and that will mean deficits for some time, but we have long-term structural problems that also need to be addressed," Schiff said after a meeting between the Blue Dogs and President Obama in February 2009.

Armenian Genocide

In an effort to appeal to the large Armenian population in the 29th district, Schiff has long pushed for official recognition of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire that took place during and after World War I. "The facts of history are clear, well documented, and non-negotiable. One and a half million Armenians were deliberately murdered in the first genocide of the 20th century," Schiff said. "If we are to lead in the effort to stop the genocide in Darfur and prevent future atrocities, we must be willing to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs."

Congressional leaders have generally avoided the issue to placate Turkey, a key ally and the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. In 2004 Schiff succeeded in passing an amendment to bar Turkey from using foreign aid funds to lobby against recognition of the genocide, which Schiff claimed (and Armenian advocates accepted) as a "symbolic victory," even though House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) later insisted the provision be removed.,

In March 2009, Schiff introduced a bipartisan resolution, co-authored by George Radanovich (R-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to officially recognize that a genocide had occurred in Armenia.

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