Louise McIntosh Slaughter congressional papers

Louise McIntosh Slaughter entered the United States House of Representatives in 1987 to represent the districts of western New York and served until her death in 2018. Prior to her service in Congress, she served in the Monroe County Legislature of New York (1976-1979), in the office of the New York Department of State (1976-1979), for the Lieutenant Governor’s Regional Office (1979-1982), and the New York State Legislature (1982-1986). The decision to enter public service culminated among the coalitions established in local activism in the Rochester, New York area, organized around environmental and land conservation issues. Slaughter’s legislative interests were extensive, but largely concerned the economic, social, and political issues impacting her home region.

Slaughter was principally known for advocacy and leadership for women and health related issues including the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (H.R. 3355), the legislation to establish the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the legislation to make permanent the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Violence Against Women Office, and the passage of the DES Education bill (H.R. 4178) amended the Public Health Service Act that allowed for the development of program that would support research and training, dissemination of health information, and related measures to redress the diagnosis and treatment of conditions associated with exposure to diethylstilbestrol.

Slaughter also took on several other causes to increase funding for research and development in science and technology, and policy interests including the armed forces and national security, civil rights, crime prevention and law enforcement, education, energy, environmental protection, foreign trade and international finance, housing and community development, immigration, and labor and employment. She either sponsored or co-sponsored several measures in each of these areas bringing much needed debate and attention to the issues. Eight of the 442 legislative measures she sponsored became law, three of which are noted here, including the H.R. 4178 discussed above.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (H.R. 493) was first introduced in 1995, 13 years prior to its passage in 2008. The bill “prohibit[s] discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment,” and safeguards against unethical practices of forced or required genetic testing in the workplace. Slaughter recounted the history of its passage in a speech to the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Science Policy Group, stating, “It was in April 2007, and twelve years after I initially introduced a genetics antidiscrimination bill, that the House of Representatives took its first vote on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. And the vote was overwhelming – 420 to 3. But then the bill was sent to the Senate where it was held up by a Senator, who is a doctor by training if you can believe it. For a while, I did not think GINA would ever become law. It took us exactly a year and several negotiations to get agreement from the Senate and the Bush Administration. When the Senate did vote in April 2008, it passed GINA unanimously by a vote of 95-0.”

The other piece of legislation that Slaughter saw signed into law responded to the events on December 24, 2012, when a house fire was set in Webster, New York and the firefighters who responded were ambushed by a William H. Spengler. The incident resulted in the deaths of two firefighters and the injuries of two others. In the aftermath and redress, a coalition of community agencies and organizations in the Rochester area responded to the needs of the families of the firefighters. Slaughter recognized a requirement for additional assistance and sponsored the bill now known as the Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2013 (H.R. 3458). It was introduced to the House on November 12, 2013. After it passed the House and went to the Senate, it was subsequently signed into law almost a year to the date of the incident. The bill offered a tax exemption to charitable organizations supporting the families of any first fighter who was either killed or injured on duty. This bill, like many other causes championed by Slaughter, went directly toward solving the issues and problems that had a direct impact on the lives of her constituents.

One of the highlights of her long career in Congress was the assignment of the Rules Committee in 1989, where she then became its chair in 2006, and served in that capacity until 2011. It was a powerful seat in congress, and it is stated that she used it to the full extent to work tirelessly on the behalf of her constituency. One of her Republican colleagues noted, “She brings a quick-wit and liveliness to the Rules Committee and Capitol Hill, and members on both sides of the aisle respect her for her commitment to her work and her enthusiastic advocacy.” She also cared about how government operated and the ethical ramifications of how decisions were made and sought to improve upon the quality of the work they did as representative of the people. Slaughter either lobbied for or was assigned to several other committees and caucuses, including the Budget Committee, the Government Operations Committee, the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, the Public Works and Transportation Committee, the Select Committee on Aging, and the Select Committee on Homeland Security, among others. As is consistent among other members of congress, it is through committee work that the majority of the work of congress is done—issues that do not pass the criteria as set by specific committees do not come to the floor for a vote. Her service on these committees allowed her to extend her reach and solidify and mobilize her agenda.

Slaughter chaired and co-chaired the Congressional Arts Caucus for twenty-three years. The Arts Caucus is a bipartisan organization of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives with the chief responsibility of informing others of the influence of the arts and to support various measures toward improving upon the ways in which arts, culture, and the humanities may impact upon the public. While Slaughter supported the arts for many reasons, chief among them was Rochester is “a community rich in artistic talent” and benefits greatly from such support, most especially the Eastman School of Music. Consequently, the benefits and impact of the arts as she had come to know coalesced with another concern—health and medicine. As researchers were developing various art therapies and other tools to treat persons who faced some form of trauma in their lives, Slaughter fought to ensure that congressional support was guaranteed. Among her many achievements is the amendment to increase the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) by $10M and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by $3.5M.

Slaughter rose to leadership in the Democratic Party early in her career in Congress, and over the three decades that she served, she received deep consideration and respect from her colleagues. At the time of her death, she was the oldest and longest service member of the Congress. As a liberal, she stood out among many and left a legislative legacy to be celebrated and defended.