HR3590 Health Care Bill & Government Health Insurance

Rep. Earl Blumenauer is the representative of the 3rd District of Oregon, and is one of the co-sponsors of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

He was born on August 16, 1948, in Portland, Oregon, and finished high school at the Centennial High School in 1966. He attended Lewis & Clark College after high school, earning a bachelor of arts degree, majoring in political science, in 1970. He then went on to attend the Northwestern School of Law (formerly the Lewis & Clark Law School), earning a Juris Doctor degree in 1976. While working on his degree at Northwestern, Blumenauer worked as an assistant to the President of Portland State University.

Rep. Blumenauer served in the Oregon House of Representatives after being elected in 1972, as a Democrat representing District 11 in Multnomah County. He was re-elected in 1974 and in 1976, and served as the representative of Portland and Multnomah County until 1979. He also served on the Board of Portland Community College from 1975 to 1981, and was elected as Commissioner of Multnomah County. He was a member of the governing board of the county from 1979 to 1987.

He served on the Portland City Council from 1987 until 1996, and was appointed by Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt to the commission on higher education, which he served in 1990 and 1991.

Rep. Blumenauer eventually made a bid for a seat in Congress and was elected in 1996, filling the seat vacated by his predecessor, Ron Wyden, who had been elected to the Senate.