Congressman George Miller (D-California, 7th Congressional District)

Congressman George Miller is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. He is a leading advocate in Congress on education, labor, the  economy, and the environment. He has represented the 7th District of California in the East Bay of San Francisco since 1975. His district includes portions of Contra Costa and Solano counties, including Richmond, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Benicia and Vacaville. He is a life-long Democrat and Californian.

Miller holds a number of important positions in Congress. He is a member of the Democratic Leadership, serving at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s direction as chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee. In that role he helps Democrats to develop and articulate a wide range of policies of benefit to all Americans.

Miller was elected by his colleagues in January 2007 as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, a panel he has served on since first coming to Congress and where he served as the Senior Democrat since 2001. Miller also sits on the House Natural Resources Committee, one of Congress’ primary committees overseeing the environment, energy and public lands. He was chairman of that Committee from 1991 to 1994 and the senior Democrat until 2000.

Among Miller's top priorities in Congress are strengthening America’s economy and creating good jobs that stay in this country, protecting Americans’ retirement and health benefits, furthering innovation in technology, science and education, making college more affordable and k-12 public schools more successful. Miller’s bill to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, H.R. 2, was one of the first bills passed by the new Democratically-led Congress and signed into law.

Miller is the author of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the single largest expansion of federal financial aid for college since the GI Bill. The bill was passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President Bush this year. The new law cuts interest rates on Stafford Loans in half, increases Pell grants, and provides loan forgiveness to qualified public service employees with student loan debt.

Miller has been a vocal critic of President Bush’s war in Iraq and in 2002 voted against the war resolution. He supports responsibly redeploying American forces out of Iraq as soon as possible and concentrating military, intelligence, and diplomatic efforts on stopping terrorism.

Miller was one of the four original congressional authors of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. He is leading the effort to reauthorize the law to make it more fair, flexible, and better funded, while adhering to the law’s key goals of accountability, high standards, and improved student achievement.

Miller is an expert on California water issues. In 1992, he passed and enacted into law the historic California water reform law, known as the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. He also co-authored with Senator Dianne Feinstein the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. Miller has a long history of other legislative achievements on a wide range of education, labor, and environmental issues.

George Miller was born in Richmond, CA, on May 17, 1945 and lives in Martinez. He graduated from Diablo Valley Community College, San Francisco State University, and earned his law degree from the University of California, Davis, Law School. He served on the staff of then-State Senate Majority Leader George Moscone in Sacramento. He is married to Cynthia Caccavo Miller, a lifelong resident of Contra Costa County. They have two sons, George and Stephen, and five grandchildren.