Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
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ABOUT THE CHAIRWOMAN
Dr. Judy Chu was elected in July 2009 and became the first Chinese-American woman to serve
in the U.S. Congress. She became Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
(CAPAC) in February 2011.
Dr. Judy Chu was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 32nd District in July 2009 and is
the first Chinese-American woman to serve in Congress. She was elected as Chair of the Congressional
Asian Pacific American Caucus in February of 2011.
In the 112th Congress, Rep. Chu serves on the House Judiciary Committee, where she is a member of the
Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security and the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
subcommittees. She is also a member of the House Small Business Committee, where she is leading the
Contracting and Workforce Subcommittee as the Ranking Democrat and serves on the Economic Growth, Tax
and Capital Access and Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittees.
In addition to her vote in favor of passage of the historic health care reform bill, Rep. Chu has championed a
number of causes in Congress. She has used her extensive experience as a legislator and educator to help
improve our nation’s education system, helping pass a landmark college affordability bill to boost federal
college grants and keep student loan interest rates low. Last year, she also introduced a bill that would
maintain adequate federal funding for much needed school lunch programs. She has also unveiled a new
framework for awarding School Improvement Grants called Strengthening Our Schools (SOS), which provides
a more holistic and research-based alternative to the more punitive and overly restrictive guidelines currently
used.
She has continued to work hard to help Americans emerge from the Great Recession, co-sponsoring a bill that
would extend and expand the enormously successful Jobs NOW program, which uses federal stimulus funds
to subsidize jobs at the local level and has already resulted in more than 11,000 jobs in Los Angeles County
alone.
Congresswoman Chu is also a strong advocate for effective, humane and progressive immigration reform,
having been an original co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR-ASAP) bill introduced by
Rep. Luis Gutierrez last year.
Congresswoman Chu began her career as an educator and taught psychology at Los Angeles City College
and East Los Angeles College for 20 years. She was first elected to the Garvey School District Board of
Education over 24 years ago.
She was then elected to the Monterey Park City Council, where she served as Mayor 3 times. From there, she
was elected to the California State Assembly, where she was Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee,
which has control over all legislation with a fiscal impact to the state. While in the Assembly, she introduced
and helped pass the most successful tax amnesty bill in the nation, which was estimated to bring in $300
million but actually brought in $4.8 billion in revenue for the state budget without raising taxes. She was then
elected to the State Board of Equalization, California’s tax board.
Rep. Chu earned her B.A. in mathematics from UCLA and her Ph.D. in psychology from the California School of
Professional Psychology.
Dr. Judy Chu was elected in July 2009 and became the first Chinese-American woman to serve
in the U.S. Congress. She became Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
(CAPAC) in February 2011.
Dr. Judy Chu was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 32nd District in July 2009 and is
the first Chinese-American woman to serve in Congress. She was elected as Chair of the Congressional
Asian Pacific American Caucus in February of 2011.
In the 112th Congress, Rep. Chu serves on the House Judiciary Committee, where she is a member of the
Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security and the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
subcommittees. She is also a member of the House Small Business Committee, where she is leading the
Contracting and Workforce Subcommittee as the Ranking Democrat and serves on the Economic Growth, Tax
and Capital Access and Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittees.
In addition to her vote in favor of passage of the historic health care reform bill, Rep. Chu has championed a
number of causes in Congress. She has used her extensive experience as a legislator and educator to help
improve our nation’s education system, helping pass a landmark college affordability bill to boost federal
college grants and keep student loan interest rates low. Last year, she also introduced a bill that would
maintain adequate federal funding for much needed school lunch programs. She has also unveiled a new
framework for awarding School Improvement Grants called Strengthening Our Schools (SOS), which provides
a more holistic and research-based alternative to the more punitive and overly restrictive guidelines currently
used.
She has continued to work hard to help Americans emerge from the Great Recession, co-sponsoring a bill that
would extend and expand the enormously successful Jobs NOW program, which uses federal stimulus funds
to subsidize jobs at the local level and has already resulted in more than 11,000 jobs in Los Angeles County
alone.
Congresswoman Chu is also a strong advocate for effective, humane and progressive immigration reform,
having been an original co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR-ASAP) bill introduced by
Rep. Luis Gutierrez last year.
Congresswoman Chu began her career as an educator and taught psychology at Los Angeles City College
and East Los Angeles College for 20 years. She was first elected to the Garvey School District Board of
Education over 24 years ago.
She was then elected to the Monterey Park City Council, where she served as Mayor 3 times. From there, she
was elected to the California State Assembly, where she was Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee,
which has control over all legislation with a fiscal impact to the state. While in the Assembly, she introduced
and helped pass the most successful tax amnesty bill in the nation, which was estimated to bring in $300
million but actually brought in $4.8 billion in revenue for the state budget without raising taxes. She was then
elected to the State Board of Equalization, California’s tax board.
Rep. Chu earned her B.A. in mathematics from UCLA and her Ph.D. in psychology from the California School of
Professional Psychology.