Representative Edward J. Markey, Congress of the United States

Edward J. Markey has constructed an extraordinary legislative record since his first election to the United States Congress in 1976. As the highest Ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection, he has shaped more than 20 years of telecommunications policy while continuing to champion consumer rights, health reform, the elimination of large monopolies, the conservation of environmental resources and the reduction of nuclear threats. Rep. Markey is consistently rated as a "legislative hero" by the Conservation Law Foundation, the Consumer Federation of America, the Children's Defense Fund and the National Education Association. His legislative record spans the breadth of Congressional policymaking, as befits a national leader with a commitment to a district which includes both blue-collar and high-tech suburbs north and west of downtown Boston.

Competition remains Rep. Markey's economic mantra - in his words, "ruthless Darwinian competition that would bring a smile to Adam Smith." Accordingly, he has been instrumental in breaking up anti-consumer, anti-innovative monopolies in electricity, long-distance and local telephone service, cable television, and international satellite services. He was one of the only members of the Commerce Committee to fight AT&T's monopoly in the early 80s and is a principal author of the requirement that the Bell Operating companies accept local telephone service in the 90s. His pro-competition policies have directly benefited job creation in Eastern Massachusetts and throughout the country. In the 106th Congress, Rep. Markey remains very active on telecommunications issues, generating new sources of effective competition to cable TV franchises, local telephone operators, and satellite services. Meanwhile, he is pressing for an "Electronic Privacy Bill of Rights" and has introduced major initiatives on both medical and financial privacy. As a member of the Budget Committee, he is a Democratic point-person on Social Security and Medicare, and he recently formed a bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease to get in front of this looming demographic reality affecting so many of our families.

Ed Markey was born in Malden, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1946. He attended Boston College (B.A., 1968) and Boston College Law School (J.D., 1972). He served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was elected to the Massachusetts State House where he served two terms representing Malden and Melrose. He is married to Dr. Susan Blumenthal.

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