Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman (D)

Florida, Fifth Congressional District

Congresswoman Karen Thurman, representing Florida's 5th District, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 3, 1992. She was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote in 1994 and 62 percent in 1996.
Shortly after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Florida in 1973, Thurman began her extensive teaching career. For nine years, Thurman taught math at Dunnellon Middle School. At the urging of her students, Thurman sought and won a seat on the Dunnellon City Council and eventually served as the town's mayor.
In 1982, when she won election to the Florida Senate. In 1988, she became the first woman in history to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her other chairmanships included the Committee on Professional Regulation and the Committee on Parimutuel Regulation.
On November 21, 1996, Thurman was named to the House Ways and Means Committee, becoming only the sixth woman to serve in the 200-year history of the committee.
In the 104th Congress, Thurman served on the Agriculture and Government Reform and Oversight Committees. On the Reform and Oversight Committee, Thurman was the ranking Member on the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice.
Thurman has been recognized for her work on behalf of seniors, veterans and working families. She has championed ways to reduce the size of government and free business from needless regulations. Thurman was instrumental in the passage of the Line Item Veto, has pushed to have federal agencies apply the concepts of risk assessment and cost benefit analysis to their decisions, and voted to lift the burden of unfunded federal mandates from state and local governments.
Thurman has also been a strong advocate for the State of Florida. She has secured more than $35 million to help solve area water problems and fought to prevent oil drilling off Florida's coast. Thurman has also led the fight to change federal funding formulas that shortchange Florida's seniors, veterans and poor residents and for federal reimbursement for the cost of absorbing immigrants. Another Thurman initiative, requiring the federal government to assume the financial responsibility for criminal aliens, was made part of the 1994 House Crime Bill.
Karen Thurman was born on January 12, 1951, in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is married to John Thurman. They have two children, McLin and Liberty Lee, and make their home in Dunnellon, Florida.