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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Kennelly, Barbara Bailey (b. 1936)

Democrat Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 12, 1982 to January 3, 1999. Kennelly held a number of firsts in Congress: she was the first woman to serve on the House Committee on Intelligence, the first woman to serve as a Chief Deputy Majority Whip, and the first woman vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in the 104th and 105th Congresses (1995-1999). She also held the leadership position of House Democratic Chief Deputy Whip in the 102nd and 103rd Congresses (1991-1995).

Kennelly began her political career on the Hartford Court of Common Council, where she served from 1975 to 1979. She was Connecticut Secretary of State from 1979 to 1982. When the incumbent member of Congress died in office, she won the special election to fill the vacancy. Once in Congress, Kennelly passed a measure in 1984 that provided assistance in collecting court-ordered child support, worked on energy and mass transportation policies, and sponsored a balanced budget measure. She supported child protection programs, foster care, and health care for children. She championed the earned income tax credit, which increases take-home pay for low-income families. An increase in the standard deductions for the elderly and the blind, and the Hate Crimes Statistics Act are based upon legislation Kennelly introduced.

Instead of seeking another congressional term, Kennelly ran for governor of Connecticut in 1998 and lost. She served in President Bill Clinton’s administration as Associate Commissioner and Counselor to the Commissioner at the Social Security Administration. She became president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare in 2002.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Kennelly grew up in a political family. Her father was John Bailey, a Connecticut party boss and chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the 1960s. She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., in 1958; a certificate in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1959; and her master’s degree in government from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1973.

See also: Child Support Enforcement; Congress, Women in

References: “Barbara Kennelly,” http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=129 (accessed July 24, 2012); Congress Daily, April 8, 2002; Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1996 (1995); The New York Times, February 14, 1999.

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MLA 9th
"Kennelly, Barbara Bailey (b. 1936)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0521.
APA 7th
Kennelly, Barbara Bailey (b. 1936). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0521.
CMOS 17th
"Kennelly, Barbara Bailey (b. 1936)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0521.