Homeland Security Chairman Christopher Cox Addresses Roundtable -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 6 -- March 13, 2003

Rep. Chris Cox (Newport Beach) spoke on Tuesday, March 11 at a Golden State Roundtable luncheon hosted by the California State Society for the League of California Cities during its annual conference in Washington. Rep. Cox was introduced by Rep. George Radanovich (Mariposa), who is co-chair of the State Society with Rep. Sam Farr (Carmel).

Congressman Cox provided details on California's status as a donor state to the federal government, a focus area for the California Institute over the years. In 2001, California taxpayers sent $47 billion more to the federal government than the state received back in federal expenditures for grants, contracts, salaries and payments to individuals. Rep. Cox stressed that the cities, the state and other Californians need to work together develop strategies to change that burden.

The Congressman also stated that he supported the Administration's proposal to stimulate economic growth through a tax cut. He was especially supportive of the proposal to eliminate the tax on dividends as a way of promoting long-term investment and growing the nation's economy.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, as well as Harvard's Law and Business Schools, Christopher Cox served as a U.S. Court of Appeals clerk and as a partner at the law firm of Latham and Watkins before coming to Washington as a Senior Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, he won election to the House in a 14-person primary. He has served on the critical Energy and Commerce Committee and as Chairman of the House Policy Committee, where he is the House's fourth ranking Republican behind Speaker Dennis Hastert.

In January 2003, Rep. Cox was named chair of the newly-formed Committee on Homeland Security. He told the audience that he was working with the administration to ensure that federal funding for first responders be distributed to local governments as soon as possible.

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic faxed bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill which directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods. The e-mail edition is made possible in part by in kind donations from Sun Microsystems and IBM Corp.

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