Veteran Democrat George Miller to retire
California Rep. George Miller, Nancy Pelosi’s strong right arm and one of the top Democratic legislators of his generation, is stepping down at the end of this year after four decades in Congress.
Miller informed Pelosi, the Democratic leader, of his decision last Wednesday and began telling personal staff Monday morning in advance of a public announcement in his Bay Area home district.
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Miller’s decision is a personal loss for Pelosi and is sure to be seen as a blow to Democrats. But Miller said his retirement has everything to do with having reached the 40-year mark in Congress and is no reflection on his party’s chances of regaining power in the House in November.
“I’ve immense confidence in her,” he said of Pelosi. “I am energized by our freshman class, their diversity, their enthusiasm. This decision is about me having been here 40 years. I am comfortable that it is the right time.”
In a short interview, Miller downplayed the significance of his leaving. ““I was never in awe of the `indispensable man’ theory,” he joked. “I tried that once on my high school football coach. And I sat on the bench for most of the year.”
Nonetheless his retirement leaves a big hole to fill.
“I was never in awe of the `indispensable man’ theory,” he joked in a short interview. “I tried that
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WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 01: U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) (L) speaks as House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R) and Leslie Boyd (2nd L) of Candler, North Carolina, who has lost her son to cancer, listen during a ceremony October 1, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Senate and House Democrats held a ceremony to mark the launch of the Affordable Care Act. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
U.S. Congressman George Miller, a senior Democrat from California who has long championed education system, labor, health and the protection of natural resources, announced on Monday that he will not seek a 21st term in the House this fall.
“This is a great institution and I cannot thank my family and my constituents enough for having given me the honor and privilege of representing my district in Congress these past 40 years,” the 68-year-old Miller said on his website. ““I will leave Congress with a full heart and a crowded plate, because the challenges of our times demand our constant involvement. We’ve made progress on many fronts but have a lot of work still to do."
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi immediately issued a statement of her own: "For 40 years in the House, George Miller has been the model of the serious, substantive and successful legislator. In the majority, as chairman of three committees, and in the minority as well, he has written some of the most creative legislation of our time...Now the Dean of California's congressional delegation, George has always drawn a special inspiration from the creativity and innovativeness that is so crucial to our home state."
Miller, who represents Contra Costa County, was first elected in 1974 at age 29 as the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal were coming to a close, he collaborated on writing major laws over the years with other congressional leaders as divergent as the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy and Republican Speaker John Boehner. A longtime supporter and advisor to Democratic Leader and
WASHINGTON -- Democrat George Miller of California, a top adviser to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Monday that he will retire from Congress after 20 terms.
Miller is one of the last members from the 1974 Watergate class of lawmakers elected to Congress in the wake of the scandal that toppled Richard Nixon's administration.
An unabashed liberal who supports labor and the environment, Miller is the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee and a former chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
In an interview Sunday with the Contra Costa Times, Miller said it was time to leave the House and his district based in San Francisco's East Bay communities of Richmond and Concord. Miller began informing his staff of his decision on Monday morning, ahead of his formal news conference.
"About a year ago, my sons started saying, 'C'mon, Dad, it's been 40 years!," Miller told the Contra Costa Times. "It got me thinking about what I have accomplished in partnership with my staff in the past 40 years. I can look back on our body of work and be very proud of it."
In a statement, Miller said he was "proud" of his accomplishments "on behalf of children, working people and the environment, in my district and for our country." Among those achievements, he said, was pushing for President Obama's health care law. He also played an instrumental role in passage of No Child Left Behind, the
