Senator Jim Jeffords

Senator Jim Jeffords of Shrewsbury, (Republican), Independent, was born in Rutland, Vermont on May 11, 1934. He was educated in the Rutland Public Schools; Yale University (B.S. Industrial Administration, 1956); Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1962). He served three years active duty in the U.S. Navy (1956-59) and is currently a Captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He is married to Elizabeth Daley and has a son and daughter. In 1962, he was a law clerk with Judge Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. U.S. District Court. In 1966-67 he was president, Young Lawyers Section, Vermont Bar Association and in 1973-75, National Director of the American Judicare Society. Jeffords served in the Vermont Senate from Rutland County, 1967-68 and was Vermont Attorney General, 1969-73. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and served until 1989. While in the House he was ranking Republican on the Education and Labor Committee and served on the Agriculture Committee and Select Committee on Aging. He was chairman of the House Environmental Study Conference, 1978-79; co-founder of the Congressional Solar Coalition and the Congressional Arts Caucus. Jeffords was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988 and serves on Labor and Human Resources Committee, the Environmental and Public Works Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, and on Veterans Affairs.

He is ranking Republican of the Labor Subcommittee and serves on the subcommittees on Education, Arts, and Humanities; Handicapped; Environmental Protection; Water Resources, Transportation & Infrastructure; and Toxic Substances, Environmental Oversight, and R&D