Congressional Action Days: Speakers

Hear from Top Political Insiders

Donna Brazile

Democratic National Committee
Presidential Campaign Manager for Vice President Al Gore

Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is vice chair of voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee and the former chair of the DNC's Voting Rights Institute. She has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore.

Brazile is a syndicated newspaper and magazine columnist and author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics. She is also an on-air contributor to CNN, NPR, and ABC, where she regularly appears on This Week. Brazile has been named one of the most powerful women in America by publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine, Washingtonian and Essence.

Dana Perino

Fox News
White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush

As White House Press Secretary from 2007-2009, Dana Perino was one of the most widely respected members of President George W. Bush's senior staff. She is skilled at communicating key messages under stressful conditions.

Currently a Fox News contributor and co-host of The Five, the channel's daily political news show, Perino also is president of the strategic communications firm Dana Perino and Company. She is an expert on healthcare, energy policy, and the position of female leaders in government and business. Perino also is a frequent public speaker about how politics affects people outside the beltway.

Norman J. Ornstein

American Enterprise Institute
America's Preeminent Congressional Scholar

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an election analyst for CBS News. He also writes the weekly column "Congress Inside Out," for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, and has written for many major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He is also seen regularly on programs such as ABC News' Nightline and PBS's Charlie Rose and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

He has written numerous books on congressional issues such as campaign reform, health policy and the national debt. Ornstein is co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.

Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-5-Ore.)

U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Schrader currently serves as a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, House Committee on Small Business and serves as ranking member of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Finance and Tax. Schrader also chairs the Blue Dog's Taskforce on Fiscal Responsibility and the New Democrat Coalition's Health Care Reform Taskforce.

A farmer, veterinarian and small business owner for over thirty years, Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-5-Ore.) currently is serving his second term in the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, House Committee on Small Business and serves as ranking member of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Finance and Tax. Schrader also chairs the Blue Dog's Taskforce on Fiscal Responsibility and the New Democrat Coalition's Health Care Reform Taskforce.

Elected to the Oregon State House of Representatives in 1996, Schrader served as a member of the Joint Ways & Means Committee. In 2001, Congressman Schrader was one of 5 legislators asked by their peers to guide Oregon through the worst budget crisis since the depression. In 2003, he was elected to the Oregon State Senate and was immediately appointed to chair the Joint Ways & Means Committee. He continued to serve in that capacity until he was elected to Congress in 2008.

LTG (Ret.) Daniel Christman

U.S. Chamber of Congress

As senior counselor to the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, LTG (Ret.) Daniel W. Christman, is responsible for advising the Chamber’s senior leadership on national security and international issues affecting the business community. He previously served as senior vice president for International Affairs at the Chamber. A career military officer who retired from active duty in 2001, Christman served five years as the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He also served for two years as assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during which time he traveled with and advised Secretary of State Warren Christopher and was centrally involved with negotiations between Israel and Syria as a member of the Secretary’s Middle East Peace Team. Christman also represented the United States as a member of NATO’s Military Committee in Brussels.