Adam Schiff

Early life, education, and career

Schiff was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, son of Edward and Sherrill Ann (Glovsky) Schiff. He was raised in a Jewish family, and moved to Danville, California during high school. He received a political science degree from Stanford University and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

After receiving his JD from Harvard, Schiff began working as a prosecutor in the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office. While an assistant U.S. Attorney, he gained attention by prosecuting a case against Richard Miller, a former FBI agent convicted of "passing secret documents to the Soviet Union in exchange for a promised $65,000 in gold and cash." The first time Miller was tried, it resulted in a hung jury; the second time, it resulted in a conviction overturned on appeal, and the third time he was convicted.

California State Senate

Schiff was elected to the California State Senate in 1996, after two unsuccessful attempts. He chaired that body's judiciary committee during his one term.

During his tenure in the state senate, Schiff authored Senate Bill 1847, Chapter 1021. Signed into law in 1998, this created the Pasadena Blue Line Authority, which continued work on the stalled then-Blue Line light rail extension to Pasadena, which would later be named the Gold Line instead.

U.S. House of Representatives

Schiff is currently serving his ninth term in Congress.

2003 invasion of Iraq

Schiff voted in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He later said in an interview with CNN: "I have voted in favor of the war in Iraq, and I regret now because it turned out that the intelligence information that we have about the weapons of mass destruction of Saddam Hussein's regime is incorrect, resulting in the catastrophic repercussions and hope it does not happen again."

Armenian genocide

Schiff has been a leading voice in Armenian-American issues; he claims to have over 70,000 Armenian-Americans in his district. He has strongly pushed for signing of the U.S. House Resolution 106 recognizing the Armenian Genocide. On October 11, 2007, the resolution sponsored by Schiff was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Turkey's prime minister said that approval of the resolution would endanger U.S.-Turkey relations. The resolution was again approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4, 2010 by a 23-22 margin. He continues to reintroduce the resolution each subsequent Congress.

Campaign finance reform

After the Supreme Court struck down campaign finance reform legislation in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission cases, Schiff introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn both decisions, H.J.Res 31, drafted by Harvard Law School Constitutional scholar Laurence H. Tribe.

Helicopter noise

Beginning with Rep. Howard Berman before Berman was defeated for reelection, Schiff has worked on reducing unwanted helicopter noise across Los Angeles County by proposing legislation to force the FAA to study and regulate helicopter noise in Los Angeles, the Helicopter Noise Relief Act. After reintroducing his legislation, Schiff has worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein to push the FAA to act, and together they attached a provision in the 2014 omnibus appropriations package directing the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and FAA to address helicopter noise in Los Angeles County skies. The FAA has announced that it will create a county-wide helicopter noise public complaint system, the first step towards regulation.

Intelligence and surveillance reform

Schiff has been a prominent supporter of surveillance reforms, especially in the wake of the leaks of classified intelligence by Edward Snowden. In 2007, in response to disclosure of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, Schiff and Rep. Jeff Flake offered a successful amendment in the House of Representatives to clarify that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is the exclusive means for collecting foreign intelligence information within the United States. Schiff has been a critic of the bulk collection of telephone metadata by the National Security Agency. In January 2014, Schiff introduced the Telephone Metadata Reform Act, which would prohibit the bulk collection of domestic phone records. Schiff has also introduced several bills aimed at reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including a bill to require outside counsel to be appointed to argue for privacy and civil liberties protections in certain cases before the Court.

Investigation of Benghazi attack

Schiff was appointed to the House Select Committee on Benghazi in 2014 by Nancy Pelosi to serve as one of the five Democrats on the Committee. Schiff had participated in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigation into the attacks on the Benghazi diplomatic compound, which found that the initial talking points provided by the intelligence community were flawed but without an intention to deceive, and that diplomatic facilities across the world lacked adequate security. The report's findings were unanimous and bipartisan. Before he was appointed as a Member of the Benghazi Select Committee, Schiff called the establishment of a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack a "colossal waste of time," and said Democratic leaders should not appoint any members, stating: "I think it's just a tremendous red herring and a waste of taxpayer resources." Despite those reservations, he still accepted an appointment to the Committee because if he felt he "could add value, [he] would serve."

Press freedom

Schiff formed the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Caucus for the Freedom of the Press in 2006 aimed at advancing press freedom around the world. The Caucus proposed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act and it was originally introduced to Congress by Schiff and Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.) and by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) on October 1, 2009 in response to the murder of Daniel Pearl by terrorists in Pakistan. The legislation requires the United States Department of State to expand its scrutiny of news media intimidation and freedom of the press restrictions during its annual report on human rights in each country. After its introduction, the act passed through the House of Representatives with a vote of 403 to 12 and passed unanimously in the Senate; however, a provision requiring the Secretary of State (in coordination with the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and in consultation with the Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy) to establish a grant program aiming to promote freedom of the press worldwide was removed in the Senate. On May 17, 2010 President Barack Obama, accompanied by the Pearl family, signed into law the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act.

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen

In 2015, Schiff supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, saying: "The military action by Saudi Arabia and its partners was necessitated by the illegal action of the Houthi rebels and their Iranian backers. ... But ultimately, a negotiated end to this crisis is the only way to restore order in Yemen and shrink the space for terrorism."

War authorization reform and authorization against ISIS

After the President's speech at the National Defense University examining the U.S. war powers during the War on Terror, Schiff introduced bipartisan legislation to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, the legislation passed in the days after the September 11 attacks to combat Al Qaeda, because he felt that "the current AUMF is outdated and straining at the edges to justify the use of force outside the war theater." The bill, introduced with Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), was intended to sunset. In addition to his legislation, Schiff has been a forceful proponent of debating and voting on a new war authorization against ISIS.

Trump-Russia collusion allegations

On April 2, 2017, when CNN's Jake Tapper asked Schiff if there was evidence of Donald Trump–Russia collusion, Schiff replied: "I don't think we can say anything definitively at this point." On July 23, 2017, on "Meet the Press", Schiff stated, "at the end of the day we need to make sure that our president is operating not in his personal best interests and not because he's worried about what the Russians might have but because what he is doing is in America's best interest. The fact that we have questions about this is in itself harmful." On July 24, 2017, President Trump referred to Schiff on Twitter as "sleazy" and "totally biased" in regard to Schiff's role in the Russian collusion investigation. Representative Schiff responded on Twitter that the president's "comments and actions are beneath the dignity of the office."

Committee assignments

Caucuses

2000

In 2000, Schiff challenged Republican incumbent Jim Rogan in what was then the 27th District. The district had once been a Republican stronghold, but had been trending Democratic since the early 1990s. In what was the most expensive House race ever at the time (several elections in 2006 and 2008 later eclipsed it), Schiff unseated Rogan, taking 53 percent of the vote to Rogan's 44 percent. He became only the second Democrat to represent this district since its creation in 1913.

After the 2000 census, the district was renumbered as the 29th and made significantly more Democratic. As a result, Schiff has never faced another contest nearly as close as his 2000 bid, and has been reelected eight times. His district became even more Democratic after the 2010 census, when it was renumbered as the 28th and pushed into Los Angeles itself.

2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016

In 2010, Schiff defeated Tea Party backed Republican John Colbert for a 6th term. In 2012, he defeated Republican Phil Jennerjahn. In 2014, he defeated independent candidate Steve Stokes. In 2016, he defeated Republican candidate Lenore Solis.

Personal life

Schiff lives in Burbank, California with his wife Eve Marion (née Sanderson) and two children, Alexa and Elijah.

Schiff has participated in multiple endurance challenges including triathlons and marathons. Schiff was the only Congressman to participate in the inaugural Washington, D.C. triathlon in 2010, and has since participated in other races in Philadelphia, New York City and Malibu. In 2014, Schiff became the first Member of Congress to participate in the AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day charity bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise awareness and funding to fight HIV and AIDS. The tour includes up to 2,500 bicyclists and more than 500 support crew participants who cycle or crew to raise funds for HIV/AIDS services & raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.