Schneider, Claudine (1947–)
Schneider, Claudine (1947–)
American politician. Born Claudine Cmarada in Clairton, Pennsylvania, Mar 25, 1947; attended University of Barcelona, Spain, and Rosemont College in Pennsylvania; Windham College, BA, 1969; attended University of Rhode Island School of Community Planning; fellow at Harvard University Institute of Politics, 1990s.
US congressional representative (1981–1990), founded Rhode Island Committee on Energy (1973); became executive director of Conservation Law Foundation (1974) and was named federal coordinator of Rhode Island Coastal Management Program (1978); produced and hosted a public affairs tv program in Providence; elected to US House of Representatives (1981), the 1st Republican elected from heavily Democratic Rhode Island in more than 40 years; served on Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, on the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and Select Committee on Aging; sometimes took progressive stands at odds with party; was a key player in the effort to stop construction of a controversial nuclear power project, the Clinch River reactor, and worked to ban ocean dumping of medical waste and industrial byproducts; introduced legislation to establish a national energy policy aimed at reduction of greenhouse gas emissions believed to contribute to global warming (1989); after losing election (1990), became a member of the faculty of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
See also Women in World History.