ABOUT BETTY

Before she was elected to Congress, Betty McCollum grew up the daughter of a flight attendant and a World War II veteran in South St. Paul, and graduated from South St. Paul High School. Upon graduating from St. Catherine University with a B.A. in education, Betty worked as a social studies teacher and in retail at Sears and Dayton’s. After her daughter suffered a serious injury while playing on a slide at a North St. Paul park, Betty made it her mission to improve park safety, which inspired her to run for the North St. Paul City Council and serve for six years on the Council. In 1992, Betty was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives and served four terms during which she passed legislation to improve school bus safety, provide bonuses for Gulf War veterans, and proudly voted for the landmark Minnesota Human Rights Act to protect Minnesotans of all backgrounds from discrimination.

In Congress, Betty is the Dean of the Minnesota Congressional Delegation and serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. On the Appropriations Committee, Betty serves as the Ranking Member on the Defense Subcommittee, where she supports responsible, accountable investments to ensure a strong and smart approach to deterring adversaries and supporting our allies and our service members. She is also a senior member on the Interior-Environment Subcommittee, where she works to protect federal funding for our national parks, public lands, the arts & humanities, and tribal nations. As Minnesota’s sole member of the Appropriations Committee in Congress, Betty is uniquely positioned to secure billions in federal funding each year for projects, programs, and services that save lives, create jobs, boost economic security, improve our infrastructure, and grow our local economy.

Betty has been an outspoken champion for protecting and preserving our environment. Betty is the most prominent advocate in Congress for permanently protecting Minnesota’s Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore copper mining through her introduction of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Protection and Pollution Prevention Act. She has also introduced legislation in Congress to coordinate efforts to protect the Mississippi River and to expand animal cruelty protections for cold-blooded animals.

Betty is a mother to two children and a proud grandmother to two grandsons. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.