113th Congress: Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz. (1st District)

By Jacqueline Linnane, CQ Staff

Kirkpatrick is no stranger to the game, having previously served one term in the House. Her main priority during the 113th Congress is a popular one: jobs.

She proposes increasing opportunities by designating the Sedona Red Rocks as a national scenic area, giving a boost to Arizona’s already large tourism industry. She also believes the threat of wildfires can help create jobs; she wants to seek opinions from the Forest Service, environmental groups and the timber industry in creating policy.

Kirkpatrick’s third priority for increasing, or at least maintaining, jobs is prohibiting uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. “I have been a champion of a permanent ban on uranium mining at the Grand Canyon, because the canyon itself brings 12,000 jobs to the area with an economic impact of $700 million,” she says.

During her previous term, Kirkpatrick, in collaboration with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, led successful efforts to repeal a law known as the “Bennett Freeze,” which was an impediment to economic growth on Native American reservations that prevented even simple expansion of the use of electricity and running water. Kirkpatrick hopes to go further this time around by boosting basic infrastructure development.

Raised in the midst of Indian country — her parents ran a general store in Whiteriver, in the middle of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation — Kirkpatrick says the first words she uttered as a child were in Apache.