LEVIN, SANDER

LEVIN, SANDER (1931– ), U.S. congressman. Levin was born in Detroit. He graduated from Detroit's Central High School and then went to the University of Chicago for his B.A., Columbia University for an M.A. in International Relations, and Harvard Law School. Levin represented Oakland County for six years in the Michigan State Senate and was minority leader in 1969–70, his final year in the Senate. Levin ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan in 1970 and 1974, narrowly losing both contests. During the Carter Administration he worked with the Agency for International Development before being elected to Congress in 1982. He was the ranking minority member of the Trade Subcommittee, where he used his standing to protect the American auto industry. Levin served on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over all tax, trade, and economic growth policies, and entitlement spending, including Social Security, Medicare, welfare, and unemployment compensation. He was the ranking Democrat on the Social Security Subcommittee. He also served on the Trade subcommittee. He was known as a leader on trade issues – seeking ways to use trade policy to shape globalization. He persistently challenged unfair trade practices that threaten U.S. manufacturers and U.S. job issues that are important to Michigan's threatened automobile manufacturing industry. He also worked on a variety of health care issues from children's health care, transitional Medicaid, and mental health. He was a leader on welfare reform issues and the federal unemployment insurance program and introduced legislation to include preventive services in Medicare, and to create a national public service campaign for gynecological cancer. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Sandy Maisel and I. Forman, Jews in American Politics (2001). (Michael Berenbaum (2nd ed.)