Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY, 25th) passed away unexpectedly on Friday morning. She had been receiving treatment for a concussion after falling at her home.
Slaughter, 88, was the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee and was the first woman to serve as chair of that panel when the Democrats controlled the House from 2007-2011, during which time the House passed the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law.
The congresswoman was well-known for championing women’s and manufacturing rights; she was also a microbiologist with a master’s degree in public health and led a charge to regulate the use of antibiotics in raising livestock.
Slaughter was born in Kentucky and moved to western New York in the 1950s; she was first elected to Congress in 1986 to represent the Rochester area.