Louisa Terrell (born August 17, 1969)[1] is an American lawyer and government official. Since 2021, Terrell has served as director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs under President Joe Biden.[2][3][4][5] Prior to this, Terrell served in a variety of government and private sector positions, including as a member of Biden's Senate staff and as a public policy director at Facebook.
Louisa Terrell | |
|---|---|
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| White House Director of Legislative Affairs | |
| In office January 20, 2021 – August 1, 2023 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Amy Swonger |
| Succeeded by | Shuwanza Goff |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 17, 1969 Delaware, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | Tufts University (BA) Boston College (JD) |
Early life and education edit
Terrell was born in Delaware on August 17, 1969. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.[6][7]
Terrell has known President Joe Biden almost her entire life. She was a classmate of his son Beau Biden from kindergarten on. She has maintained this connection to the Bidens to the present day.[8]
Career edit
In 2001, she was on the Senate staff of Joe Biden.[9] She was chief of staff for Cory Booker, and advisor to Tom Wheeler. She was a legislative aide to Barack Obama.[9] She was director of federal policy and strategy, at Yahoo, public policy director at Facebook, and was deputy general counsel at McKinsey & Company.[3] She was visiting faculty at the Biden Institute.[10]
Biden Administration edit
Following Joe Biden's inauguration as President of the United States, Terrell was appointed director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In 2021, she lobbied moderate Republicans and Democrats on the American Jobs Plan, which eventually passed the United States Senate in August 2021 as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.[11][12][13]
Terrell, along with Shalanda Young and Steve Ricchetti, was tapped to lead the Democratic side in negotiations over the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis.[14] She is due to depart at the end of July 2023.[15]
References edit
- ^ Lizza, Ryan; Daniels, Eugene (17 August 2022). "POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: Liz Cheney's next move". Politico. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
- ^ Macaya, Melissa (2020-11-20). "Biden announces more members of White House senior staff". CNN. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ a b "Meet President Biden's legislative affairs chief". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "Terrell to lead Biden's legislative affairs shop". Roll Call. 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ Waldman, Scott. "Meet Biden's Climate Voice on Capitol Hill". Scientific American. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "Louisa Terrell: From Tufts to the Biden administration". The Tufts Daily. 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "Louisa Terrell | Boston College Law School Magazine". Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ Bash, Dana (2022-12-11). "Meet the woman steering Biden's bipartisan winning streak on Capitol Hill". CNN. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ^ a b "Biden's Congress Whisperer". Politico. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "Blue Hens in the House | UD Magazine | UDaily". www.udel.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ Monroe, Madeline (2021-06-23). "White House digs in as infrastructure talks stall". The Hill. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "White House team cites progress in talks with bipartisan infrastructure group". Reuters. 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ Broadwater, Luke (2021-05-25). "Coons, Biden's Eyes and Ears in the Senate, Reaches for Bipartisanship". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- ^ "Debt limit progress as Biden, McCarthy name top negotiators to avert national default". Associated Press. 2023-05-16.
- ^ "Biden's top legislative director to step down". Politico. 14 July 2023.