In 2000, Hillary Clinton was elected to the United States Senate from New York

First Ladies of the United States have taken on a wide variety of different roles, some cultural, some social and some political. Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of 42nd President William Jefferson Clinton, took a great interest in politics in her role as First Lady. Her husband (the President) asked her to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform in 1993, and though the single-payer system she proposed was not adopted, she continued to advocate the expansion of health insurance coverage. She wrote a regular column, a best-selling book and maintained a relatively high profile in the public arena.

In 2000, Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to run for elected office, and on Election Day, she was elected to join Charles Schumer as the second of the two Senators from the state of New York. The Senate, one house of the bicameral legislative branch of the U.S. government, has a large number of committees dealing with a wide variety of issues. Senator Clinton sits on the Senate Committee for Environment and Public Works, the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Armed Services Committee. She chairs the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.

EDSITEment
In Women in the White House (6-8), students explore the role and impact of recent First Ladies through research and family interviews, and then they work in groups to present a documentary portrait to the class.

Congressional Committees and the Legislative Process (9-12) helps students see the relationship between United States government and their states and local communities. The lesson introduces students to the pivotal role that Congressional committees play in the legislative process. Through independent study and small group work, students learn why their Congressional representatives' participation on specific Congressional committees might be important to the people of their state or community, and they examine how the committee system reflects some of the basic principles of American federalism.