Caroline Simone

Caroline Simone
56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office September 9th, 2019
Preceded by	Malcolm Douglas
Leader of the House Democratic Caucus
Incumbent
Assumed office September 9th, 2019
Deputy	Kathleen Nez
Preceded by	Malcolm Douglas
Chair of the House Democratic Caucus
In office April 8th, 2019 – September 9th, 2019
Preceded by	[NPC]
Succeeded by	Phillip Crawford
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2014
Preceded by	[Not-Carolyn Maloney]
United States Ambassador to Turkey
In office February 19th, 2009 – August 24th, 2012
President	Rashid Baharia
Preceded by	James Franklin Jeffrey
Succeeded by	Francis J. Ricciardone
Personal details
Born	Caroline Paola Simone March 15, 1951 (age 69) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	George Hayes (m. 1975; div. 1993)
Children	1
Education	Cornell University (BA, MA)

Carolina Paola Simone (born March 15, 1951) is an American politican and former diplomat currently serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019. She has served as a U.S. Representative from New York since 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, she is only the second woman and second Italian-American to serve as Speaker. She is second in line in the presidential line of succession, after Vice President Jay Dietrich.

Beginning her career in public service under the Burke Sr. Administration in 1992, she would serve for a long time in the Office of Southern European Affairs, with a particular focus on issues relating to Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, before eventually becoming a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in 2006 under President John Burke Jr. When the Baharia Administration came into power, she was selected as a career foreign service officer to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey in 2009, a post in which she served for three years, before retiring (amidst speculation that she disagreed with President Baharia's Syria policy) and entering politics in 2012.

First elected to Congress in a special election in late 2013 to New York's 12th District, she occupied a prominent position on the Foreign Affairs Committee and was seen as a general guru on foreign policy, but there was no expectation of her rising to higher office. The decline in the authority of Speaker Malcolm Douglas led to Simone's rise first to the position of Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and when it became apparent that Speaker Douglas could not continue, she was the unrivalled favorite to succeed him as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Seen as a largely unifying and diplomatic figure, apparent rifts between moderate and progressive Democrats in the House have been healed under her leadership, and her reputation for rigor and bipartisanship allowed her to - for a time - shepherd several pieces of legislation through the divided 116th Congress. With the unfolding of the 2020 U.S. Recession, she has been increasingly engaged in difficult negotiations with Republican leaders, managing to negotiate concessions on SNAP work requirements, stop-gap healthcare provisions, and federal investment in deprived industrial areas.

Biography

Early life and education

Caroline Paola Simone was born on Thursday 15th March 1951 in Brooklyn, New York City to Daniel Simone, an Italian-American World War II veteran and architect, and Paola Simone (née Puglisi), a Sicilian emigrée and stay-at-home mother. Enjoying a comfortably upper-middle class lifestyle in the more affluent Brooklyn Heights area of the borough, she was raised in the strong Roman Catholic faith shared by both parents. Simone would later describe her faith as "fundamental" to her Democratic politics, even if she forwardly eschewed the traditionally socially conservative leanings of the Church. Attending various independent schools operated by the Diocese of Brooklyn, she was observed to be "disinterested" in student politics, but having a "keen eye" on current affairs, with her childhood coinciding with the height of the Cold War and the ongoing conflict in Vietnam.

After graduating from St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy in 1970, she was accepted into Cornell University to pursue a bachelor's degree in Government. During the course of her studies for her BA in Government, she met George Hayes, an Economics student, in 1972, and the two began dating. Though she engaged in some limited student activism, she was not seen as particularly interested in pursuing a career in politics at this time, and when she moved on to her master's degree in Near Eastern Studies, it became apparent that the scope of her interest seemed to lie more in public service than personal advancement. It was during her studies for her MA that she first met and became acquainted with future U.S. Senator from New Jersey Timothy Westra.

Marrying George in 1975 and bearing her one child with him in that same year, a son by the name of Damian, she spent the first few years after completing her master's degree focusing on her home life and raising their fledgling family, moving back to Brooklyn Heights in their shared home as her husband pursued a career in finance.

Early career

When the Foreign Policy Institute at John Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies was founded in 1980, Simone accepted a position there as a researcher and policy analyst. This caused her to grow distant from her young family as she needed to move to Washington D.C. in order to build the career she had long worked towards. This created friction in her relationship, as her husband considered her to be an "absent spouse", as later emerged in the very bitter divorce battle between the two of them some years later. During her time at the FPI, Simone would become acquainted with ex-Carter Administration officials like Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

U.S. Department of State

In 1992, Simone finally applied to work at the State Department during the administration of President John Burke Sr., in the Office of Southern European Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Whilst this move represented the long-desired transition into public service that Simone had long desired, it also cemented the estrangement from her husband and son in New York City, and led to the breakdown of their marriage. An extensive divorce proceeding in the midst of 1993 did not appear to disrupt Simone's career, but resulted in a difficult relationship with her son Damian, who would soon join the U.S. Navy and would serve in operations over the former Yugoslavia, where he was seriously injured.

Long-serving at the State Department and well-entrenched into the frank, nonpartisan culture there, she would be chosen for Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in 2006 by the Burke Jr. Administration, and went on to later be nominated to the post of Ambassador to Turkey in 2009, being confirmed swiftly and noncontroversially by the Senate. During her time as a foreign service officer, she was observed to be "frank, serious, and authoritative", and was viewed as a role model for future women diplomats.

As the Baharia Administration continued into the election year of 2012, Simone reportedly became disillusioned with President Baharia's leadership with the continuing wind-down of military commitments in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. Seen as closer to Secretary of State Diane Clifford's style of leadership than President Baharia, the final straw for Simone would be the embarrassing climbdown following President Baharia's 'red-line' in Syria. She went on to retire as Ambassador to Turkey in the summer of 2012. As chance would have it, a special election had opened up in the 12th District back in New York and - seeing an opportunity to continue to affect policy decisions - she announced her candidacy soon after her retirement from the Foreign Service. The perceived closeness she had to President Baharia, her firmly liberal policy convictions, and her reputation for professionalism helped her achieve a convincing win in the primary, and she was duly elected in late 2013 to the safe Democratic district.

U.S. House of Representatives

Pre-speakership career

Before she gravitated towards leadership, Simone was perceived to be a candid and hardworking congresswoman with clear areas of expertise with some bipartisan credentials. It is observed by some that she is seen to be a close confidant and protegée of New York Senator Karel Volek, with whom she became close since she first came to Congress. A strong figure on the Foreign Policy Committee, she notably penned many bills to help facilitate sanctions on hostile foreign regimes like Russia, Venezuela, and Myanmar. Though she often supported the Baharia Administration's policy goals, notably in her support for President Baharia's Iran Deal, she was unafraid of being critical of the Administration in many areas, in particular making her opposition known to the Cuban Thaw and to the reduction of combat operations in Afghanistan.

During the early presidency of Arnold Wolf, she was an active critic of his foreign policy, particularly denouncing his withdrawal from diplomatic engagement with Iran, his attacks on NATO allies, and his frequent threats to enact unilateral withdrawals from various strategic theaters.

In early 2019, there was a general perception that unity in the congressional Democratic Party was weak, and Simone became a surprising dark-horse candidate to take up the post of Chair of the House Democratic Caucus after the sudden death of the incumbent. With no others contesting her candidacy, she easily managed to secure the position, marking the beginning of her rapid rise in Democratic leadership. As Chair, she helped negotiate support for a bipartisan gun control package after the 2019 Roanoke shooting, and worked with fellow Representative Kathleen Nez in securing Republican votes in both the House and Senate for a Reapportionment Act. Both would be later stymied by Senate Majority Leader Robert Warrick.

2016 presidential election

During the 2016 presidential election cycle, she was an early and active endorser and supporter of former Secretary of State Diane Clifford. An active campaign surrogate for the Clifford campaign, she made authoritative statements in defense of Clifford's foreign policy positions, in particular with regards to supporting the Iraq War and advising President Baharia to implement a no-fly zone over Syria. The aftermath of the election reportedly left Representative Simone "crestfallen" and she withdrew from public press appearances for a time. She was noticeably critical of Senator Baginski, who she accused of "recklessly suppressing the Democratic vote" and "fomenting baseless conspiracies for personal gain and attention".

Speakership (2019-)

As an ascendant figure in Democratic leadership, and younger than both the House Majority Leader and House Majority Whip, Simone was seen as the natural choice to replace insurgent Democratic leader and Speaker Malcolm Douglas following his slow and steady decline in authority and presence throughout the early 116th Congress. When it became clear that Douglas could not continue, Simone stood unopposed to succeed him as the Democratic nominee for Speaker, and on September 9th, 2019, she was elected by the House of Representatives to serve as the 62nd Speaker of the House, the second woman, second Italian-American, and third New Yorker to do so.

As Speaker, she has presided over a marked increase in passed Democratic priorities in the House, and assured the passage of a number of bipartisan bills through both chambers to be sent to the President's Desk. She is broadly considered to have tamped down "intra-party divisions" in the House Democratic Caucus, with a decrease in overall Democratic infighting since the beginning of the 116th Congress. She was welcoming and diplomatic upon the resignation of President Arnold Wolf on health grounds, and the succession of President Richard Tawney to the office.

During the 2020 U.S. Recession, she attempted to engage in bipartisan negotiations on recession relief with President Tawney, Senate Majority Leader Warrick, and House Minority Leader Thomas Volker. The breakdown of these negotiations resulted in significant finger-pointing on both sides, with both Republicans and Democrats notably scheduling their press conferences to announce rival relief packages at the same time and date. Behind-the-scenes negotiations involving White House Chief of Staff Daniel Burton, and Democratic Senators Timothy Westra and Gordon Callahan, allowed for the Speaker to force major concessions from the Republicans over both the American Assistance and Relief Act and the Saving America's Energy Act.

Political positions

Civil liberties and human rights

Immigration

[WIP]

LGBT+ rights

[WIP]

Marijuana

[WIP]

Government surveillance

[WIP]

Use of torture

[WIP]

Economy

Fiscal policy

[WIP]

Infrastructure

[WIP]

Disaster relief

[WIP]

Education

[WIP]

Environment

[WIP]

Healthcare

Affordable Care Act

[WIP]

Abortion

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Contraception

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Security

Firearms policy

[WIP]

Selective Service Act

[WIP]

Wolf Presidency

Considerations over the 25th Amendment

[WIP]

Tawney Presidency

2020 U.S. Recession

[WIP]

Aegean Sea Crisis

[WIP]

Foreign Affairs

China

[WIP]

Russia

[WIP]

Cuba and Venezuela

[WIP]

Iraq

[WIP]

Iran and Lebanon

[WIP]

Afghanistan

[WIP]

Syria

[WIP]

Myanmar

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Israel

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North Korea

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Turkey

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Electoral history

[WIP]

US House special election, 2013: New York District 12

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Caroline Simone	87,437	85.3	+14.3
	Republican	Hugh Roffley	10,408	14.7	-2.7

US House election, 2014: New York District 12

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Caroline Simone	90,603	77.2	-8.1
	Republican	Nick Di Iorio	22,731	19.4	+4.7

US House election, 2016: New York District 12

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Caroline Simone	244,358	83.2	+6.0
	Republican	Robert Ardini	49,398	16.8	-2.6

US House election, 2018: New York District 12

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Caroline Simone	217,430	86.4	+3.2
	Republican	Eliot Rabin	30,446	12.1	-4.7
	Green	Scott Hutchins	3,728	1.5	N/A

Personal life

[WIP]