Contributor

Rep. Donald M. Payne, D-N.J., Member, U.S. House of Representatives

Donald M. Payne, a native of Newark, New Jersey, was elected to represent the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey in 1988 as New Jersey's first African American Congressman by an overwhelming majority and has been returned by a wide margin of the vote in each subsequent election. In 2008, he won election to his eleventh term to represent the 10th District in the historic 111th Congress.

Payne is a senior member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, where he serves on two subcommittees, including the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. As a leading advocate of education, he has been instrumental in making K-12 public schools more successful and making college more affordable. He was an original cosponsor of the No Child Left Behind Act and is working diligently to reauthorize the law to ensure that it provides adequate funding and flexibility. Payne was a key player in the passage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which cuts interest rates on Stafford loans in half, increases Pell grants, and provides loan forgiveness to public service employees with student loan debt. He is author of several bills designed to close the achievement gap including the Expanded Learning Time Demonstration Act, the Prescribe a Book Act, the Substitute Teaching Improvement Act, and the Youth Financial Education Act. Payne has also been vocal in preserving workers' wages and workplace safety. He played a major role in the passage of the minimum wage bill, increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour; and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which ensures that victims of pay discrimination are treated fairly.

Before being elected to serve as New Jersey's first African American Congressman, his career included service on the Newark Municipal Council; the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders; as an executive of the Prudential Insurance Company; Vice President of Urban Data Systems, Inc. and an educator in the Newark public school system. A former national President of the YMCA, he served as Chairman of the World Refugee and Rehabilitation Committee. He has served on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy, TransAfrica, Discovery Channel Global Education Fund, the Congressional Award Foundation, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark, the Newark Day Center, the Fighting Back Initiative and the Newark YMCA. He has received numerous awards and honors from national, international and community-based organizations, including the Visionaries Award bestowed by the Africa Society and the prestigious Democracy Service Medal, which was previously awarded to Lech Walesa, the former Polish President and founder of the Solidarity movement, by the National Endowment for Democracy.