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24th United States Secretary of Labor
Elaine L. Chao 趙小蘭

Incumbent
Assumed office January 29, 2001
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Alexis Herman
12th Director of the Peace Corps
In office 1991 – 1992
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Paul Coverdell
Succeeded by	Carol Bellamy

Born	March 26, 1953 (1953-03-26) (age 55) Taipei, Taiwan
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mitch McConnell
Alma mater	Mount Holyoke College Harvard Business School Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dartmouth College Columbia University

Elaine Lan Chao (traditional Chinese: 趙小蘭; pinyin: Zhào Xiǎolán; Wade-Giles: Chao Hsiao-lan;¹ born March 26, 1953) currently serves as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush. She is the first Chinese American, and the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history.² Chao is the only cabinet member to serve under George W. Bush for his entire administration.³ She is married to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the current U.S. Senate Minority Leader.

1 Childhood and education
2 Career
3 Family
4 Notes and references
5 External links

Childhood and education

The eldest of six daughters, Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan, to James S.C. Chao (趙錫成 Zhào Xīchéng), a Shanghainese entrepreneur, and Ruth Mu-lan Chu (朱木蘭 Zhū Mùlán), a historian. Her parents had fled to Taiwan from mainland China after the Chinese Communists took over as a result of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. At the age of eight, Elaine Chao and her family emigrated to the United States, where her father had already settled a few years earlier. She attended Syosset High School on Long Island, New York.

Chao received her B.A. in Economics from Mount Holyoke College in 1975 and her MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1979. Chao also studied at MIT, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of 31 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities around the world.

Career

George H.W. Bush Administration

In 1986, Chao returned to Washington D.C. as Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. From 1988 to 1989, she served as Chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Chao to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation, the number two position in the department. From 1991 to 1992, Chao was Director of the Peace Corps. She was the first Asian American to serve in all these positions. She expanded the Peace Corps's presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

United Way and Heritage Foundation

Following her service in the government, Chao worked for four years as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America. She is credited with returning credibility and public trust back to the organization after an embarrassing financial mismanagement scandal involving former United Way of America president William Aramony. From 1996 until her appointment as Secretary of Labor, Chao was a Distinguished Fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.

Labor Secretary

During Secretary Chao's tenure, the Department of Labor updated the white collar overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has been on the agenda of every Administration since 1977. Complaints from the business community about their losses in overtime-related litigation spurred the Bush Administration to act on the controversial changes.⁴ In 2003, the Department achieved the first major update of union financial disclosure regulations in more than 40 years, giving rank and file members enhanced information on how their dues are spent. The Department has set new worker protection enforcement records, including recovering record back wages for vulnerable low-wage immigrant workers. The Department has also launched comprehensive reform of the nation's publicly funded worker training programs. In 2006 and 2007, the Department successfully implemented the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act). On August 17, 2006, President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act, which protects the 44 million workers whose retirement security rests upon private sector defined benefit pension plans.

After Donald Rumsfeld had stepped down from his position as Secretary of Defense in November 2006, she became the only original Cabinet member still serving in the Bush Administration in the same position to which she was appointed.

Controversy

Chao's Labor Department gave Congress inaccurate and unreliable numbers that understated the expense of contracting out its employees' work to private firms, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued a report on November 24th, 2008.⁵

According to the Department of Labor's Inspector General report, the High Growth Job Initiative at the Department's Employment and Training Administration violated the agency’s procedures by awarding 87 percent of $271 million in grants without any competition.⁶

Her office has been characterized by high staff turnover, including four public affairs chiefs, two deputy assistant secretaries, and four press secretaries.⁷

As Secretary of Labor, Chao campaigned for her husband. Sen. Mitch McConnell at taxpayer expense, according to a report by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The report describes this as a violation of the 1939 Hatch Act, which restricts the use of public funds for partisan gain.⁸

Timeline

1983: White House Fellow, Office of Policy Development, the White House
1986: Deputy Administrator, Maritime Administration, US Department of Transportation
1988–89: Chairwoman, Federal Maritime Commission
1989: Deputy Secretary of Transportation
1991–92: Director, Peace Corps
1992–96: President and Chief Executive Officer, United Way of America
1996: Distinguished Fellow, Heritage Foundation
2001–Present^[update]: U.S. Secretary of Labor

Family

In 1993, Chao married Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Leader of the United States Senate. She has three stepdaughters from her husband's previous marriage to Sherrill Redmon: Eleanor (Elly), Claire, and Porter.

Notes and references

^ Hsiao-lan means "little orchid." Elaine Chao has four sisters, three of whom also have names starting with "Little" (Xiao). They are: Xiao-mei (小美, little beauty), Xiao-pu (小甫), Xiao-ting (小婷).
^ Press Briefing by Administration Officials on American Competitiveness Initiative (February 1, 2006), retrieved July 27, 2006
^ "Chao becomes fifth-longest-serving Secretary of Labor". Peace Corps Online. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
^ http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/23/news/economy/overtime/index.htm
^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402796.html GAO: Labor Dept. Misled Congress, Washington Post, Nov 25th 08]
^ http://shameonelaine.org/hall-of-shame/
^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/07/AR2007010700940.html
^ Report Details Bush Officials' Partisan Trips: House Panel Finds Federal Appointees Attended Many Events on Taxpayers' Dime, Washington Post

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elaine Chao

Government offices
Preceded by Paul Coverdell	Director of the Peace Corps 1991–1992	Succeeded by Carol Bellamy
Political offices
Preceded by Alexis Herman	United States Secretary of Labor Served Under: George W. Bush 2001 – present	Incumbent
Order of precedence in the United States of America
Preceded by Carlos Gutierrez United States Secretary of the Secretary of Commerce	United States order of precedence United States Secretary of Labor	Succeeded by Mike Leavitt United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

v • d • e Directors of the Peace Corps

Shriver • Vaughn • Blatchford • O'Donnell • Hess • Craw • Dellenback • Payton • Celeste • Ruppe • Coverdell • Chao • Carol Bellamy • Gearan • Schneider • Vasquez • Tschetter

v • d • e United States Secretaries of Labor

Secretaries of Commerce & Labor	Cortelyou • Metcalf • Straus • Nagel

Secretaries of Labor	Wilson • Davis • Doak • Perkins • Schwellenbach • Tobin • Durkin • Mitchell • Goldberg • Wirtz • Shultz • Hodgson • Brennan • Dunlop • Usery • Marshall • Donovan • Brock • McLaughlin • Dole • Martin • Reich • Herman • Chao

v • d • e Current members of the United States Cabinet

Bodman · Bolten^c · Chao · Cheney^c · Chertoff · Gates · Gutierrez · Johnson^c · Kempthorne · Leavitt · Mukasey · Paulson · Peake · Peters · Preston · Nussle^c · Rice · Schafer · Schwab^c · Spellings · Walters^c (c) cabinet-level only

Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001 – present)

Cabinet

Secretary of State	Colin Powell (2001 – 2005) • Condoleezza Rice (2005 – present)

Secretary of the Treasury	Paul O'Neill (2001 – 2002) • John Snow (2002 – 2006) • Henry Paulson (2006 – present)

Secretary of Defense	Donald Rumsfeld (2001 – 2006) • Robert Gates (2006 – present)

Attorney General	John Ashcroft (2001 – 2005) • Alberto Gonzales (2005 – 2007) • Michael Mukasey (2007 – present)

Secretary of the Interior	Gale Norton (2001 – 2006) • Dirk Kempthorne (2006 – present)

Secretary of Agriculture	Ann Veneman (2001 – 2005) • Mike Johanns (2005 – 2007) • Ed Schafer (2008 – present)

Secretary of Commerce	Donald Evans (2001 – 2005) • Carlos Gutierrez (2005 – present)

Secretary of Labor	Elaine Chao (2001 – present)

Secretary of Health and Human Services	Tommy Thompson (2001 – 2005) • Mike Leavitt (2005 – present)

Secretary of Education	Rod Paige (2001 – 2005) • Margaret Spellings (2005 – Present)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Mel Martinez (2001 – 2003) • Alphonso Jackson (2003 – 2008) • Steve Preston (2008 – present)

Secretary of Transportation	Norman Mineta (2001 – 2006) • Mary Peters (2006 – present)

Secretary of Energy	Spencer Abraham (2001 – 2005) • Samuel Bodman (2005 – present)

Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Anthony Principi (2001 – 2005) • Jim Nicholson (2005 – 2007) • James Peake (2007 – present)

Secretary of Homeland Security	Tom Ridge (2003 – 2005) • Michael Chertoff (2005 – present)

Cabinet-level

Vice President	Dick Cheney (2001 – present)

White House Chief of Staff	Andrew Card (2001 – 2006) • Joshua Bolten (2006 – present)

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Christine Whitman (2001 – 2003) • Mike Leavitt (2003 – 2005) • Stephen Johnson (2005 – present)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget	Mitch Daniels (2001 – 2003) • Joshua Bolten (2003 – 2006) • Rob Portman (2006 – 2007) • Jim Nussle (2007 – present)

Director of National Drug Control Policy	John Walters (2001 – present)

Trade Representative	Robert Zoellick (2001 – 2005) • Rob Portman (2005 – 2006) • Susan Schwab (2006 - present)

Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency	Joe Allbaugh (2001 – 2003)

Persondata
NAME	Chao, Elaine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Chao, Elaine Lao
SHORT DESCRIPTION	24th United States Secretary of Labor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Taipei, Taiwan
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH