Former Members of Congress Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) announced as Congress to Campus visitors

Former Members of U.S. Congress Charles Boustany (R-Louisiana) and Donna Edwards (D-Maryland) will visit the RAI on Thursday 7 March for Congress to Campus. Each year, the Congress to Campus UK programme brings former Members of the US Congress to the UK to talk with student and general audiences about contemporary US politics. Working with the US Association of Former Members of Congress, the programme is coordinated by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library and the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, with support from the US Embassy London.

Charles Boustany, Jr., M.D., represented Louisiana's 7th district from 2005-2013 and, following the elimination of the 7th, the 3rd district from 2013-2017. During his 12 years in Congress, Boustany served on the House Ways and Means Committee and was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Tax Policy. He was a co-founder of the Friends of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Caucus, co-founder of the House Doctors Caucus, and a co-chair of the bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group. Boustany authored legislation on a wide range of subjects, from tax issues to welfare, and initiated the IRS investigation that uncovered the abusive practice of targeting individuals and organizations based on political and religious beliefs.

Donna Edwards represented Maryland's 4th district from 2008-2017. Elected in a special election in June 2008, Edwards became Maryland's first African American woman in Congress, serving 5 terms.  She served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Standards and Official Conduct, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.  In her last term, Edwards was a member of the Democratic leadership team as co-chair of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. She also served in the leadership of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.