Jane Margaret Harman (née Lakes, June 28, 1945) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 36th congressional district from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2011.

Harman was born Jane Margaret Lakes in New York City, the daughter of Lucille (née Geier) and Adolf N.

[7] After graduating from law school, Harman – then known as Jane Lakes – married future NOAA administrator Richard A. Frank in 1969, and they had two children.

They spent a short time in Switzerland, and then she worked for two years as an associate with the law firm Surrey, Karasik and Morse in Washington, D.C. She began her political career by serving on the staff of Senator John V. Tunney, as his legislative assistant from 1972 to 1973.

When Tunney lost re-election in 1976, Harman – then known as Jane Lakes Frank – joined the Carter White House where she served as Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet.

In 1994, she barely survived reelection in a heavily Republican year, winning by 812 votes over Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Susan Brooks.

After losing the Democratic nomination to Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis, she briefly taught public policy and international relations at UCLA as a Regents' Professor before running for and winning her old congressional seat in the 2000 election.

She made numerous congressional fact-finding missions to hotspots around the world, including North Korea, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Guantanamo Bay.

In June 2009, Harman received a letter from the Justice Department and House Ethics Committee declaring her "neither a subject nor a target of an ongoing investigation by the Criminal Division."

However, while still cosponsoring the bill, she wrote a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Lantos urging him to delay a floor vote on the legislation.

[9] Her argument was that while the genocide deserved recognition, it was not a good time to embarrass Turkey, given that country's role in moderating extremism in the Middle East.