Musgrave, Marilyn, 1949-

Marilyn Neoma Musgrave (née Shuler; born January 27, 1949) is an American teacher, businesswoman, activist, and politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009, representing Colorado's 4th congressional district.

Born in Greeley, Colorado, she graduated from Eaton High School in 1968 and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, graduating with a B.A. in social studies in 1972. Musgrave married Steve Musgrave while in college. She and her husband Steve Musgrave settled in Fort Morgan, south of Greeley, where they owned and operated a bale stacking business. Musgrave also taught school. Musgrave’s political career began when she won a seat on the Fort Morgan school board in 1990, where she served for four years. After completing the intensive Republican Leadership Program to prepare for a future in politics, Musgrave was elected to the Colorado state legislature in 1994. During her four years in the state house, and her subsequent four years in the Colorado state senate from 1999 through 2003, Musgrave supported a variety of conservative legislative initiatives, including tax cuts, gun rights, deregulation, and anti-abortion policies; she also opposed gay marriage. In 2002, Musgrave was easily elected to the U.S. House from Colorado's 4th congressional district.

Once in the U.S. House, Musgrave worked to limit spending and cut taxes. She opposed a Republican-sponsored measure to hike the federal gas tax and opposed the George W. Bush administration’s 2003 Medicare drug prescription bill, despite intense lobbying from the White House. Musgrave gained national prominence when she sponsored the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have banned gay marriage by defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman—an initiative President Bush endorsed during his 2004 re-election campaign. As chair of the Small Business Subcommittee on Workforce, Empowerment, and Government Programs, Musgrave held hearings on right to work laws and sought to limit the power of labor unions. As an advocate for gun rights, Musgrave added an amendment to a House-passed appropriations bill that blocked the Justice Department from enforcing regulations requiring handguns to be equipped with trigger locks. Musgrave lost her bid for a fourth term by an eight-point margin to Democrat Betsy Markey in 2008.

Musgrave remained active in the anti-abortion movement after Capitol Hill. She serves as vice president of government affairs for the Susan B. Anthony List which advocates for candidates and laws to end abortion.