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Anthony Weiner

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Anthony Weiner currently serves the 9th Congressional district of New York

Anthony David Weiner is a Democratic politician from New York. He represents the state's 9th Congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, including Sheepshead Bay, Forest Hills (where Weiner lives), Howard Beach and Rockaway Beach.

Contents

Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Anthony Weiner voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Iraq War

Weiner voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.[1]

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

FEC cases under review

The FEC (Federal Election Commission) had two cases (MURs, or Matters Under Review) about Weiner. Both cases have the same name, Friends of Weiner. MUR 4995 resulted in a $47,000.00 fine ("civil penalty") against Weiner because of some financial misconduct in one of his reelection campaigns. MUR 5429 involved an illegal $28,000.00 loan that Weiner's parents made to one of his campaign committees.

Objection to Saudi arms deal

On July 29, 2007, Reps. Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced that they would seek to stop a $20 billion arms that the Bush Administration has negotiated with Saudi Arabia. The lawmakers objected to the deal because they do not want to provide "sophisticated weapons to a country that they believe has not done enough to stop terrorism," also noting that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Weiner made the announcement outside of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Washington, stating that "We need to send a crystal clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that their tacit approval of terrorism can't go unpunished." Weiner and Nadler intend to use a provision of the Arms Control Export Act to review the deal and pass a Joint Resolution of Disapproval.[2]

Abortion

Weiner has an extremely liberal orientation, such as when he wrote, "The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the abortion ban...is an affront to women across the country," [1], and therefore getting 100% evaluations from organizations such as the NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association for working in their interests. Consequently, he was evaluated at 0% by organizations such as National Right to Life Committee and Democrats for Life of America. [2]

Hunger in New York City

Rep. Weiner has also said, "We have to do everything we can at every level of government to eliminate hunger in New York City. I believe that these proposals will help hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers access the food they and their families need to avoid going hungry." [3], therefore getting high rating from organizations such as The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and Bread for the World.[4]

Stell Cell Research

Weiner is supported by Parkinsons Action Network for his voting record [5], for he has voted yes on liberal issues such as expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines (Jan 2007) and allowing human embryonic stem cell research. (May 2005). He has voted no on issues such as forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003) [6]

Social Security

Weiner has stated that "...if we do not prevail, and if the President is successful in pulling hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Social Security system, we...will be the one to live to regret it first. Every other generation since the 1930s, our parents and grandparents, have benefited from this program, and we are the ones that will wind up having to fix it", [7], which corresponds with the support he receives from Alliance for Retired Americans and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association for his desire to fix Social Security and make it accessible to the general public. [8] In support of their shared values, Weiner has voted yes on raising 401(k) limits & making pension plans more portable (May 2001), on reducing tax payments on Social Security benefits (Jul 2000), and on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox (May 1999). [9] American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging and Retire Safe do not agree, nor support him as much, for they believe they cannot "retire safely" when Social Security is a public program. Instead, they believe in privatizing social security to make it more reliable, especially in times of crisis.

Bio

Background

Weiner was born September 4, 1964 in Brooklyn to Morton Weiner and Frances Weiner. He attended New York's public schools, including Brooklyn Technical High School, got a bachelor's degree from SUNY Plattsburgh, then worked on the staff of Congressman Chuck Schumer from 1985 to 1991.

Weiner was elected to the New York City Council in 1991. At 27, he was the youngest person ever to serve on that body until the election of Joel Rivera.

Congressional Career

In 1998, midway through his fourth term, his former boss, Schumer, opted for an ultimately successful campaign for the Senate. Weiner ran for and won the Democratic nomination to succeed him, which was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic 9th. He has been reelected three times with almost no opposition. Weiner is only the fifth person to represent the 9th since its creation in 1920.

2006 elections

No major candidates announced their intentions to contest Weiners’ seat in the November 2006 election. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [10]

Positions and Views

Weiner, a bachelor, has one of the most liberal voting records in the House, although he did vote for the Iraq war in 2002, which he later said he regretted. His district is one of the most liberal districts in the country, although George W. Bush recieved 43% of the vote here in 2004, mainly because of the amount of people directly affected by the September 11 attacks in the district.

Campaign for Mayor of New York City

Weiner ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York in 2005 against three other Democrats. Weiner started out dead last in many polls, but surged in the final weeks of the campaign. His publicly announced campaign strategy was to come in second in the Democratic primary election with enough votes to force a runoff election, win that runoff, then campaign against the Republican candidate, incumbent Michael Bloomberg. When the returns came in, Fernando Ferrer had 39.95%, a whisker shy of the percentage required to avoid a runoff, and Weiner had 28.82%. Rather than force a runoff, Weiner then withdrew from the race and endorsed Ferrer, citing the need for party unity. Eventually, the runoff was declared unnecessary as absentee ballots put Ferrer over the 40% mark. Weiner denied rumors that various high-ranking New York Democrats such as Schumer and state attorney general (and leading 2006 gubernatorial candidate) Eliot Spitzer had urged him to concede. Since Ferrer lost the general election to Bloomberg, this move set Weiner up as a very likely nominee, if not a frontrunner, for the 2009 mayoral race.

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. For specific controversies, see this article's record and controversies section. <crpcontribdata>cid=N00001110&cycle=2006</crpcontribdata>

Links to more campaign contribution information for Anthony Weiner
from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.
Fundraising profile: 2006 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by organization/corporation: 2006 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by industry: 2006 election cycle Career totals


Committees and Affiliations

Committees

  • House Committee on Energy and Commerce
    • Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
    • Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
    • Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
    • Subcommittee on Health
  • House Committee on the Judiciary
    • Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
    • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

Coalitions and Caucuses

  • Democratic Homeland Security Task Force
  • Democratic Whip

Boards and Affiliations

More Background Data

Wikipedia also has an article on Anthony Weiner. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

Contact

DC Office:
1122 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3209
Phone: 202-225-6616
Fax: 202-226-7253
Email: weiner AT mail.house.gov
Web Email
Website

District Office - Brooklyn:
1800 Sheepshead Bay Road
Brooklyn, NY 11235
Phone: 718-743-0441

District Office - Kew Gardens:
80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 5000
Kew Gardens, NY 11415
Phone: 718-520-9001
Fax: 718-520-9010

District Office - Rockaway:
90-16 Rockaway Beach Boulevard
Rockaway, NY 11693
Phone: 718-318-9255

Articles and Resources

Resources

Articles

Local blogs and discussion sites

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Corresponding article on Wikipedia and Cause Caller. (If Cause Caller link does not work, pick from its list of senators and representatives.)

Current Office: U.S. House of Representatives
111th Congress
Leadership Position:
 Committees Chaired:
 Committees,
Ranking Member On:
 Caucuses:
Committees:
110th Congress
Leadership Position:
none		 Committees Chaired:
 Committees,
Ranking Member On:
 Caucuses:
Committees: House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on the Judiciary, House Judiciary Task Force on Antitrust, House Judiciary Task Force on Antitrust/Subcommittee on Courts the Internet and Intellectual Property, House Judiciary Task Force on Antitrust/Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism and Homeland Security, House Judiciary Task Force on Antitrust/Subcommittee on Immigration Citizenship Refugees Border Security and International Law
Congressional Career
First Elected to Current Office:
November 3, 1998		 First Took Current Office:
January 6, 1999		 Next Election:
November 2, 2010		 Term Ends:
Freshman Member?
no		 Previous Political Work?
New York City Council		 Other Party Membership:
District Offices:
1. 1800 Sheepshead Bay Road, Brooklyn, NY 11235
Phone: 718-743-0441 / Fax:
2. 80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 5000, Kew Gardens, NY 11415
Phone: 718-520-9001 / Fax: 718-520-9010
3. 90-16 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway, NY 11693
Phone: 718-318-9255 / Fax:
Campaign Contact:

Website:
Webform Email: / Email:

Campaign Offices:

1.
Phone: / Fax:
Zip Code Affiliations:
Misc:

Date of Birth: September 4, 1964
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