Anthony David Weiner

Anthony David Weiner is a Democratic politician from New York. He represents the state's 9th Congressional district 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.

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

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,", 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. 

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." , therefore getting high rating from organizations such as The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and Bread for the World.

Stell Cell Research
Weiner is supported by Parkinsons Action Network for his voting record, 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)

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",, 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. 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). 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.

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)

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
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Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * 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)

 * House Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on Task Force on Antirust
 * Subcommittee on Courts the Internet and Intellectual Property
 * Subcommittee on Crime Terrorism and Homeland Security
 * House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
 * Subcommittee on Aviation
 * Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
 * Subcommittee on Highways Transit and Pipelines

Coalitions and Caucuses

 * Democratic Homeland Security Task Force
 * Democratic Whip

Resources

 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Articles

 * Gur, "The Phattest Bubble You've Ever Seen?", Room Eight, May 12, 2006.
 * Gur, "What Part Of "You Will Pimp My Pay to $168K" Did You Not Understand?", Room Eight, June 30, 2006.
 * Congressional Wire, "Earth to Congress - Come In!", Room Eight, July 11, 2006.
 * Gur, "Why Bother?", Room Eight, July 12, 2006.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Simply Left Behind

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