Gary Ackerman (born November 19, 1942) is presently serving his twelfth term in the United States House of Representatives. Ackerman represents the Fifth Congressional District of New York, encompassing the North Shore of Queens and Long Island, including West and Northeast Queens and Northern Nassau County (map). It includes areas like Corona, Flushing, Jamaica Estates, Bayside, Whitestone, Douglaston, and Little Neck in Queens, as well as Great Neck, Sands Point, Port Washington, Searingtown, Albertson, Manhasset, and Roslyn in Nassau County.

Biography
Born on western Long Island, in Brooklyn, Ackerman was raised in Flushing, Queens. He attended local public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from Queens College in 1965. After college, Ackerman became a New York City School teacher where he taught social studies, mathematics, and journalism to junior high school students in Queens .

Following the birth of his first child in 1969, Ackerman petitioned the New York City Board of Education for an unpaid leave of absence to spend time with his newborn daughter. But his request was denied under then existing policy which reserved unpaid "maternity-child care" leave to women only.

In what was to be a forerunner of the Federal Family Leave Act, then teacher Ackerman successfully sued the Board in a landmark case which established the right of either parent to receive unpaid leave for child care. A quarter of a century later, now a Congressman, Ackerman in the House-Senate Conference Committee, signed the report of the Family and Medical Leave Act which became the law of the land.

Ackerman's second career move occurred in 1970, when he left teaching to start a weekly community newspaper in Queens called The Flushing Tribune which soon became The Queens Tribune. Ackerman served as its editor and publisher.

Ackerman was first elected to public office — the New York State Senate — in 1978. State Senator Ackerman was then elected to Congress in 1983 in a special election. Ackerman represented the central Queens area until 1992, when reapportionment reconfigured his district to the north shore of Queens , Nassau and Suffolk Counties . Then redistricting in 2002 slightly redrew the boundaries again to its present configuration of communities in Queens and Nassau County.

Ackerman, who sports a white carnation boutonniere each day, lives on a houseboat named the Unsinkable II while in Washington , D.C. and otherwise resides in Jamaica Estates, Queens with his wife Rita. The Ackermans have three children: Lauren who married Paul, Corey who married Lena and Ari. Representative Ackerman is a very amateur photographer, an avid stamp collector and a boating enthusiast. Ackerman is an Eagle Scout.

At the 2006 meeting of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), Ackerman was unanimously elected to serve as the executive of the organization.

Committees
Congressman Ackerman is a senior member of the House International Relations Committee where he plays major leadership roles in flash point areas of the world. Often, these involve national security, nuclear proliferation and terrorism issues in areas such as the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America .

Ackerman is the ranking Democrat on the International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia which has oversight on U.S. policy towards nations in the Middle East and Central Asia. He is also a member of and the most recent Democrat to chair the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, which has jurisdiction over United States policy towards countries in Asia.

Ackerman also serves on the powerful Financial Services Committee where he sits on two Subcommittees: Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, as well as Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. The Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over banking and financial institutions, housing programs, insurance regulations and monetary policy — issues that are critical to New York City and Long Island. Ackerman is a champion of consumer rights and a fighter for financial community reform.

A Representative’s representative, he was also Congress’ delegate to the United Nations. In addition, he is the Present Chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans. In 2002, he was awarded India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan for his contributions as member of the India Caucus in the Congress.

Legislative Highlights
       

The "Heroes" postage stamp, introduced by Congressman Ackerman. Revenue from sales of this stamp supported families of rescue workers killed or disabled while responding to the attacks of 9/11. The stamp was based on a photograph entitled Ground Zero Spirit.Among Ackerman's significant legislative undertakings, was the passage of his Baby AIDS legislation. The measure requires mandatory HIV testing of newborns and disclosure of the results to the mother. It also forbids insurance companies from terminating the health insurance of anybody who undergoes an AIDS test, regardless of the results.

Ackerman championed the issue of newborn testing after discovering that 45 states including New York tested babies for HIV but did not disclose the results to the mothers, using the data for mere statistical purposes. As a result, thousands of mothers brought their infants home from the hospital, never aware that their child tested positive for HIV. This legislation, which became the subject of profound debate nationwide, garnered such support that it was the only bill that session of Congress to have a majority of all the House Democrats and Republicans as cosponsors. In addition, Ackerman stopped the anonymous testing from being reinstated in years that followed.

The Congressman was also successful in getting enacted, his bill that created the "Heroes" postage stamp (the one with the three firefighters raising the American flag at ground zero), the revenue from which helps the families of rescue workers killed or permanently disabled while responding to the September 11 attacks.

Ackerman also scored a victory in his efforts to ban downed animals from being sold as meat in supermarkets, restaurants and butcher stores. For a decade, Ackerman warned that use of such livestock was not only inhumane treatment of animals but also risked causing a Mad Cow disaster in the United States. His legislation fell on deaf ears until December 2003, when his warning became prophetic and the Bush Administration — among those who had opposed the bill — finally imposed his ban through regulation.

Also law of the land is Congressman Ackerman’s measure requiring banks and financial companies to notify consumers when negative information is placed on their credit reports. The Congressman also sponsored legislation which is now law that in the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals, prohibits accounting firms from consulting for the companies they audit.

Other highlights include the Congressman authoring legislation that required President Bush to impose sanctions against the Palestinian Authority for not complying with peace agreements it signed with the U.S. and Israel. Ackerman was also successful in getting Medicare to cover testing for prostate cancer.

Enacted as well was his measure that prevents war criminals and human rights abusers who have perpetrated genocide, torture, terrorism or other atrocities, from entering the U.S. and deports those who have slipped in. In addition, Ackerman sponsored the first federal legislation to ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving.

Congressional Initiatives
In his capacity as the then Chairman of the Asia Subcommittee, Ackerman made history in the 1990s by traveling to North Korea to discuss non-proliferation. Upon his return to South Korea, Ackerman became the first person since the Korean War to cross the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

Ackerman is also well known for his many missions to feed the starving people of Ethiopia and the Sudan and for playing a leading role in the rescue of Ethiopian Jews and aiding their emigration to Israel. Active in the Middle East peace process, Ackerman has met with the current and most past Israeli prime ministers and the heads of all the Arab countries in an effort to help secure peace in the region. He also ventured to Kashmir enduring sub-freezing winter temperatures in an attempt to secure the release of four western hostages.

Among his many other initiatives, Ackerman helped to force the State of Hawaii to change its discriminatory law that forbade blind individuals from bringing their guide dogs with them to the Island. The Congressman chaired an investigation and bipartisan hearing into whether New York City and Long Island officials properly utilized the spraying of Malathion during the West Nile virus outbreak. He also obtained federal funds to combat a return of the virus.

He convinced the German government to establish a $110 million fund to compensate 18,000 Holocaust survivors and to investigate whether 3300 former Nazi soldiers now living in the U.S. and collecting German pensions are war criminals.

Congressman Ackerman also convinced the Defense Department to stop garnishing wages from certain U.S. soldiers serving in the war against Iraq. Although troops who serve in combat zones are not required to pay federal taxes, many soldiers had failed to be granted the exemption.

In addition, the Congressman lobbied federal security officials — in the wake of September 11 — to use retired law enforcement officers as screeners at New York airports and he pressed President Bush to make good on his promise to provide New York with $20 billion in additional 9/11 disaster aid.

The Congressman has also not been without some controversial votes including being one of only 22 Congressman and the only Democrat from New York to vote against protecting the symbols and traditions of Christmas. The resolution, which did not include language that would protect the symbols of other religious holidays, passed 401-22 in the House in December 2005. This isn’t the first time the Congressman was labeled as anti-Christian; in April 2003 the Catholic League for religious and civil rights attacked Ackerman for voting against a non-binding resolution that would have declared a day of prayer in recognition of the U.S. war in Iraq. He was also criticized for calling on Bush to demand U.S. Secretary Rod Paige's resignation for stating that values taught in Christian schools are better than those learned in public schools.

Ackerman received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.