Congressman Gary Ackerman is presently serving his fourteenth term in the U.S. 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.

Born on western Long Island in a place called Brooklyn on November 19, 1942, Ackerman was raised in Flushing, Queens. He attended local public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School and was graduated from Queens College in 1965. After college, Ackerman became a New York City teacher where he taught social studies, math 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. However 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 and founded a weekly community newspaper 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 Queens and Nassau.

Ackerman, who sports a white carnation boutonniere each day and lives on a houseboat while in Washington, D.C. (a houseboat named the Unsinkable II…don’t ask!), resides in Roslyn Heights with his wife Rita. The Ackermans have three children and four grandchildren. Congressman Ackerman is a very amateur photographer, an avid stamp collector and a boating enthusiast.

Committees

Congressman Ackerman is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. The subcommittee, a key panel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has jurisdiction over United States policy towards all countries in the Middle East and South Asia, including important U.S. allies Israel and India. The committee’s purview extends over some of the world’s most contentious hotspots such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Congressman is also a member and the former Chair of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific which has oversight on U.S. policy towards nations in Asia.

As a member of the full Foreign Affairs Committee, Ackerman 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 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 twice chaired the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans. Further, he is the President of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP).