- Democratic Member of Congress
- Co-founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Marched alongside radical protesters in Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization conference
See also: Congressional
Progressive Caucus
Born in May
1947 in Needham, Massachusetts, Peter DeFazio served in the U.S. Air
Force from 1967
to 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Tufts
University in 1969 and a master’s degree in public administration
from the University of Oregon in 1977. That same year, he worked as an aide
to Jim Weaver, then-congressman of Oregon's Fourth District, centered on the city of Eugene.
After serving as a Lane
County (Oregon) commissioner from 1982-86, DeFazio, a Democrat, ran for Weaver's congressional seat when the incumbent announced his retirement in 1986. DeFazio won a hotly contested three-way primary race
and then took the general election by a 54-to-46 percent margin.
He
has been re-elected every two years since then.
One of DeFazio's
leading campaign
contributors over the course of his political career has been the
American
Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America. The members and political action committees of numerous powerful labor
unions have also been highly supportive, notably the
Carpenters & Joiners Union, the Communications Workers of
America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the
Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union, and the Teamsters Union.
In
the House of Representatives, DeFazio in 1992 was an original co-founder of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus along
with
Bernie
Sanders,
Ron Dellums, Lane
Evans,
Thomas Andrews, and Maxine
Waters.
During the
World Trade Organization meetings which were held in Seattle from
November 30 to December 3, 1999, DeFazio
marched
in solidarity with thousands of union, environmental,
anti-globalization, and anti-business protesters, many of whom
ultimately engaged in violent rioting and looting. In
subsequent protests, DeFazio blamed international corporations and
financiers for the problems in developing countries.
In 2003 DeFazio served on the advisory
committee
of the Progressive
Majority, a political networking group dedicated
to electing leftist candidates to public
office.
In 2005 he ran for the U.S. Senate seat that
Republican Robert Packwood had vacated amid scandal, but was
beaten by the better-funded Portland congressman Ron Wyden.
That
same year, DeFazio joined the Out of Iraq Congressional
Caucus.
In
2006 DeFazio was one of just 37
House Members
who voted against
the Palestinian
Anti-Terrorism Act
prohibiting
U.S. aid to the Hamas-led
Palestinian government “until
it renounces violence,
recognizes Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, and accepts all
previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.” The measure was supported
by 361
House members
and passed by unanimous
consent
in the Senate.
In
February 2007 DeFazio affirmed his support for a House Resolution
opposing President Bush's proposal to deploy an additional 21,500
troops to Iraq in an effort to turn the tide of the war back in
America's favor. Denouncing Bush's “failed strategy” in Iraq,
DeFazio called
for all U.S. servicemen to be brought home within a year because
“doing so would boost the Iraqi government's legitimacy and claim
to self-rule, and force the Iraqi government to take responsibility
for itself and its citizens.”
In
February
2009 DeFazio was one of only 9 House Democrats who chose
not to support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
better known as the “Stimulus Bill.” DeFazio attributed his
“Nay” vote to his frustration over tax-cut compromises which his fellow
Democrats had made in order to win support from moderate Republicans
in the Senate. “I couldn't justify borrowing money for tax cuts,”
he said.
DeFazio
stirred controversy in mid-November 2009 when he suggested,
in an interview with MSNBC commentator Ed Schultz, that President
Barack Obama should fire Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National
Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers for having failed to use enough of the funds from the Troubled Assets Relief
Program for government projects devoted to
“rebuilding
America's infrastructure.” Such initiatives, said
DeFazio, were “a tried and true way to put people back to work.” “We
may have to sacrifice just two more jobs [those of Geithner and
Summers] to get back millions for Americans,” he added.
On
January 27, 2010, DeFazio was one of 54
Members of Congress
who signed a letter exhorting President Barack
Obama to use diplomatic pressure to end Israel's
blockade of Gaza – a blockade which had been imposed in order to
prevent the importation of weaponry from Iran and Syria.
DeFazio
describes himself as a “populist
progressive.” Americans
for Democratic Action has consistently rated his voting
record as 90-100
percent on the left side of legislation. For an overview of
numerous key votes DeFazio has cast during his career in Congress,
click here.
For additional information on Peter DeFazio, click here.
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