67 Facts About Eliot Engel

Eliot Lance Engel is an American politician who served as a US representative from New York from 1989 to 2021.

Eliot Engel had won his first congressional election in 1989 by defeating Mario Biaggi, who did not campaign though his name was on the ballot.

In 2020, after 16 terms in office, Eliot Engel was defeated in the Democratic primary by middle school principal Jamaal Bowman.

Eliot Engel was born in the Bronx, the son of Sylvia and Philip Eliot Engel, an ironworker.

Eliot Engel grew up in a city housing project, Eastchester Gardens, and attended New York City public schools.

In 1969, Eliot Engel graduated from the Bronx campus of Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts in history.

Eliot Engel subsequently received a Master of Science in guidance and counseling in 1973 from the same institution, by now renamed Lehman College following the severance of its relationship with Hunter College.

Eliot Engel began his political career in local Democratic clubs.

Eliot Engel taught in the New York City School District and was a school counselor.

Eliot Engel taught at Intermediate School 52 from 1969 to 1976, and then at Intermediate School 174.

In 1977, Eliot Engel entered the special election for a seat in the New York State Assembly after the incumbent Democrat Alan Hochberg was forced to resign.

Eliot Engel was the Liberal Party nominee in the special election, and on March 1,1977, he won by 103 votes, defeating Democratic nominee Ted Weinstein and Republican nominee Arlene Siegel.

Eliot Engel was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1977 to 1988, sitting in the 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, and 187th New York State Legislatures.

Eliot Engel chaired the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, and the Subcommittee on the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program.

In 1988, Eliot Engel ran for the US House of Representatives in New York's 19th congressional district.

Eliot Engel was re-elected 14 more times by at least 61 percent of the vote, and only dropped below 70 percent of the vote twice.

From 1990 to 2018, Eliot Engel only faced two competitive primary contests.

In 2020, Eliot Engel was challenged in the primary by Yonkers school principal Jamaal Bowman, who ran well to Eliot Engel's left.

Eliot Engel initially received an endorsement from New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, Mario Biaggi's granddaughter.

Eliot Engel could be seen shaking hands with the President during a number of televised State of the Union addresses during his time in Congress.

Eliot Engel managed to shake hands with the president at every address, and be seen by his constituents on live television, starting when he arrived in Congress in 1989.

Eliot Engel was a co-sponsor of the United States National Health Care Act, which would implement a single-payer health care system in the United States.

In 2010, Eliot Engel wrote the Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality Act to improve maternity care for mothers and newborns, and to do so in partnership with doctors, advocates, payers, and purchasers.

Eliot Engel supported an improved re-authorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Eliot Engel introduced the Open Fuel Standards Act, alongside Congressmen Kingston, Steve Israel and Bob Inglis.

Eliot Engel played a key role in negotiating the American Clean Energy and Security Act, HR 2454, which passed the House on June 26,2009.

Eliot Engel voted against a 2003 bill that immunized firearm manufacturers and dealers from civil liability for gun misuse, supports "smart gun" technology to prevent guns from being used by unauthorized persons, and voted against a bill to reduce the waiting period to purchase a gun at a gun show.

In 2011, after 400,000 defective gun locks were recalled from the market, Eliot Engel introduced a bill intended to protect parents and children from faulty gun locks by instructing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to set a national quality standard for all child safety devices used on firearms.

Eliot Engel originally introduced the Securing our Borders and Our Data Act in July 2008, HR 6702.

In 2011, Eliot Engel introduced the Drug Testing Integrity Act, which would prohibit products to be sold that enable cheating on drug tests.

In 2010, Eliot Engel urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to stop their plan to ban private transfer fees on cooperative apartment sales.

In 2012, Eliot Engel introduced SNOPA, the Social Network Online Protection Act.

Eliot Engel is a supporter of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and has been an advocate for the causes of Albanian-Americans and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

In September 2020, Eliot Engel stated that "the influence of external actors such as Turkey recklessly meddling" in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is "troubling".

Eliot Engel's Subcommittee held hearings on issues such as the crisis in Haiti, poverty, and inequality in Latin America.

Eliot Engel pushed for increased funding for emergency relief in Haiti, and for Temporary Protective Status of Haitian nationals in the US Eliot Engel is supportive of the "Merida Initiative", in which the US is cooperating with Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to counter narco-trafficking and related violence in the region.

Eliot Engel was one of the leading congressional supporters of Israel.

Eliot Engel wrote the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which was signed into law by President George W Bush on December 12,2003.

In 2016 Eliot Engel was one of only 16 Democrats to join with 200 Republicans and defeat a measure that would have banned the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia who is at war with Yemen.

In January 2017, Eliot Engel introduced a House resolution condemning the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law.

Eliot Engel called for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, and authored a resolution in 1996 calling for its demilitarization.

Eliot Engel received the George Paraskevaides Award on May 17,2007, given to those who have utilized ancient Hellenic values to contribute to the nations and people of Cyprus and America and to the Hellenics in the modern world.

In 2002, although 133 members of the House of Representatives voted against it, Eliot Engel voted for the resolution granting President Bush the authority to use force in Iraq, as did the two Senators from New York, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and almost 300 members of the United States House of Representatives.

Eliot Engel has met with anti-war activists, and in 2008, he publicly called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Eliot Engel received an "A" grade from the Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans in 2008.

In 2007, Eliot Engel became a Co-Chair of the Congressional Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs.

Eliot Engel supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and aided Irish nationals facing deportation from the United States.

Eliot Engel has been a friend of Gerry Adams, former leader of Sinn Fein, and was the author of legislation that prohibits employers in Northern Ireland and Ireland from receiving US funds from the International Fund for Ireland, unless they comply with fair employment and non-discrimination principles called the "MacBride Principles".

In 2010, Eliot Engel was instrumental in helping Joe Byrne return to the United States, after a bureaucratic problem left him detained in Ireland and separated from his family in Rockland County.

Eliot Engel is co-author of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, along with Senator Tom Harkin, which addresses child labor in the cocoa fields of West Africa.

Eliot Engel sponsored a bill to support the Day of Silence, during which students vow to remain silent to bring attention to the harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in schools.

Eliot Engel voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed for states not to be required to recognize same-sex marriages in other states.

In 2018, Eliot Engel condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.

Eliot Engel urged the Trump administration to take a tougher line on China by imposing sanctions on Chinese officials who are responsible for human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

In June 2020, Eliot Engel stated that Polish President Andrzej Duda and Poland's nationalist Law and Justice party "promote horrifying homophobic and anti-LGBTQ stereotypes and policies that run counter to the human rights and values that America should strive to uphold".

In March 2009, the Associated Press reported that Eliot Engel had been taking an annual tax credit on his Potomac, Maryland, residence for at least 10 years, despite the fact that the credit is reserved for people who declare Maryland their primary residence.

Eliot Engel uses the paper as his own personal platform for whatever agenda he has.

Eliot Engel chooses the paper to malign people with whom he has philosophical differences.

In 2014, Eliot Engel appeared at a pro-Israel rally in New York City with anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller.

Eliot Engel was criticized for sharing a stage with Geller.

In June 2020, Eliot Engel appeared at a press conference to address the unrest resulting from the murder of George Floyd.

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

Eliot Engel has received positive marks from major environmental groups such as the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.

Eliot Engel received the National Association of Public Hospitals Safety Net Award in 2007 primarily for the introduction of The Public and Teaching Hospital Preservation Act.

Eliot Engel was honored in 2008 by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the New York Farm Bureau as a Friend of the Farm Bureau for his support of farm issues during the 110th United States Congress.

Eliot Engel received an A on the Drum Major Institute's Congressional Scorecards in 2005 and 2008 for supporting middle-class issues.

In July 2019, the highway section M9.1 between Gjakove, Kosovo and SH22 Fierze, Albania passing through Bajram Curri, Albania was named Eliot Engel Drive by local authorities.