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About Vito

Committee Membership in the 110th Congress

Committee: House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittees:  Environment and Hazardous Materials, Telecommunication and the Internet, and 

Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection

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Biography

In November 1997, Vito Fossella was elected to Congress in a special election to represent the 13th Congressional District of New York, including Staten Island and the Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights , Bensonhurst and Gravesend neighborhoods of Brooklyn .

 

Vito serves as a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

 

Among his top legislative priorities, Vito is leading efforts to reduce taxes, strengthen our national security, protect Social Security and Medicare and improve education.  In addition, Vito is at the forefront in securing federal aid to enhance New York ’s homeland security and to help New York City recover and rebuild from the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 .

 

Since being elected to Congress, Vito’s top legislative initiatives have included:

  • Successfully opposed plans to eliminate the federal tax deduction for mortgage interest and state and local taxpayers, which would have resulted in a tax increase of $5000 or more on the average Staten Island or Brooklyn family.

  • Defeated a recommendation to close the Brooklyn Veterans Affairs Hospital -- and also helped secure funding to open a new emergency room for local veterans.

  • Authored legislation to provide every family a tax credit of $4500 a year to offset the high cost of private and parochial school tuition.

  • Successfully saved the Fort Hamilton military base from closure by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission and helped secure funding to build a new commissary and housing for our soldiers stationed in Brooklyn.

  • Restored $125 million in federal funding for monitoring and treatment of first responders who are sick or injured as a result of their service at Ground Zero.

  • Helped secure $21 billion in federal funding to help rebuild and secure Lower Manhattan in the weeks and months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Vito’s political career began in 1994 when he was elected to the New York City Council, representing Staten Island 's south shore and mid-island section.  Less than seven months later, he was convincingly reelected. His top achievements as a Councilman include:

 

·    Authoring the legislation that led to the historic agreement  to permanently close the Fresh Kills Landfill.

·    Conceiving the idea of the South Richmond Rezoning Study, the most comprehensive rezoning initiative on StatenIsland in 50 years

·    Securing funding for the construction of P.S. 56 and P.S. 6, the first new schools to be built on Staten Island in over a decade. 

 

A native Staten Islander, Vito earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania .  In 1993, he earned his Juris Doctor from the Fordham University School of Law.