Congressional Initiatives

Most recently, Congressman Ackerman demanded greater accountability from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the agency failed to detect the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard Madoff. He has also pushed for changes in key financial regulations in the wake of the nation’s recession, most notably the reinstatement of the uptick rule, revisions of mark-to-market accounting rules, and reforming the manner in which credit rating agencies assign ratings. 

In 1994, Ackerman made history, when as Chairman of the Asia Subcommittee, he traveled to North Korea to discuss with dictator Kim Il Sung the framework under which the communist nation would agree to stop building nuclear weapons. Upon his return to South Korea, Ackerman became the first person since the Korean War to cross the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

Congressman 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 disease.

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 including New Yorkers had failed to be granted the exemption.

In addition, the Congressman lobbied federal security officials – in the wake of September 11 – to use ex-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.

Ackerman is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, and was instrumental in winning Congressional approval of the U.S.-India civilian nuclear energy agreement. Further, he honored Italian-Americans by championing legislation that posthumously awarded the Congressional gold medal to Constantino Brumidi, the Italian-American artist who painted awe-inspiring murals and frescos throughout the U.S. Capitol during the 19th century.