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Eliot Lanze Engel (b. February 18, 1947) is a politician from the state of New York who currently represents the New York State 17th Congressional District.
Engel was born in The Bronx and he graduated from Hunter-Lehman College. Engel was elected to the New York general assembly as a Democrat in 1976. In 1988, Engel was elected to the House of Representatives, after defeating Congressman Mario Biaggi, who had been charged with racketeering in the Wedtech scandal, in the Democratic primary. (Biaggi was eventually jailed by Rudolph Giuliani and subsequently ran against and lost to Representative Engel in 1992).
Engel is a member of the House International Relations Committee and the Middle East Subcommittee, as well as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He previously served on the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities.
Congressman Engel is also a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the Democratic Study Group on Health, and the Long Island Sound Caucus. He co-chairs the Albanian Issues Caucus and is an Executive Board Member of the Congressional Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs.
He is a supporter of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has also been an advocate for the causes of Albanian-Americans. In 2003, he authored the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which was signed into law by President Bush on December 12, 2003 [1] (http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c108:6:./temp/~c108K7fnhG:e796:). In this Law, Congress authorized penalties and restrictions on US relations with Syria for its occupation of Lebanon and for its relationship with terrorist groups.
Engel is running for re-election in 2004, hoping to serve a ninth term.
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