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2004 JCT Awards Dinner
Honoree
Charles B. Rangel
Congressman, 15th Congressional District
The State of New York
 Charles
B. Rangel is serving Congressman his seventeenth term as the
Representative from the 15th Congressional District,
comprising East and Central Harlem, the Upper West Side, and
Washington Heights/Inwood. Congressman Rangel is the Ranking
Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, Chairman of the
Board of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and
Dean of the New York State Congressional Delegation.
Congressman Rangel is a
member of the Trade Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways
and Means which has jurisdiction over all international
trade agreements. The Congressman pays particular
attention to trade with the Caribbean and Africa, and the
development of international trade in Upper Manhattan.
As the senior Democratic
Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, Congressman
Rangel is also a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation
for the 105th Congress on the Internal Revenue
Code and the implications of proposed tax legislation. As a
Congressional advisor to the U.S. Trade Representative, he
is also involved in international conferences and
negotiating sessions on trade issues. Congressman
Rangel is also a member of the President’s Export Council,
working to build consensus on international trade matters
among its membership of business, agriculture, labor,
Congressional leaders, and Cabinet officials.
Congressman Rangel is the
principal author of the five billion dollar Federal
Empowerment Zone demonstration project to revitalize urban
neighborhoods throughout America. He is also the author of
the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is responsible for
financing ninety percent of the affordable housing built in
the U.S. in the last ten years. The Work Opportunity Tax
Credit, which Congressman Rangel also championed, has
provided thousands of jobs for underprivileged young people,
veterans, and ex-offenders.
As the former chairman of the
Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, Congressman
Rangel continues to lead the nation's fight against drug
abuse and trafficking. In his efforts to reduce the flow of
drugs into the United States and to solve the nation's
continuing drug abuse crisis, Congressman Rangel serves as
chairman of the Congressional Narcotics Abuse and Control
Caucus.
Congressman Rangel is a
founding member and former chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus; he was also chairman of the New York State
Council of Black Elected Democrats and was a member of the
House Judiciary Committee during the hearings on the
articles of impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
Congressman Rangel served in
the U.S. Army from 1948-52, was awarded the Purple Heart
and Bronze Star. Congressman Rangel has authored several
pieces of legislation to benefit minority and women
veterans, including a successful bill that established the
Office of Minority Affairs Within the Department of Veterans
Affairs. In the area of foreign affairs, he played a vital
role in ending the apartheid regime in South Africa and
restoring the democratic government in Haiti.
Congressman Rangel is a
graduate of New York University and St. John's University
School of Law. He has spent his entire career in public
service, first as an Assistant U.S. attorney for the
Southern District of New York, and later in the New York
State Assembly. He was elected to the 92nd Congress on
November 3, 1970, and has been re-elected to each succeeding
congress.
Congressman Rangel lives in
Harlem with his wife Alma, who is the Co-Chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus Spouses and participates in many
civic and community organizations. Congressman and Mrs.
Rangel have two children.
Congressman Rangel's letter |
