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| The Italian American Congressional Delegation All the news that we can find! (a work in progress) |
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[NOTE: This reporting was done in 2009 and the informationcontained here is outdated] According to the National Italian American Foundation, the Italian American Congressional Delegation and "its Associates, is comprised of nearly 200 Members of Congress." We don't know who the "Associates" are, but will find out soon. It would have been helpful if our Italian American Delegation would have had an official web site - but we could not find one!! Until an official site is set up, we will bring to you all the news and info that we can find about the IACD. Also according to NIAF, in the absence of an official web site, the IACD is currently chaired by The Honorable Bill Pascrell (NJ-8) and The Honorable Pat Tiberi (OH-12) of the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Bill Pascrell
Those of us who have been long enough in Washington, can say that Congressman Pascrell has been a big supporter of Italian American causes. He most recently led the passage of a H.Res 430 a resolution that expresses the condolences of the American people to the citizens of Italy, and offers support for the Government of Italy in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Pascrell co-authored the resolution with. Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH-12), as co-chairmen of the Italian-American Congressional Delegation, and U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY-05), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (pictured above, Italan Ambasador Giovanni Castellaneta and Rep. Bill Pascrell) Congressman Pat Tiberi We then checked Congressman Tiberi's official website to see if has anything on the IACD. In his 613 words official biography, we note that Congressman Tiberi is the son of Italian immigrants, that he chaired the Columbus Italian Festival in 1999 and that he attends the St. John the Baptist Italian Catholic Church. Not a word about his co-chairmanship of the Italian American Tiberi 's Washington DC Office: Phone: (202) 225-5355 It's getting late in the evening and we conclude that since we can't find much about the IACD on the official website of its two co-chairmen, then it is highly unlikely that we will find anywhere. If you do, let us know!
Who are the members of the IACD? First the Senators - Here is the list of Senators (as of July 1, 2009) from the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). We don't know who has the official list. Senator John Barrasso The State of Wyoming is very fortunate to have two Senators, Senator John Barasso and Senator Michael Enzi, with Italian American roots. Let's check Sen. Barasso official web site for any trace of those roots. We type the word "italian" to search his site and the results are: 0 records returned for "Italian." Must be a mistake! "Please enter a different keyword or try a new combination of keywords," we are asked. We type "Italy" and click search: 0 records returned for "Italian." Let's do a manual search --- We find nothing in his "Biography" or anywhere in his web site. We are not discouraged, maybe Barasso's webmaster has not had time to include any references to Barasso's ethnicity! There must be other Italian Americans in Wyoming! Maybe we'll have better luck with the other Senator from WY. Senator Michael Enzi
Senator Enzi official web site, has also a search box. We type "Italian" and we get three results. The first is in the context of a trip that he took to Africa: Here's the relevant passage: "We flew with her and a few guides to Ethiopia to see the famous obelisks at Axum Stelae Field, including the leaning obelisk and the one that was stolen by Mussolini prior to World War II that was returned by the Italians just recently and is currently being reassembled." This is discouraging. The next reference to italian is more explicit. In 2004 he took an official trip to Italy where he " scheduled a meeting with Italy's education minister, a meeting with the President of the Italian Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and meetings with Italian bankers and Italian stock exchange officials. Also on Enzi's Italy schedule is a meeting with Marcello Pera, the President of the Italian Senate. "
NOTED : The first Italian American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives was Francis B. Spinola (D-N.Y.), a Civil War Union general, who served from 1887 to 1891. The first Italian American congresswoman was Ella Grasso (D-Conn.) who served from 1970 to 1975. Congressman Ralph Regula 1973-2009
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We checked the official web site of Congressman Pascrell, who represents New Jersey 8th District to see what we could find about the IACD. In Pascrell's official biography, 1815 words long, not including title, we find out that " Bill is the co-Chairman and founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force. He is also the co-Chairman of the 
Congressional Delegation. We'll send an email to Tiberi's webmaster - maybe he forgot to add that!
We did note however, that he has several pictures on his official website with Italy's Prime Miister Sivio Berlusconi. In one picture, it is noted that "during dinner around the Speaker's conference table Congressman Tiberi told the Prime Minister about his parents who are from a small town in the Abruzzo region of Italy." We now know where his roots are!
