Berman Set To Lead House Foreign Affairs Panel

By Staff Reporter of the Sun | February 12, 2008

With the death of Rep. Tom Lantos, a Democrat of California, Rep. Howard Berman, also of California, is expected to take over the powerful House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. Berman praised the Hungarian-born Lantos yesterday in a statement. "Tom Lantos was a distinguished and able chairman of the foreign affairs committee, greatly admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle," he said. "As a Holocaust survivor, Tom brought a unique moral perspective to his work, informed by his vast knowledge of world history. He was a true giant in advancing the cause of human rights around the world."

Mr. Berman has been an iconoclastic legislator on the House committee he will be taking over. In 2004, he pressed the Treasury Department to relax restrictions on trade with Iran to allow Iranian dissidents such as a Nobel Prize-winning author, Shirin Ebadi, to publish work in America. He was also a strong supporter of the Iran Freedom and Support Act in 2006, legislation opposed by many on the left flank of his party.

Last year, Mr. Berman sponsored legislation that would create a fund for Iraqi refugees who worked closely with the American Embassy and military, granting special visas for those most at risk.