(Washington, DC) — The Forward, a nationally recognized American Jewish newspaper established in 1897, has named Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as one of the 50 most influential leaders in the American Jewish community for 2005. This year’s list features such prominent figures as the President of American Jewish World Service Ruth Messinger, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, The Daily Show’s anchor Jon Stewart, Senator Arlen Spector and filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Below is The Forward’s excerpt about Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
“Freshman congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 39, a Democrat from south Florida, has rightly gained a reputation as a rising star of her party. Articulate, with a trademark halo of curly blond locks, Wasserman Schultz burst onto the national scene during the Terri Schiavo controversy last winter, emerging as one of the most forceful advocates for family privacy and against congressional meddling in that tragic Florida case. Wasserman Schultz was speaking for many Jews in her district and nationwide who saw congressional Republican moves in the case as an attempt to legislate the Christian right’s definition of when life begins and ends. Since then, the energetic good-government liberal, the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Florida, has stayed visible by pounding the Bush administration over its response to Hurricane Katrina and its proposed privatization of Social Security. Selected by the House Democratic leadership to serve as a senior whip, Wasserman Schultz meets regularly with her caucus to plot issues and strategy. Her own legislative priorities include health care, banking and immigration issues. A mother of three, she represents one of the nation’s most heavily Jewish districts, stretching from Miami northward to Hollywood. She is unabashed about her own Jewish heritage, active in several Jewish organizations and strongly identified with Israeli security issues.”
