Honorary Co-Chairmen

Nowruz Commission is honored to have two representatives of the United States House of Representatives serve as Honorary Co-Chairmen. With the support of Congressman Royce and Congressman Berman (1982-2012), Nowruz Commission held its Inaugural Event in March 2010 at the Great Hall of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Honorary Co-Chairman of the Nowruz Commission
Inaugural event, March 2010 – Present

U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R) is serving his tenth term in Congress representing Southern California’s 40th District, based in Orange County. He and his wife, Marie, are longtime residents of Fullerton, CA.

Royce’s priorities in Congress are: addressing our national debt, protecting our homeland, eliminating pork-barrel spending, fighting crime and supporting victims of crime, strengthening education for all students, spurring job creation and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.

Royce has a strong history of public service. In 1982, he was elected to the California State Senate where he began his fight for victims’ rights. He authored the nation’s first anti-stalker law and versions of his bill have been adopted in all 50 states. He was also the legislative author and campaign co-chairman of California’s Proposition 115, the Crime Victims/Speedy Trial Initiative, approved by the voters in 1990. In Congress, Royce continues his fight for victims’ rights. He wrote and passed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act in 1996. This law makes it a federal crime to pursue a victim across state lines and enables law enforcement to intervene before violence occurs. Royce was active in passing AMBER Alert legislation in 2003, and legislation in 2004 to enhance rights for victims of crime.

For the 112th Congress, Royce serves as a senior member of two important Committees in the House: Foreign Affairs and Financial Services. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Royce has been named Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade; member of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, Royce is at the forefront of some of the most important issues facing our country. The Subcommittee explores issues including the threat posed by Islamist terrorism, especially the al-Qaeda network; terrorist financing; terrorist sanctuaries and failed states; and capacity building of foreign forces to fight terrorism. The Subcommittee’s jurisdiction over nonproliferation issues is crucial given the severity of the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into terrorist hands.

Within the Financial Services Committee, Royce sits on two Subcommittees: Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises; Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Royce has served on the conference committees for some of the most significant legislation in the financial services arena. For more than a decade Royce has called for a stronger federal regulator to limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s excessive risk taking at the expense of taxpayers. In 2003, he was the first member of Congress to write legislation calling for a single regulator under the Treasury Department for the three housing government sponsored enterprises: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the twelve Federal Home Loan Banks.

Royce has consistently earned honors and awards from the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Watchdogs of the Treasury, Americans for Tax Reform, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, United Seniors Association, 60 Plus, American Share Holders Association, Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Small Business Survival Committee.

A California native, Royce is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and School of Business Administration. Prior to entering public service, his professional background includes experience as a small business owner, a controller, a capital projects manager, and a corporate tax manager for a Southern California company.

eliot engel Official_Photo

Honorary Co-Chairman of the Nowruz Commission
Fourth Annual Gala Event, March 2013

Congressman Engel (D-NY 16th District) is the Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including the Subcommittee on Health, and the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He is the founder and Co-Chair of the House Oil and National Security Caucus, which is seeking clean, energy efficient alternatives to America’s over-reliance on oil. He is also a member of the Democratic Task Force on Health and serves on Commission on Human Rights.

During his political career, Congressman Engel has championed energy independence, affordable housing, real healthcare reform and education for all Americans. To address the problem of American dependence on imported oil, Rep. Engel created the Dependence Reduction through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy (DRIVE) Act, of which many provisions were successfully included in the energy bill that was signed into law on December 19, 2007. He was a leader in passing legislation to protect the Highlands, millions of acres running through New York, including large portions of Rockland and Westchester Counties. Congressman Engel has called for balancing the budget by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and reforming the Alternative Minimum Tax that is hurting so many middle class New York families.

Congressman Engel has made significant achievements in improving our nation’s healthcare. He authored the ALS Registry Act (P.L. 110-373) which established a national registry for the collection and storage of data on those suffering from ALS. Rep. Engel also wrote the Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Act (P.L. 110-361) which promoted research at Centers of Excellence for Muscular Dystrophy. Finally, in the “Public and Teaching Hospital Preservation Act” (P.L. 110-252,) he blocked several Bush Administration Medicaid regulations which would have harmed our hospitals’ ability to provide care.

Rep. Engel has also been a leader in global health, promoting an improved reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Assistance (PEPFAR.) Within the PEPFAR bill (P.L. 110-293,) Rep. Engel successfully included his bill, the Stop Tuberculosis Now Act. This measure provides increased U.S. support for international TB control activities and promotes research to develop new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.

Congressman Engel is the author of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, which successfully sparked international pressure on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, and sponsored a key resolution recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. He is the leader in the House of Representatives on U.S. policy toward Latin American and the Caribbean. In addition, he has written important laws relating to Albania and Kosova, Cyprus, Irish affairs, and is co-author of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, which addresses the child slave labor in the cocoa fields of Africa.

Congressman Engel was born in the Bronx on February 18, 1947. He grew up in a city housing project and attended New York City public schools. In 1969, he graduated from Hunter-Lehman College with a B.A. in History and received a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1973 from Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York. In 1987, he received a law degree from New York Law School.

For twelve years prior to his election to Congress, Mr. Engel served in the New York State Assembly (1977-1988), where he chaired the Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, as well as the Subcommittee on Mitchell-Lama Housing. Prior to that, he was a teacher and guidance counselor in the New York City public school system.

A lifelong resident of the Bronx, Congressman Engel is married to Pat Engel. They have three children.