Peter DeFazio represented Oregon’s Fourth Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1987 until 2023, making him the longest-serving Congressperson in Oregon history.
A steadfast, unapologetic progressive (and co-founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus) he fought to create good-paying jobs, restore educational opportunities, hold government accountable, unrig our political system and economy, and tip the scales of inequality back in favor of working people.
Over 36 years, Peter was never afraid to tell the hard truth to anyone – Republican, Democrat, President, lawmaker, military brass, bureaucrat, opponent, or ally – who needed to hear it.
Peter’s fearlessness earned him the nickname “The Tiger of the House,” and a reputation as one of the toughest members in Congress.
Leaving Congress hasn’t slowed Peter down at all. He created the Progressive Americans for Democracy Political Action Committee (PAD PAC) in 2005 to help elect the next generation of lawmakers who not only won’t back down from tough fights, but who’ll start a few themselves.
Learn More About Some of Peter’s Biggest Victories and Proudest Career Moments
As Chair of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Peter capped off a career of pioneering work in consumer aviation security by leading the 2020 investigation into the Boeing MAX disasters. His committee’s damning report led to bipartisan legislation mandating an overhaul of aircraft certification. Their work prevented captive regulators and greedy profit driven CEO’s from ever putting a defective plane in the sky again.
Peter was one of just a handful of Congresspeople to push back on both Republican and Democratic presidents’ efforts to outsource American jobs. He opposed Clinton on NAFTA, China MFN and the creation of the WTO. In fact, he spoke, marched, and was tear-gassed at the 1999 protests of the WTO in Seattle. .
In the wake of the 2008 banking collapse, Peter proposed a transaction tax to make Wall Street pay for its own mistakes. Though ultimately unsuccessful, his work led to critical changes to the TARP that saved taxpayers billions.
A long-time infrastructure nerd (there’s really no other way to describe it), Peter wrote the framework that guided the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill – our country’s first major infrastructure investment in half a century, and the largest in our history.
In 2006, Republicans in Congress tried to sabotage the US Postal Service so they could privatize it – a longtime GOP wishlist item. Peter drafted the USPS Fairness Act to save the postal service and introduced it in the House every year until its passage in 2022.
An Air Force veteran and advocate for vets everywhere, Peter advocated for better veterans' benefits and health care across the U.S. At home, Peter arranged for the construction of a state of the art VA facility in his district. Later, when he learned that vets were receiving substandard care, Peter pushed the VA to investigate, and then replace, the facility’s poor leadership.
Peter’s proposal to make Wall Street pay their fair share in taxes made him the first member of Congress to be targeted by a Super PAC. In fact, right-wing billionaire Robert Mercer spent nearly $2 million attacking Peter from 2010 – 2020.
A national leader in environmental policy, Peter was at the forefront of the Democratic effort to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. He exposed sham proposals like “cap and trade” as gifts to Wall Street and big polluters and offered bold plans to protect our environment, not millionaire investors. He introduced legislation to cap, regulate, reduce and fine when violated an aggressive schedule to eliminate GHG pollution following the very successful model of the historic Clean Water Act. In November 1998, he represented House Democrats at the Kyoto Protocol conference in Buenos Aires.
His passion, creativity, attention to detail, and sense of humor made Peter’s floor speeches almost legendary. Watch a few of our favorites!
Six fun facts about Peter DeFazio:
