[5] He was a VISTA volunteer (1966–1967) in Baltimore and San Francisco, and was an associate at a Los Angeles law firm, Levy, Van Bourg & Hackler (1967–72) specializing in labor relations.

Other members remarked on what a tough politician he was; the Bermans helped arrange a primary defeat for at least one colleague (Jack R. Fenton) who had opposed his bid.

[19] When the August 2001 plan was unveiled, Congressman Brad Sherman, a fellow Democrat from California, complained that it undermined the safety of his seat with too many Hispanic voters, saying, "Howard Berman stabbed me in the back.

[24] Following redistricting, Berman decided to run in the newly redrawn 30th Congressional District, facing fellow Democrat Brad Sherman.

He has also voted against amending the constitution to require a balanced budget, against banning the desecration of the American flag,[11] against the Defense of Marriage Act, and against restrictions on abortion.

In that same year, he also voted to phase out many farm subsidy programs put into place by the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the "New Deal".

[38] In May 2012, Berman co-sponsored a bill with Republican Congressman David Dreier of California to reinstate tax credits given to films produced mainly in the United States.

He has been named as one of the primary politicians involved in the creation of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

[citation needed] In a September 2008 hearing of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Berman criticized the National Institutes of Health's policy requiring NIH-sponsored research to be submitted to a database open to the public by saying that "the N in NIH shouldn't stand for Napster.

"[42][43] According to LA Weekly, "Berman played a key and under-appreciated role in securing passage of a resolution that gave President George W. Bush broad authority to use force".

[44] The National Journal reports that Berman, "played a critical role in winning passage, by a wide margin, of the Iraq War resolution in October 2002.

"[34] Berman is also a supporter of Israel, telling the Jewish newspaper, The Forward, after being appointed Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist.

[45] In 2003, Berman expressed his concerns over the Patriot Act with then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, specifically on the method to hold illegal immigrants until they prove they are not terrorists.

[46] In 2000, Berman, along with then-Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, proposed an amnesty, which would have granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented farm laborers.

In exchange, requirements that growers provide housing to guest workers, and pay them a minimum wage adjusted annually for inflation, would have been relaxed.

[citation needed] OpenSecrets named 151 members of Congress who had investments (as of year end 2006) in companies that do business with the United States Department of Defense, suggesting that such holdings conflict with their responsibility for U.S. security policy.

"Gene Smith, Berman's chief of staff, said that the bulk of the congressman's foreign travel can be attributed to his being a senior member on the House Committee on International Relations."

Five private groups (Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG) jointly sent a letter to the ethics committee urging it to ban or restrict such travel.