He was known to be one of the more liberal members of Congress and helped to secure money for many programs for education, poverty relief, and housing improvements.

[citation needed] For his first 10-and-a-half terms, Kleczka represented a district that included most of the southern half of Milwaukee, as well as part of eastern Waukesha County.

Rep. Frank Annunzio (D-IL) repeatedly butchered it to the point that an exasperated Kleczka took to calling him "Rep.

He credits religion as part of the reason for his recovery and continued to meet regularly with fellow recovering alcoholics.

He officially retired in January 2005 after ten terms in Congress, and was succeeded by State Senator Gwen Moore, also a Democrat.