The U.S. House of Representatives approved Rep. Anthony Weiner’s request for a leave of absence.

Weiner (D-N.Y.) requested a two-week leave of absence in order to enter a treatment center to deal with his addiction to having inappropriate online relationships with women. He reportedly entered treatment over the weekend. House memebrs approved the leave request Monday with a unanimous voice vote.

Calls for Weiner to resign have mounted from his own political party, including from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

House Majority leader Eric Cantor (R.-Va.) last week called on Weiner to resign, and on Monday he suggested that Weiner should be stripped by his party of his place on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, his only committee assignment.

President Obama addressed the controversy for the first time on Monday, saying during an interview on NBC’s “Today” that “if it was me, I would resign.’’

“When you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can’t serve as effectively as you need to, at the time when people are worrying about jobs, and their mortgages, and paying the bills — then you should probably step back,’’ Obama said.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a matched gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT