Lawmaker News

Sunday morning our day began at 4:00 am as we mustered our delegation for a 20-hour day in Operation Iraqi Freedom. As we approached the C-130 U.S. military aircraft awaiting us on the tarmac, we were issued flack jackets and helmets. We greeted our crew as we walked up the ramp under the tail of the idling aircraft. Next stop: Iraq.

1. Mosul, Iraq

Mosul is in the center of the Nineveh Province, which derives its name from the ancient city of Nineveh, the site of the events recorded in the Book of Jonah.

While this region is steeped in the history of the ancient world, our focus was present-day Mosul, which has become, after a difficult period of insurgent violence, a model for the rest of the Iraq.

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The President stated, "The federal government has got a role to play to encourage new industries that will help this nation diversify away from oil. And so we're strongly committed to corn-based ethanol produced in America." The President clearly understands the need to assist our domestic ethanol industry so that they can get a foothold and succeed. Why would the United States want to send a signal that we're backing away from our efforts to seek energy independence by promoting renewable fuels in the United States?

Providing yet more duty-free treatment for Brazilian ethanol would send the wrong signal to those Americans who are devoting their careers to help America become more energy independent. The U.S. ethanol industry is working every day to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. This is a virtue that President Bush has touted again and again.

Providing more duty-free treatment for ethanol won't increase supplies or reduce prices at the pump. It's a solution in search of a problem. It's a bad idea for our energy independence and our national security.

We arrived this morning to a glorious dawn over the Aegean Sea as our jet landed at Athens International Airport. After a country briefing with the US Embassy team here in Greece, our bipartisan delegation traveled to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, Yannis Valinakis. Sitting at a table overlooking the famed Acropolis where stand the ruins of the Parthenon and other structures of the ancient world, we talked about current events...specifically Iran.

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I am pleased that finally we will be having another hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, which the Democratic members of this Committee have asked for dating back a year now. The Senate Republican leadership has been all too willing in the past to answer the siren call from the right-wing special interest groups trying to prevent this Committee from doing its job on judicial nominations. This is a nomination for the second highest federal court in the country, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. If we had considered this nomination today, we would have done so without answers to many critical questions about this nominee’s record. The seven Democratic members of the “Gang of 14 Read more...

North Carolina hospitals have experienced medical liability insurance premiums increasing from 400 to 500 percent for the past 3 years, with small rural hospitals experiencing the greatest increases.

According to two recent studies, North Carolina's nursing homes are experiencing a tremendous increase in their medical liability premiums. Premiums for some nursing homes in North Carolina have skyrocketed by as much as 1,800 percent since 1995. But some in this institution suggest there is not a liability crisis in health care in America.

Next week, people will come to the floor of the Senate and they will, in an incredible way, suggest there is not a crisis in America. I want those in the Chamber today to remember next week not just the doctors who say there is a crisis, and it is real, but to remember the patients out there who are directly affected by our inability to solve this problem. They are the ones for which the safety net is supposed to be there to protect them. But the safety net only works if the infrastructure is there. This is not about cost by itself today. This is about access. And when access goes away, our ability to address it with a safety net is gone.

I call on the President to use his authority and issue a challenge to America - tell us what you think we can do to increase fuel economy in the next 10 years that can help compensate for the shameful neglect Republicans have given this issue over the past 10 years. Give us your proposal. Pick a number, Mr. President. Don't duck and don't pass the buck. Pick a number. We are not missing Presidential authority on fuel economy standards - we are missing Presidential leadership. Read more...

To improve real national security, we must improve our energy security. My amendment to the Defense authorization bill, which was defeated in committee yesterday, would have taken two steps in that direction by boosting funds for advanced power technologies and for alternative fuel infrastructure at military bases. As the single largest buyer of fuel in the U.S., the Defense Department has an opportunity, even an obligation to lead the way in diversifying our energy portfolio. And no time could be better than the present. America's addiction to oil from any source means that our security is vulnerable and will continue to be until we have the vision to look beyond the gas pump.

 

The President's Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan shatters our false sense of security that American society is no longer suseptible to infection on a pandemic scope. In fact, this is a very real threat, and we are not prepared to deal with a pandemic. The report clearly illuminates the fact that America currently does not have the ability to produce and maufacture the vaccines and antivirals necessary to treat the American public if a flu pandemic occurred. We need to create incentives for companies to invest in the research and development of new drugs to treat other newly emerging infectious diseases. Developing new antibmicrobial drugs and vaccines is risky and expensive -- and companies aren't doing enough of it. We need to create a favorable economic climate for these important investments in public health.

Our bill, S.1955, will give working families and small business owners the same bargaining power that big businesses use to negotiate with insurance companies for the benefits they want, at prices they can afford. If Small Business Health Plans can harness the power of America’s small business owners, it will force the entire marketplace to respond. And if we transform health insurance to a market where small employers and family-owned businesses can demand better benefits at better prices, insurance companies will be forced either to keep up with the competition or lose their market share.

Of all the Republicans' misguided policies regarding the Medicare prescription drug plan, their refusal to extend the enrollment deadline is one of the worst. From the onset, the enrollment procedures have been confusing and frustrating to America's seniors. This fact has been underscored by a newly released Government Accountability Office report that found that seniors have been receiving inadequate and incorrect information from Medicare Hotline operators. Each senior's decision will affect their health and their pocketbook, and Democrats have argued for months that Republicans must give them more time to figure out what works best for them. With the deadline now only days away, Democrats will continue to pressure the President and Congressional Republicans to agree to an extension that is appropriate and necessary.

Longer Statement: http://www.hoyer.house.gov/newsroom/index.asp?ID=614&DocumentType=Pres