Politics

A few years ago, when I was still serving in the Senate, I was asked to support legislation that would ban the practice of slaughtering horses for human consumption. My initial reaction was cool to the notion that the federal government should be mandating or telling owners of these horses what they can or cannot do with their animals. However, my initial instincts on such a policy were outweighed by the personal and practical experience that horse owners brought to my attention, including my son, Chet.

An avid horseman, Chet is active in the horse industry and had rescued several horses from a “killer buyer” — one who buys horses from sometimes unsuspecting owners and then sells them to slaughterhouses. My son retrained and sold those horses to become champion polo ponies. His experience showed me that live, active horses support an important infrastructure of jobs and economies in the United States. A live horse needs to be fed, groomed and trained, as well as receive vet care, among other things. This in turn creates and maintains a viable and enduring way of life in rural America. The sale of horses to killer-buyers in fact generates very little profit for the seller while simultaneously choking off the demand for the goods and services that other buyers would create.

As Congress debates whether to legalize Internet gaming, it’s important to guarantee that Native American tribes are dealt a fair and honest hand. They deserve nothing less.

Not inviting majority stakeholders to weigh in when drafting game changing legislation is as shortsighted as doubling down at a poker table before you see your cards.

Yet that’s exactly what some lawmakers are doing when they draft Internet gaming legislation and deny tribal leaders and tribal gaming regulators a seat at the policy table. We believe that’s wrong, and we’re determined to make certain the voices of Native Americans are heard. Today, there are 565 federally-recognized tribes and nearly 3 million Native Americans spread across the United States. They have a huge stake in this outcome, but you wouldn’t know it by reading the legislation which has been introduced so far.

With great fanfare, the Obama administration and the state attorneys general recently announced the completion of what’s being touted as the largest consumer financial protection settlement in U.S. history. The country’s top mortgage servicers agreed to provide as much as $25 billion to help some past and current homeowners because banks regularly submitted foreclosure documents that were not properly reviewed or notarized (aka robo-signing).
 
At first blush, the settlement would appear to present an ideal opportunity for the market — paralyzed in part by the uncertainty over potential legal liabilities — to move ahead towards a much-needed housing recovery. In that regard, its completion was way overdue. In fact, by some accounts the statute of limitations on some of the abuses either had already or was about to run out.
 
While some will surely argue that the banks should be squeezed for more, the deal does provide some meaningful assistance for distressed and underwater homeowners. Mortgage servicers also agreed to a new set of standards to govern how they must work with homeowners moving forward who are at risk of foreclosure. It’s hard to take issue with a well-intentioned, bipartisan agreement between the legal authorities and the banks over admittedly shoddy mortgage paperwork.

Our country faces a crisis of confirmation.



200 unconfirmed presidential nominees.

Over 900 straight days with more than 80 vacancies on the federal bench.

Over a dozen unfilled ambassador posts.

More than 30 “judicial emergencies” declared by the federal judiciary due to an enormous backlog of cases.

 The confirmation process for presidential appointments is broken. Delaying tactics and political maneuvers, sometimes by a single member of Congress, have for years now impeded our government’s ability to function, under both Democratic and Republican administrations.



Over and over again, Senate gridlock has stymied the confirmation of well-qualified and often critical candidates, leaving key positions unfilled and our judiciary overworked and understaffed.

 No Labels – a group of Republicans, Democrats and Independents dedicated to making American government work again – has put forth a solution, one of 12 ideas to fix Congress in its Make Congress Work! action plan.



The rivalry between John Boehner and Eric Cantor is unusually destructive, says Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.).

Something dramatic happened quietly in the still of a recent afternoon.
 
A Senate amendment that would create an entirely new federal crime, dramatically increase statutory terms of imprisonment for half a dozen crimes, and overrule two Supreme Court decisions, among other things, was added to the swift-moving STOCK Act that is shooting through the legislative process like a New York-bound Acela train.
 
But despite the fact that the amendment would make dramatic changes to the nation’s criminal laws and have a profound impact on individual liberties, it passed by voice vote without debate or discussion.
 
If you blinked, you would have missed it.
 
Politicians cannot seem to resist looking to the criminal laws for a quick fix to any problem. But it’s time to find a different way to address the nation’s challenges.

Transparency, accountability, honesty and integrity -- these are key words to describe what the American public deserves from public administrators. United States Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice are not exempt. In fact, of all cabinet level positions, the attorney general is expected to operate with the highest level of integrity. Attorney General Holder has failed our country in the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious.

As a the only member of the House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) from Arizona, I have closely participated in the investigation of Holder, the DOJ and this operation, leading the charge for transparency and accountability. Despite the efforts of the Committee, Attorney General Holder has been evasive about facts, loose with the truth and obstructionist with information. Where there should be transparency, we have stonewalling. One DOJ attorney is even refusing to testify, instead pleading his Fifth Amendment rights.

While I would have voted "Yes" on a clean FAA reauthorization, I was one of 157 Democrats and 12 Republicans who voted "No" on H.R. 658, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act.  Why?
 
First, language in the bill dates back to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which was originally passed in 1926.  It was amended during FDR's New Deal in 1934 and 1936 and has governed the railroad and airline industries since - for the past 75 years. Not just the transportation unions, but a total of 19 unions opposed H.R. 658 because it set about to rather dramatically rewrite a labor law that has served the transportation companies, the unions and the country well. Why the sudden need to radically change the law without prior notice, without any apparent need to change it and without congressional hearings? If changes were needed, what was wrong with a more deliberative process that involved the affected parties?

More than 22 centuries ago, China was populated by scores of warring tribes and competing sub-cultures. They wore similar clothing, ate similar foods, and had similar ways of life. But they spoke different languages. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, had a vision to create a unified China that would last for the next ten thousand years. Qin Shi Huang standardized units of measure, currency, wheel spacing of carts, and commanded scribes to create an official written Chinese language. All of China then communicated in the same language.

A common language is the most powerful unifying force the world has ever known. It is more powerful than race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The unifying official language does not have to be English, yet we are fortunate the common language of the United States of America is English. English is the international language of commerce, politics, maritime, and of air traffic control. English is by far the most unifying force uniting America, knocking down ethnic, religious, and cultural barriers to make us one and the lingua franca of the world. Today as we rally for unity and patriotism, our common form of communications currency binds us together and propels us toward our destiny.

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When it comes to Latino voters and how we feel about abortion, “conventional wisdom” should be thrown out the window. Traditional thinking—at least among many elected officials and political operatives—goes something like this: Latinos are socially conservative, strongly Catholic, and therefore they must be opposed to legal abortion. The reality is that Latino opinion on reproductive health and decision-making is much more complex and nuanced. To clear things up, let me provide five possibly surprising facts that should help debunk some of the myths that exist about our community: