The Administration

This Administration, like its predecessors, has a broad pool of talent to choose from in filling this critical post.  At a time when Iran is thwarting the will of the international community, North Korea is testing missiles, and the Middle East is a powder keg, Mr. Bolton has not demonstrated that he is the best choice for job.  And we need the best.

In my 31 years of military service, I was charged not only with defending this country but also its freedoms. If my time in the Navy taught me anything, it was that we serve in this all-volunteer military to defend Americans' freedom to think as they please, and to say what they think, even if they disagree with their leaders. A democracy is based on freedom of expression, and those who join the military do so to fight, if necessary, the wars which defend that freedom-hoping that our use will be to a wise end.

Whether President Bush or Secretary Rumsfeld likes it or not, these freedoms include the right of Americans to dissent with its government and to demand change. The military serves our country; those ultimately responsible for our military, our citizens, not only have the right-they have the duty-to speak up about what is occurring in Iraq and its impact upon America's security. That is what being a citizen in a democracy is all about.

This is particularly true when our citizens see so many failures in how this Administration has conducted the war. For someone like Secretary Rumsfeld to compare critics of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy to those appeasing Nazis before WWII is reprehensible. That is why I am running on a belief formed from 31 years in the service of our country: That whenever America has looked itself in the national mirror at a time of great challenge, it has said 'we are better than this,' and we have acted in the best interests of our citizens. I call on Curt Weldon to join me in challenging those who insult our values in this manner.

I’m pleased with the re-opening of beef trade with Japan, but frustrated by reports out of Japan that consumer confidence in U.S. beef is weak. Considering the extensive efforts to lift Japan’s ban on U.S. beef and the importance of the Japanese market to the Nebraska and U.S. beef industry, it’s bothersome that U.S. beef has not even made its way to a majority of retailers and restaurants because many are still cautions about offering the product.

I sent a letter last week to U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Johanns asking the agency to outline its plan to revive the fledgling Japanese market for U.S. beef. America’s beef producers have already endured enough delays in lifting Japan’s ban. Now that we’ve cleared that hurdle, we shouldn’t experience any more delays on behalf of the USDA’s lack of foresight and planning. According to a recent news report, the last time the ban was lifted the U.S. exported 700 tons of U.S. beef to Japan between Dec. 16, 2005 and Jan. 20, 2006 when trade was first reinstated. Since Japan re-opened its trade once more this month, the U.S. has only exported just over 17 tons of beef between Aug. 7 and 17, 2006.

I know the beef industry and exporters are doing their best to try and regain the confidence of Japanese consumers and I want to ensure that the USDA is also engaged in these efforts. I’d also like to offer my assistance in helping U.S. beef find market acceptance in Japan.

I don’t want to be too ominous, however. Just this week one of Japan’s largest barbeque chains announced it would be receiving its first imports of U.S. beef. I hope to hear more hopeful stories like this in the near future. Now that we’ve jumped the bureaucratic hurdles and resumed trade, we need a plan to reassure Japanese consumers of something I’ve long believed—that U.S. beef is the highest quality and safest beef in the world.

Today we say thanks to our fellow citizens, including many from our district, who contributed financially and played a critical role in the rescue and recovery efforts on the ground during Katrina and its aftermath. However, we must also reflect on what went wrong, so we do not repeat our past mistakes. What we witnessed a year ago was heart wrenching and terrifying; what we have seen in the last year from Washington in the millions wasted on no-bid contracts is inexcusable. The federal government has promised to fix FEMA and to improve emergency planning and preparedness, but where has the oversight been? How much more prepared will America be if another Katrina happens? The people of this district deserve better than ‘FEMA-style’ government. They deserve a new direction in the way Congress handles the critical needs of the American people.

Recently, my campaign began airing a commercial on cable television that notes the disappointing direction Bush Republicans have taken our country in these past few years. The President and his rubber-stamp Republican Congress have failed us in Iraq and in the fight to lower the cost of prescription drugs and gasoline prices. We need common-sense change in Congress, and we need it soon. Watch my commercial and let me know what you think.

This week marks the third anniversary of a report that laid bare one of the most disastrous failures of government I have seen in my 30 years as a legislator. In 2003, the EPA Inspector General released a report that confirmed what I had been saying from the beginning of the recovery process -- the EPA had failed abjectly and miserably to fulfill its mandate in the aftermath of September 11th.

The 2003 Inspector General’s Report detailed misleading and falsely assuring statements make by EPA officials about air quality post 9/11, and specifically cited White House interference as a major factor in those statements. It also found that the Agency’s 2002 so-called "Indoor Air Residential Cleanup Program" was deeply flawed in design, too limited in scope, utilized inadequate testing and cleanup methods, and therefore did not meet "the minimum criteria for protecting human health the EPA established. . . ." Since the publication of this damning internal report, there has been plenty of talk by the EPA, but to this day, a complete failure to act in the manner called for by the IG.

Three years later, I, along with my colleagues from the New York Congressional
Delegation in the House and Senate are calling on the EPA to finally comply
with the findings of the Inspector General's Report issued on August 21, 2003.
This week marks the third anniversary of a report that laid bare one of the most disastrous failures of government I have seen in my 30 years as a legislator. In 2003, the EPA Inspector General released a report that confirmed what I had been saying from the beginning of the recovery process -- the EPA had failed abjectly and miserably to fulfill its mandate in the aftermath of September 11th.

In a letter we sent to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, we demand that
EPA “make a full and complete disclosure to the public about the health risks
associated with World Trade Center contamination, and institute a proper testing
and clean-up program for all buildings contaminated by the terrorist attacks.

In another sharp rebuke to the Bush administration’s ongoing abuse of presidential power, a federal court ruled that the National Security Agency cannot continue to intercept the phone calls and emails of Americans without court warrants. This was the first ruling by a federal court on the constitutionality of the illegal spying program and was in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor agreed with the ACLU that the NSA warrantless spying program violates our rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. She also found that the program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Additionally, she rejected the government’s argument that the case could not proceed because of concerns that “state secrets Read more...

The President’s recent veto of legislation to update outdated stem cell policy in the light of scientific advances, supported by 193 Representatives and 37 Senators, not only hurts research at the federal level, but also impairs state research as well. Federal funding is currently restricted to research using 21 old, contaminated stem cell lines. Meanwhile, scientists have developed techniques to derive more efficacious, uncontaminated lines that have proven three times as popular among scientists over the last three years, despite the absence of federal money to conduct research on them. State stem cell initiatives have attempted to fund research using the newer lines, but federal policy has once again gotten in the way.

Because of the restrictive federal policy, states cannot use facilities or equipment purchased with federal funds to conduct research on stem cell lines that are ineligible for federal funding. This has forced states and universities to spend large sums of money on redundant equipment and laboratories, as well as create expensive bureaucracies to track which costs can be paid with federal funds. New Jersey is spending 75% of its money for stem cell research on new equipment and a stem cell research institute. The University of California-San Francisco is spending $6 million to remake a lab for stem cell research. In a recent report entitled “Too Much to Ask

I was particularly displeased with Abe Foxman’s response to my posting because he deliberately miscast my critique of the Administration’s handling of Middle East policy and then had the gall to suggest that I had turned a blind eye to the regional threat posed by Iran.
Abe, it is not I who stood by while Iran and extremists were strengthened in the region. It is policies, pursued by this Administration and, I dare say, supported by you, that are responsible for the nightmare we see before us.

The disastrous war in Iraq, the unilateralism of the Sharon/Olmert governments, our neglect of Lebanon and now, the onslaughts against Gaza and Lebanon—have all contributed to making a Middle East that is more dangerous and more anti-American than at any time in history—with Iran sitting in a corner licking it chops.

The current wars raging in the region are neither “clarifying Read more...

John Bolton is still the wrong man, for the wrong job, at the wrong time.  His record over the past year has shown that the Senate was right to not confirm him last time around.  The world is literally blowing up around us.  We need someone who can advance America’s interests and get results.  And whether it’s North Korea, the Middle East or Darfur, John Bolton isn’t getting the job done.

If President Bush were determined about installing at the UN a proven Republican who could work the art of diplomacy at this critical time, he need look no further than his own father - President Bush "41" - who would be - as he was in those days after the tsunami - the right man, for the right job, at the right time.