Americans trust the Coast Guard to protect them from emerging threats approaching our homeland from the sea, to rescue them when they are in danger, and to protect the natural resources of our marine environments.  That trust is well-placed.

However, Americans also need to know that that they can trust the Coast Guard’s leaders to manage taxpayer money effectively and efficiently and to provide the tools that the men and women of the Coast Guard need to succeed.

Further, Americans need to know that when a multi-billion contract is signed, the parties to that contract will accomplish its objectives to the best of their abilities. Read more...

At a 2008 presidential campaign stop in Florida, John Edwards said the United States is a poor example in fighting global warming.

"The problem is America is four percent of the world's population emitting 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases," Edwards said. "We are an offender; we are not an example for good. We have to clean up our own house first."

Editor's Note: Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said the following in response to Michael Moore's latest film project, entitled "Sicko," in which he argues that Cuba's health care system is superior to that of the United States.

It is completely incorrect to even insinuate that the health care system of the Castro brothers is superior to that of the U.S.

My congressional district has a large Cuban exile population, and I often hear firsthand accounts of the disastrous level of care provided by a Cuban regime which denies its own people, particularly human rights dissidents and any voices of internal opposition in Cuba, access to even the most basic medicines and treatment.

Furthermore, it is well-known that Castro’s Cuba has two health care systems – one for tourists, as well as Communist Party officials, and another for Cubans, who are denied even aspirins. Read more...

Next Tuesday, the nation will mark Equal Pay Day – the annual shameful reminder that women must wait nearly four months into the new year to earn as much as men earned the previous year. This wage gap is real – women continue to make only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the numbers for women of color are worse.

It cannot be dismissed as the result of women’s choices in career and family matters. And the consequences of these pay disparities are profound and far reaching, costing women and their families thousands of dollars each year while they are working and thousands in retirement income when they leave the workforce.

Unfortunately, current law is simply inadequate to address the wage gap. While Congress intended to remedy the “serious and endemic problem Read more...

Yesterday was tax day. Americans deserve a tax code that is simple and fair and that is why I support the Tax Code Termination Act (H.R. 510). Because of our current system, the IRS plays a much too prominent role in our lives. This legislation would help end that unwelcome intrusion and put a stop to a tax system that leaves too many working families confused, angry and overtaxed.

H.R. 510 terminates most of the current code by December 31, 2010 while requiring Congress to approve a new federal tax system by July 4, 2010. It declares that any new federal tax system should be simple and fair while applying a low rate to all Americans, providing tax relief for working Americans, and protecting the rights of taxpayers and reduces tax collection abuses. It also would eliminate the bias against savings and investment, promote economic growth and job creation, and finally would not penalize marriage or families.

Americans deserve a better system and H.R. 510 would help us create one.

The most important tool kids will take to school is their eyes. Good vision is critical to learning, in fact, 80 percent of what kids learn in their early school years is visual. Unfortunately, that fact is often overlooked -- only one in three children receive any form of preventive vision care before entering school. That means many kids are in school with an undetected vision problem. One in four children has a vision problem that can interfere with learning. Some children are even labeled “disruptive Read more...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in a speech on Monday to the Economic Club of Memphis, said Congress had mismanaged federal spending habits.

"As any new member of Congress quickly learns, there are really three parties in congress, three: Republicans, Democrats and appropriators," McCain said. "And woe to the member who challenges the supremacy of the latter!"

The Democratic majority has filed 21 cloture motions so far this session. At this rate, we’ll have 160 cloture motions by the end of the 110th Congress. This would shatter the old record of 82 back in 1995 and 1996. Now, the purpose of filing cloture early is to end debate and accelerate the passage of a measure. But abusing this privilege has the opposite effect. If the minority is shut out of debate, it will block legislation until its members are respected and their voices given an opportunity to be heard. We’ve seen this happen again and again over the last three and half months, as the majority has repeatedly struggled and failed to move legislation. Republicans take no joy in this, but we will continue defend our right to be heard.

April 17 should be just another beautiful spring day.  Unfortunately, this year it is Tax Day.  It is a day that millions of Americans dread and fear because of our oppressive Internal Revenue Code.  For weeks now, Americans have been filling out pages of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms and paying money to accountants and tax attorneys in an attempt to comply with over 60,000 pages of rules and regulations.  Over the past 94 years, the American people have been forced to deal with the heavy burden of income taxes, and I believe that now is the time for change.

Now is the time to highlight the need for fundamental tax reform.  While we may not all agree on the best form of fundamental tax reform, we can absolutely agree that our current income tax code is unfair and must be replaced by tax legislation that is simple and fair for all Americans. Read more...