I introduced my legislation in January and even spoke with President Bush after his State of the Union speech to offer to work with him in cutting our dependence on imported oil. The challenge we face is clear. In order to protect our nation and our environment it is essential we use oil more efficiently and develop a domestic economy revolving around clean alternative fuels.

Our country has become increasingly dependent on oil imports from countries who deny their citizens basic democratic freedoms and, in some cases, sponsor terrorism. In the 1970s, the US imported 1/3 of its oil, and now we import 56 percent. If the trend continues, we will be importing nearly 70 percent of our oil by 2025. It is simply unacceptable for us to do nothing while OPEC gains a stranglehold over our economy and our security. In addition, there is now an irrefutable scientific consensus that global warming is real, it is dangerous and it is caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

We cannot delay action any longer. The longer we wait, the longer we are at risk for an energy security crisis or irreversible global warming.

In this clandestine video from a fundraising dinner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) tells the audience and host Barbara Streisand that she is grateful to President Bush for the aid he directed to New York City following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"This is one area that I really am grateful to the president for." Clinton said.

Clinton and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked President Bush for $20 billion for New York several days after the September 11 attacks when Bush had requested money from Congress to repair the Pentagon and pursue al Qaeda. Bush agreed to grant New York the money.

"He kept his word, we did get the money. And I really appreciate that," Clinton added.

Democrats have proposed a bill that would eliminate a worker’s right to cast a private ballot when deciding whether to join a union, and would expose workers to pressure, intimidation and coercion by co-workers and labor union leaders.  I strongly oppose this assault on worker rights.

There’s nothing “free Read more...

After the events of September 11, 2001, the Bureau of Reclamation fortified its facilities through capital improvements and increased guards and patrols.  These expenses were shifted to water and power customers for reimbursement, though Congress had not yet enacted specific authorization to do so and ratepayers were given no certainty that costs would be shared equitably.  On Friday I introduced a bill, H.R. 1662, to eliminate these disparities in current cost-sharing policy, while at the same time providing safeguards and adequate oversight for ratepayers.

The provisions in H.R. 1662 let us solve critical challenges going forward.  It protects ratepayers by providing certainty on their share of costs, provides new sources of revenues to the Bureau of Reclamation on future capital expenses, and delivers a good faith effort by Congress to resolve current disputes on security-related reimbursements. Read more...

The nation’s counties fully support the goals of Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-N.J.) proposed “voter confidence Read more...

I often tell people at home that the differences in Congress are often exaggerated - that members of Congress have much more in common than portrayed in the national media. But watching my Democratic colleagues clap and celebrate the passing of the Iraq War Supplemental made me think we live on different planets.

Maybe it is because I attended two funerals this past week of local soliders who gave their lives for us and whose families displayed so much courage, I can't help but believe this bill betrays our troops, ensures defeat and guarantees that when our fighting men and women come home to America, the terrorists will follow.

And when you look at the multiple timetables in the bill, it seems to me that not content to let our soldiers win this war, this bill instead substitutes a "brilliant" military strategy that gives our enemies this timetable: America will raise a white flag next year but if you fight harder, we will quit sooner. How can that help our troops win this war? Thank goodness Gen. George Washington wasn't hamstrung with such congressional "brilliance." Read more...

We applaud U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) for urging Congress to increase the federal cigarette tax to reduce youth smoking and help fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The U.S. Senate on Friday voted 59-40 in support of Senator Smith’s amendment to the budget resolution that puts the Senate on record as supporting an increase in the cigarette tax to help fund the SCHIP program. This is an important first step toward enactment of legislation to increase the federal cigarette tax for the first time since 1997.

The evidence is clear that increasing the price of cigarettes is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially among children. Studies show that every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent.

A higher cigarette tax is a win-win-win solution for our country – a health win that will reduce tobacco use and save lives, a financial win that will raise much-needed revenue to fund important programs while also reducing tobacco-caused health care costs, and a political win that is popular with the voters.

Read more...

I voted against the Iraq War Supplemental last Friday and it was most controversial bill I've voted on since I've been in Congress.

It set arbitrary benchmarks and guidelines for ending U.S. involvement in Iraq.  The last thing our troops in the field need is 435 generals in the halls of Congress micromanaging this war.  And we certainly don't need to let the terrorists know exactly when they will have free reign in Iraq. No country in the world has ever set a date for ending a war.  It would be great to be completely out of Iraq by August 2008, but what if the Islamic fascists don't agree to the idea?  Most countries fight wars until the war is finished, based on the war situation, and not based on a calendar and an arbitrary date at that.

We, in this over 200-year constitutional government, cannot do things that we should do. Last year, for example, we were not able to pass a budget. We did not pass all of our appropriation bills.  How do we expect the Iraqis to do it by an arbitrary date set by a bunch of politicians? Read more...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been an opponent of the Iraq War since 2002, says the senator's presidential campaign team. This video is a collection of Obama speeches both before and after the war's inception, all making reference to opposing the war.