In this campaign video, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) says he is continuing to fight to end the war in Iraq.

"I'm working very hard to stop this war in Iraq," the presidential hopeful says, "To try to make sure Congress understand it has the power to cut off the funds to end the war now."

In the 1920's, commercial companies in our nation could and did own banks.  Some of their failures contributed to the massive collapse of the banking system and the crisis of the Great Depression.  Soon after, Congress began restricting commercial companies from owning banks.  Unfortunately, one loophole in our laws remains and so I have worked with Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank to close that loophole.

When a bank is opened in America, it must apply for deposit insurance from the federal government.  This coverage guarantees that should the bank fail, up to $100,000 will be protected for each depositor.  Banks owned by financial firms face less risk than those owned by commercial companies because they are not as exposed to market fluctuations.  If we had allowed companies such as Enron or WorldCom to own banks, the federal government could have potentially put billions of taxpayer dollars at risk.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer had applied to own and operate a bank with federally insured deposits some 20 months ago.  After Chairman Frank and I gathered 98 Members for one letter and 107 for another, we successfully petitioned the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to twice delay all commercial applications, including Wal-Mart's.  Today Wal-Mart withdrew their request for a bank. Read more...

We must launch an all-out battle against pediatric cancers. Congress must provide the funding necessary to accelerate the groundbreaking research that will lead to new cures and treatments. The Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007 would strengthen our country's investment in childhood cancer research.

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) new campaign video, released Wednesday, describes his experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

His story is told by men McCain served with in the war. "He was incredibly wounded," fellow POW Paul Galanti says, "just horrible injuries when he was captured."

"The only reason why I'm hear today," McCain says at the end of the video, "is because I believe that a higher being has a mission for me in my life."

I proudly voted against the resolution that sets a timetable — that actually announces the date — for our withdrawal from Iraq. And I’ll do so for the same reason that many prominent Democrats opposed it up until the day that President Bush announced his plan for securing Baghdad just two months ago.

Republicans have a message for our allies and for our troops, and it is this: we will continue to fight a timetable for withdrawal that has no connection to events or circumstances on the ground. We will give General Petraeus’s mission a chance. We are proud of the work the General has done. And we stand with him until the job is done.

If Congress doesn't work to hold the Homeland Security Department accountable, who will? The point here is that the department should be communicating with Congress as it moves forward, and that they should be showing us they have a clear plan for improving the scanning capabilities for cargo entering our ports. This amendment lays out a reasonable, agreeable path for the department to show Congress how it is working to expand scanning and ultimately achieve the goal of 100 percent scanning.

The United States is facing a growing dependence on foreign oil and a greater understanding of the threats of global warming pollution.  Both of these issues are very serious and are deserving of our full attention.  I support a broad array of proposals which are both ambitious and achievable, including conservation, development of new technologies, capping greenhouse gas emissions and increasing CAFE standards.  The Fuel Economy Reform Act is an important step towards reasonable CAFE standards, which are both achievable and practical, and would undoubtedly have a positive impact on fuel consumption in this country.

The release earlier this month of MedPAC’s report to Congress on the Medicare physician payment morass once again highlighted the inherently flawed Medicare physician payment update formula – the sustainable growth rate (SGR).

Next year, Medicare will cut payments to physicians 10 percent, as the cost of caring for Medicare patients continues to increase. In fact, current Medicare payments are about what they were in 2001. As seniors live longer, healthier lives, they rely on Medicare to pay for the doctor’s care they need to maintain active lifestyles. But as Medicare slashes payments, doctors are put in the unenviable position of making practice changes in order to keep the doors open.

An AMA survey of physicians found that nearly half would be forced to limit the number of new Medicare patients they treat if a 5 percent cut occurred – that’s half of next year’s cut. We are deeply concerned about the impact on a 10 percent cut on seniors’ ability to quickly get in and see the doctor of their choice.

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Instead of states making a mad dash to the front of the line, we need an orderly primary and caucus system that combines the need to bring Americans truly into the decision-making process with the need to allow candidates the opportunity to interact meaningfully with citizens throughout the nation. This legislation spaces out the primary dates over several months, requiring candidates to establish themselves in multiple states. At the same time, each primary date will include at least one state from every region in the country, which will ensure that a broad spectrum of Americans' views is accounted for in the selection process.

The current nomination system unfairly gives a small number of states - far from fully representative of the nation as a whole - a head start and has led to a number of states rushing to the front of the line to rectify this unbalance. The result is a front-loaded, frantic primary calendar so disorganized that it could minimize rather than maximize a real testing of our candidates. Such testing is an important part of our vital Presidential selection process.

State legislatures around the country are scrambling to move up their primary or caucus dates to give their states more of a say in the presidential nominee selection process - known as "front-loading." In 2008, the Party nomination race may well be over by February 5th. Read more...