I applaud my colleagues in the Senate for ending months of stalemate and delivering a victory for people living with HIV/AIDS with today’s passage of the “Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency Act Read more...

The Iraq Study Group’s report supports many things I have said previously: that "stay the course" is not an option, that the Iraqis must take responsibility for their country, and that regional diplomacy and a political solution are our only real options in Iraq. I hope the President will listen to the bipartisan, highly qualified members of the Iraq Study Group and move past his refusal to listen to informed, credible voices in Congress.

When asked yesterday if we were winning in Iraq, Robert Gates, the President's Secretary of Defense nominee, told the Senate Armed Services Committee simply “no. Read more...

I am pleased that the Iraq Study Group has been able to reach agreement.  They have undertaken a careful, thorough assessment of the situation in Iraq, and I look forward to reviewing their findings with the same level of consideration. The Armed Services Committee should hear testimony from this group, from those involved in the Administration's own review and others.

We need to look carefully at options that will encourage the Iraqis to move forward politically, engage leaders in the region and allow for the redeployment of American forces as soon as possible.  A significant part of this is the need to more rapidly train and equip the Iraqi Security Forces.  Central to all recommendations must be the Iraqi government making political, economic and national security progress.

Because these recommendations have bipartisan support from the ISG, I am encouraged that bipartisan consensus might be achieved within Congress and with the Administration, as well.

Today, the Iraq Study Group (ISG) released its report about our progress and challenges in Iraq.  Congress chartered the Iraq Study Group to advise the administration on our course of action in Iraq and I am satisfied that we have received thoughtful recommendations from the panel.  From the start of our engagement in Iraq, I have said I wanted to see the United States troops out of Iraq as soon as a stable democratic government has been established.  Today's report confirms our successes and highlights what challenges lie ahead for the Middle East.  Bringing democracy and freedom to an area which has only known tyranny and oppression is not a mission which can be taken lightly but it is a goal which must be achieved.

I intend to consider and take every proposal seriously.  While all may not agree with each of the proposals made by the commission, they mark a historic moment of bipartisanship and real discussion about the course of our nation.  This is a time for Congress to come together as one body- not as Republicans or Democrats- to move forward with a strategy for success in the Middle East.

Throughout the last decade, I have watched as trade transformed communities in Texas from areas of marginal business activity to some of the most rapidly developing counties in the nation. My hometown of Laredo now serves as the largest inland port in North America and takes in 60% of all North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) traffic. But NAFTA and our current trade agreements are not enough. If we want to remain competitive and continue to improve Americans' lives, we must keep on pushing for deeper trade liberalization. Thomas Friedman's recent writing on keeping America competitive really strikes a chord with me. He wrote, "If globalization were a sport, it would be a 100-meter dash, over and over and over. And no matter how many times you win, you have to race again the next day."

Racing and winning means not only creating jobs here at home but also ensuring that American consumers have access to affordable imports. With this in mind, the Congress must quickly renew key trade preferences for our allies in the developing world. In this period of post-election bipartisan cooperation, I believe that the renewal of trade preferences is something members of Congress from both sides of the aisle can agree on. As the Washington Post editorialized yesterday morning. "It shouldn't matter whether you're a conservative or liberal, for globalization or against: Some trade bills are so obviously beneficial and unobjectionable that there's no excuse for letting them languish."

The expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) on December 31 makes action particularly urgent. While completed free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia and future negotiations with Ecuador and Bolivia are considered, we must act quickly in extending preferences to all four countries. The failure to renew these preferences would not only create economic chaos in Latin America but also would raise prices for U.S. consumers and hurt U.S. companies working in these countries. In the increasingly globalized world in which we live, damage to U.S. companies operating abroad will have repercussions on our own workers here at home. Read more...

In neonatal nurseries across the land, tiny premature babies, born as early as 21 weeks after fertilization, are given the most careful medical attention. Those born at 22-23 weeks and later now have a good chance of surviving long term. It has been recognized for decades that these babies experience pain, and modern medical practice tries to minimize this to the extent possible.

Yet, every year, many thousands of unborn babies at the same stages of development are subjected to gross traumas, in abortions. In the commonly used D&E method, arms and legs are twisted off by brute force, while the baby is still alive. In the partial-birth abortion method, the premature infant is mostly delivered alive, feet first, before the skull is punctured with a sharp instrument.

Under the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (H.R. 6099), sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a woman who seeks an abortion after 20 weeks gestational age must be offered a brochure to be prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services, advising her of the evidence that her unborn child may experience pain during the abortion. She must also be advised that she has the right to request the administration of a drug to the baby to reduce such pain. Read more...

This week is Congress’ last chance to stop Medicare payment cuts to doctors and preserve seniors’ access to health care. If Congress fails to act, the American Medical Association (AMA) fears that Medicare patients will lose access to needed health care as doctors are forced to change the way they practice medicine.

Physicians want to care for senior patients, but the economic reality of harsh cuts leaves them with few options. Nearly half of the nation’s physicians face total cuts in January of 6 to 20 percent because of the combined effect of various cuts to Medicare. These cuts will force physicians to make difficult practice decisions, and many say they will have to limit the number of seniors in their practice.

The vast majority of Americans share our concern. An AMA poll found that when told about the cuts, 86 percent of Americans, and 93 percent of baby boomers, are concerned they will harm seniors’ access to health care.  This concern reflects baby boomers’ worry for their parents who currently rely on Medicare, and for their own future as they age into eligibility.  Read more...

The American people sent a clear message in November: that after three years of trying to ignore the subject, Congress must confront the issue of Iraq, not only by finding a way to end to the occupation and to bring our troops home, but also by ensuring that nothing like the disaster in Iraq ever happens again.

Today's Democratic Caucus forum on Iraq was a signal of intent, a sign that Democrats heard the message that voters sent in November and we will ensure that Congress finally has a real, informed debate on this unnecessary war, and how we can get out.

I will be working closely with my colleagues in the Out of Iraq Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and I can assure you that the people who opposed this war from the start will be playing a leading role in that debate. Read more...

Yesterday, at a press conference I held on Capitol Hill, I called on my colleagues in the House to support the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act" when it comes up for a vote tomorrow.  The "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act," which I authored, requires that a woman considering an abortion is informed of the intense pain her baby would feel during an abortion and that she is offered the option to reduce the pain inflicted on the unborn baby through anesthesia.

This is a modest but necessary expansion of informed consent.  To date several states have enacted informed consent provisions.  For example Louisiana makes a brochure about fetal development available to women seeking an abortion.  Our legislation simply ensures information concerning pain is conveyed to her.

The "Unborn Pain Awareness Act" requires abortion providers to inform women requesting an abortion when their baby is 20 weeks or more past fertilization that there is substantial evidence that babies at this stage of development do feel pain.  If a woman still decides to have an abortion, she would then sign a consent form indicating that she has received the requisite information and indicating whether or not she has requested anesthesia for the unborn child.  Read more...