This is an exciting day for the Blue Dog Coalition.  Today, the House passed three important provisions of the Blue Dog 12 Point Plan.  Chief among these provisions, PAYGO budget rules mark the first, and most important, step to getting our country back on track fiscally.

The Blue Dogs were proud to stand with Leader Hoyer today in support of PAYGO rules.  We look forward to working with Budget Chairman Spratt and our other colleagues to go further and put PAYGO rules back into law as they were before 2002.  PAYGO worked in the past, and it will work again.

The passage of three Blue Dog-endorsed provisions shows that the Blue Dogs have enhanced the Democratic agenda and will be a strong voice for fiscal responsibility in the new Congress.  However, our work is far from over.  Today's victory is simply the first step to balancing our budget and curbing our out-of-control national debt.

The President has picked a consummate professional to lead the nation’s intelligence efforts. Mike McConnell has a lifetime of experience, gained through his service in naval intelligence, as head of the NSA and as a long-time proponent of intelligence reform.

He is replacing a good man, one of the nation’s best diplomats who will continue to serve our country in the State Department. John Negroponte has guided this essential new organization through its early stages, and Mike McConnell brings his decades of experience to continue its development. His nomination hearing, which I expect will be part of a series of hearings reviewing the progress so far of the DNI’s office, will provide Congress and the public valuable insights into Mr. McConnell’s vision for advancing intelligence community reform.

The Senate has a unique role in our government. It always has. It is the place where the two great political parties must work together if a common goal is to be reached. It is the legislative embodiment of individual and minority rights, a place where the careful design crafted by our Founding Fathers pretty much operates today the way they planned it 220 years ago.

We saw this 43 years ago with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when the two parties forged a difficult alliance to reach a great goal. Segregated buses and lunch counters are difficult to fathom now. But their end only came about through the kind of cooperative resolution that has marked this body from its start.

At its best, the Senate is a workshop where difficult challenges like civil rights are faced squarely — and addressed — with goodwill and careful, principled agreement. And at a time like our own, when so many issues of consequence press upon us, it must be nothing less.

Yet the challenges ahead will not be met if we do nothing to overcome the partisanship that has come to characterize this body over the past several years. A culture of partisanship over principle represents a grave threat to the Senate’s best tradition as a place of constructive cooperation. It undermines the spirit and the purpose of this institution. And we must do something to reverse its course. Read more...

I was humbled and honored to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives - the elected body closest to the will of the people - where brave men and women have stood throughout our history in pursuit of the highest ideals of a courageous nation. I am proud to represent the citizens of my district. I pledge to work tirelessly on their behalf and to stand by my principles and to always do the right thing in Congress.

I was extremely thankful and taken by the tremendous number of supporters who showed up at my reception. It is for them and every one of my constituents that I will work for a better future, one that includes making health care more affordable and accessible, making college and advanced training more affordable, and strengthening our defense security and economic security.

It's time for new leadership, a leadership that remembers that while we are respected for the power of our military and the power of our economy, we are admired for the power of our ideals. And as President John F. Kennedy once said, 'the hour is late, but the agenda is long' - and I now intend to get to work.

A few days ago, Americans United for Change reported that the CEOs of the nation's top companies will earn in two hours and two minutes what minimum wage workers will earn over the course of an entire year.  A pay gap of this enormity contradicts the morals and values upon which our country was founded and is absolutely unacceptable in our nation today.

With the minimum wage frozen at $5.15 per hour for the past nine years and four months, it is becoming essentially impossible for minimum wage earners to provide for their families and meet their basic needs.  Yet, we continue to allow millions of Americans to be relegated to poverty because their earnings aren't keeping pace with their bills.

If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead in this land of opportunity and have a fair shot at living out the American Dream.  That is why raising the minimum wage is a key element of the Democrats "100 hours" agenda that we'll begin passing next week. Raising the minimum wage by $2.10 over the next two years enjoys broad bipartisan support, and I am hopeful that the Senate will join us by passing a clean minimum wage bill as well.

In a PAYGO world, this is $14 billion worth of savings just waiting there on the table. It's good for consumers, taxpayers, and policy-makers to create a clear regulatory pathway to get generic biologics to market. Biologics are great products and need as much competition as possible to be affordable enough for consumers.

Imagine being a Canadian citizen connecting at JFK Airport in New York on your way home from a flight overseas and being grabbed by CIA agents.  Before you know it, you're in a jail cell in Syria, a country the U.S. acknowledges practices torture, accused of being a terrorist.  After ten months of torture, your captors admit you don't know anything about terror and let you go.

Of course, it's widely known that this is exactly what happened to Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, in 2002.  Yesterday, I sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking the Administration to provide the legal basis for this revolting practice known as extraordinary rendition.  (In fact, I asked him for this at a hearing last April, at which time he promised to get back to me.  He hasn't). Read more...

One of the early tests for the new Democratic House and Senate should be easy to meet after I introduce the House vote for D.C. next week.  The Democratic platform calls for more - for two Senate seats, as well, but the taxpaying citizens of the District have agreed to accept this down payment on our full recognition as American citizens.

My good Republican colleague, Tom Davis, got us further than some anticipated, but in the end, the Republican Congress punted.  No one believes that the Democrats will fail us after decades of platforms, pleas, and platitudes decrying this failure of our democracy. Read more...

Today we officially begin the 110th Congress.  This day is a historic day with the ascension of Nancy Pelosi - the first female Speaker in our nation's history.  This is a great accomplishment that should be commended.

The voters made it very clear in November - they want less partisan rancor in Washington and they want Republicans and Democrats to work together on the issues that matter to them.  My fellow Republicans and I have gotten the message, and we stand ready to work together with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do the work the American people sent us here to do. Read more...