Our country is facing an enemy that has a clear objective of destroying our American way of life, and we need every tool available to prosecute these terrorists.  The Military Commissions Act will enable our troops and intelligence agents to operate against a new enemy of a new battlefield.

To defend the nation after September 11, 2001, we had to go on offense.  These terrorists do not represent any government, but rather a jihadist element intent on harming the United States.  The ability to conduct military tribunals is crucial to our effort to turn back the tide of violence and hatred that fuels the terrorists.

The House of Representatives approved this legislation last month by a final vote of 250-170, with 162 Democrats voting against the measure.  Democrats have not been consistent about how they would approach the enemy we face, and I believe they have a fundamental misunderstanding of our fight against terrorism.

The Military Commissions Act will enable us to keep America safe by making sure the terrorists are off the streets and brought to justice.

Article I Section 8 of our Constitution establishes the framework for our nation’s copyright and patent laws. It grants Congress the power to award inventors and creators, for limited amounts of time, exclusive rights to their inventions and ideas. The founding fathers realized that this type of incentive was crucial to ensure that America would become the world’s leader in innovation and creative ingenuity.

Today, it is no coincidence that America is considered the most aggressive protector of intellectual property in the world and the world leader in innovation and creativity. However, many countries have failed to recognize the importance of intellectual property, which has not only harmed creators in those countries but also U.S. innovators seeking to expand into those countries.

The negative effects of international copyright piracy are staggering. In Russia, approximately 80 percent of all motion pictures and 83 percent of business software are pirated. Considering that the core copyright industries account for 6 percent of U.S. GDP and the total copyright industries account for approximately 12 percent of U.S. GDP, it is clear that America’s businesses are facing a serious problem. In fact, the FBI estimates that U.S. businesses lose between $200-250 billion a year to counterfeit goods.

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Today I had the honor of being on hand when President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006.  The legislation creates a new judicial system to prosecute terrorists and provides fairness in prosecutions.  With this critical legislation, we have given the people who keep us safe the tools they need to do their jobs and save American lives.  It was an honor to work on this bill, and I applaud President Bush for signing this important legislation into law.

It is a sad day when the rubberstamp Congress undercuts our freedoms, assaults our Constitution and lets the terrorists achieve something they could never win on the battlefield. The Republican-led Congress missed another opportunity to write a good law because this Administration was mostly interested in trying to score political points in the run up to the elections and avoiding accountability for its unlawful actions.

They instead should have been interested in setting enforceable guidelines for fighting and winning the war on terror. The President himself wasted no time in politicizing the bill and signaling his true priorities in this debate. The bipartisan Warner-Levin bill would have been a better starting point for legislation, and Congress had no justification for suspending the writ of habeas corpus -- a core value in American law -- in order to avoid judicial review that prevents government abuse.

Today U.S. health care spending has reached 16 percent of our gross national product. At the same time, our population is growing older, and the retirement of the "baby boom" generation will substantially increase health care expenditures. No matter what we do to provide coverage to Americans, or to improve the quality and efficiency of care, a failure to manage costs will undermine those efforts.

One area in which I have focused efforts to reduce costs is the increasing problem of the affordability of prescription drugs, where price increases outpace inflation by two to three fold. That reduces access, and as has been said, "A drug one that one cannot afford is neither safe nor effective."

That is why I joined in a bipartisan effort with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) in 2004 to offer legislation to improve our Medicare prescription drug benefit. While millions today benefit greatly from Part D, the cost of prescription drug coverage is far in excess of what the Congress was promised. Today seniors are realizing help primarily due to government subsidy, without the substantial discounting of drug prices we should be seeing. Our legislation - the MEND Act (S.239) - will assure that the HHS Secretary has an appropriate role in drug price negotiation to ensure that seniors and taxpayers realize the savings they deserve. Indeed, achieving modest additional savings on just a single blockbuster drug would save several billion dollars per year. Such savings are essential to making this benefit more affordable and to providing a means to help eliminate the "donut hole" gap in coverage.

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As I travel the district and talk to the farmers I represent, one issue comes up again and again in conversation: grain prices.  Farmers will tell you they’re pretty happy not only because grain prices are going up, but because they’re rising during harvest, which almost never happens. It’s not a modest rise, either.  Corn prices are up 50 cents a bushel in the last three weeks!

The reason for the spike?  Experts say it’s because of the anticipated demand for ethanol created by the 2005 energy bill.  Our Energy Policy Act nearly doubled the standard for renewable fuel consumption, ensuring there would be a market for ethanol and biodiesel.  The results will be cleaner air and, as we’re already seeing, higher farm prices.

I advocate we continue to build on the success of the 2005 energy bill by increasing the Renewable Fuel Standard to 25 billion gallons a year by 2025.  While there’s more work to do, it is clear our efforts are showing positive results.

If a Democrat is going to win the 2008 Presidential election, they will have to win a significant portion of the West.  Although once solidly a red portion of the country, Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West are rapidly trending blue.  Holding the Convention in Denver will demonstrate that Democrats are serious about reaching out to Western voters.

Denver is the perfect Convention city.  It offers a tremendous variety of affordable lodging, dining, and transportation options that makes it an ideal destination for Convention travelers.  Downtown Denver boasts nearly 8,000 hotel rooms that are within walking distance, from 50 steps to eight blocks, of Denver's Pepsi Center, where the Convention will be held.

Selecting the Mile High City would be a major step forward for the Democratic Party in our efforts to win back the White House in 2008.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose financial and arms sanctions on North Korea for its reported nuclear test.  The U.S.-drafted resolution calls on North Korea to eliminate all its nuclear weapons and demands that nations freeze funds overseas of people or businesses connected with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The United States and the international community have sent a clear message today that North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons will not be tolerated.  China and Japan's support of this resolution underscores the consequences North Korea will face should they continue to reject diplomacy and continue their boycott of the Six-Party Talks.  Pyongyang needs to abandon their reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons while their people are starving due to the lack of economic growth.

Just last week we learned from a mortality study published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, that the Iraqi death toll related to the U.S. invasion there has now risen to 655,000 at a rate increasing from 2.5% to 19%, mostly civilians. I was active in my opposition to the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq for nearly a decade prior to the invasion, because of the high levels of mortality, especially infant mortality, it caused. These percentages dwarf those, turning a humanitarian tragedy into a nightmare.

Now, with no clear victory or end in sight after 3 years of military intervention, we are trillions of dollars in public debt, the war proceeds at a cost of $9 billion a month--over $200,00 a second, and $21 billion or more is missing from the accounted funds for this war. Massive profits have accrued to a few corporations, creating an economy and federal budget without the resources to solve the pressing social problems or meet other needs here at home.

This war has also led to an unprecedented erosion of Constitutional rights, civil liberties, Posse Comitatus, privacy, rights to dissent and free speech, due process and habeas corpus principles, the Geneva Convention, United Nations accords, and many international laws and relations that have guided us and been our strength, and our source of respect around the world. Read more...