Congressional passage of the Darfur Peace & Accountability Act, H.R. 3127, which I co-sponsored, will help provide millions of Sudanese citizens with the assistance they need to survive. I am also pleased that the President recently appointed a Special Envoy to focus exclusively on the ongoing genocide in Sudan.

This measure, which was passed by Congress and will be signed by the President, strengthens sanctions against individuals and governments responsible for the atrocities in Darfur. It also authorizes additional funds for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid, and provides additional assistance to the African Union Mission in Sudan to stabilize the region.

While passage of H.R. 3127 is an important step, more needs to be done. On August 31, the U.N. Security Council authorized that a significantly larger force be deployed to Sudan to protect civilians. That needs to happen. I have urged the United States to increase pressure on the Sudan to accept the new U.N.-authorized force and to establish a no-fly zone in Darfur to help protect civilians.

I am hopeful that with the NEA initiative and our efforts in the Congress, we will find the will to put in place the policies and investments necessary to ensure that all of our students are able to attain a high school diploma, preparing them for postsecondary education and careers. We must target the resources to where there is the greatest need and focus on building core literacy skills across the curriculum. Many of our young people are entering high school without the fundamental reading and writing skills necessary to succeed. We must make graduation the goal – the standard. The first threshold for secondary school accountability must be graduation with a diploma.

I’m Angie Paccione, a state representative from Colorado who is running for the Fourth Congressional District against Marilyn Musgrave. Like the rest of the country, I am absolutely appalled that the powerful politicians in the U.S. Congress sheltered the predatory behavior of Mark Foley. This morning, I called on Marilyn Musgrave to join me in demanding that Speaker Dennis Hastert step down from his leadership post. Speaker Hastert is presiding over a culture of corruption, and this is the last straw. The moral crisis into which the House leadership has thrown the Congress is not the product of yet another partisan fight; it is a question of honoring the values of decency and service that all members of Congress ought to value. The special interest protection racket that shielded Foley needs to be dismantled.

I applaud members like Geoff Davis, who donated the $1,000 he received from Foley’s PAC to a child advocacy agency in his district. I hope that every other campaign committee Foley supported has or will join Congressman Davis. This is not the time to cave in to powerful politicians. When a powerful institution like the U.S. Congress passively tolerates abusive and predatory behavior like Mark Foley’s, it has betrayed the trust of the people.

I am asking Marilyn to help me in urging Foley to transfer his campaign funds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Predatory behavior like Foley's ought to teach her how important the center is, given her past opposition to it. I hope Marilyn seizes this opportunity to champion a vital program and do the right thing for vulnerable children who are victimized.

I think Congress owes it to this country to pass a comprehensive immigration reform. Congressman Pence and I have put forward a well received and respected proposal as a starting point that is very credible. I am pushing our caucus and our leaders to do what we need to do. There is so much support for that, and it is our job. It is our responsibility.

We are making progress. I think the border security issues are a down payment. They are good and I support them, but I think we will never have a secure border until we have a temporary worker program that works.

Illegal immigration is not a new problem. Actually, we are facing our current situation -- some estimates projecting 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. -- because this country has failed to enact solid border security measures to stop the problem before it begins. In the waning hours of Congressional session last week, the Senate finally followed the House's lead to get tough on securing our border. The Senate passed a bill the House earlier approved allowing for 700 miles of two-layered, physical fence to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border and a virtual fence to be installed along the entire border. With that passage, we have taken the first step in enacting real and tangible border security.

It was long past time that Congress stop just talking about border security and get tough and I look forward to President Bush signing the bill into law as soon as it arrives at the White House. While this is a good first step, I will continue to push for stronger enforcement of our immigration laws. We owe it to our current and future generations of Americans to do all we can to ensure our national security and economy are not threatened by a weak and unenforceable border. We can enforce our laws on the border if we continue providing the right tools to our border agents. Congress still has a lot of work to do to address illegal immigration, one step at a time. I plan to push for those forward steps when Congress returns to session next month.

I am appalled by the actions of Mr. Foley.  Had he not resigned, it is my belief that he would have been expelled from the House, and rightfully so. The people of this country will not tolerate this kind of behavior, and neither will I.

As a father and as a supporter of legislation designed to stop the exploitation of children, I hope that House leadership and law enforcement authorities will investigate this matter.  Mr. Foley must be held accountable for his actions.  If he has violated the law, he should be prosecuted just like anyone else would be.

Earlier this year Mr. Foley's Florida Republican Leadership PAC donated $1,000 to my re-election campaign.  On Friday, the same day as Mr. Foley's resignation, I donated $1,000 to Boone County Court Appointed Special Advocates, Inc. (CASA).

CASA volunteers play an instrumental role in child court cases ensuring that children do not get lost in an overwhelmed judicial system.  CASA volunteers are appointed by family court judges to serve as advocates for dependent, abused, or neglected children.  CASA volunteers work to protect our nation's most vulnerable children. For more information on CASA, please visit: http://www.casanky.org/.

Michael Steele’s new attack ad is blatantly hypocritical and misleading. Steele has a habit of saying one thing on television and doing another in reality, so it’s important to set the record straight.

Make no mistake, Michael Steele has taken millions in special interest money. On television he says he’s against gifts from lobbyists, but in reality he accepts gifts from lobbyists. His administration is strongly opposed to drug reimportation, so his new position on that issue should raise some eyebrows too. We’re supposed to believe Michael Steele will be a different kind of Senator? This sounds like the same old Washington hypocrisy.

Ben Cardin is the Democratic Senate Candidate from Maryland.

I am sure many of you are as stunned, saddened and angry over the recent revelations that Representative Mark Foley engaged in possibly criminal behavior with minors serving as pages in Congress. This scandal hits close to home for me. In 1993, my daughter Hannah was a page in the Senate. I sent her to Washington and I expected her to be safe and free from harassment. Thousands of other parents have done the same.

This incident raises a number of very troubling questions that demand answers from a scandal-ridden Congress that doesn't like to answer questions. After all, this is a Congress in which we've seen bribery, criminal convictions and former Members sit in jail. The House Ethics Committee has been inactive for the last two years.

But there is something concrete and realistic that the House can do right now to address the anything-goes culture that is so rampant in that chamber.

Common Cause calls on the House of Representatives to return to Washington DC before Election Day on Nov. 7 to establish an outside ethics commission to provide ethics oversight and enforcement of a body that has proven now beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is incapable of policing itself.

Read more...

I support a full investigation of former Rep. Foley's actions by Congress and the Justice Department. It is also important that Congress correct any mistakes from this incident, so we can protect Congressional pages from harm in the future.

As further details are disclosed about the interaction between Foley and Congressional pages, the clearer it becomes that we must continue to educate our children about the dangers of online communications. Children are increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation while online.

I commend the former pages for making authorities aware of their concerns. It is important that young people know that they can come forward when they feel threatened by online advances, regardless of the source.