Tomorrow is the five year anniversary of our military intervention in Afghanistan. That was the right war in the right place at the right time.

It's the place where we should’ve captured or killed Osama bin Laden.

Now President Bush says it's an urban myth that his Administration has lost focus on Osama bin Laden, but the real myth is that Iraq, not Afghanistan, is the center of the War on Terror.

President Bush lost focus on Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora when he held back our military and outsourced the job of killing this barbarian to Afghan warlords.

Where are we today? At a place where America urgently needs a new security strategy to make our country more secure.
There are five principal priorities that demand immediate action: (1) redeploy from Iraq, (2) re-commit to Afghanistan, (3) reduce our dependence on foreign oil, (4) reinforce our homeland defense, and (5) restore America’s moral leadership in the world.  These “5 R’s

The following is a joint entry from Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), sponsors of H.R. 1507, the Safe Food Act:

Last week we were all shocked to learn of the multi-state E. Coli outbreak from bagged spinach that claimed the life of one person and put so many in the hospital. This horrible outbreak reinforces the need for a strong, consolidated food safety inspection system.

That is why we are calling on Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) to hold a hearing on our "Safe Food Act" legislation. This legislation would consolidate all food safety agencies and establish the Food Safety Administration, responsible for the creation, administration and enforcement of our food safety laws. Under current law, food safety monitoring, inspection and labeling functions are spread across 12 agencies in the federal government. The involvement of so many agencies can result in duplication of responsibilities, service gaps and inconsistencies and confusion about which agency oversees different types of food.

E. coli is most often associated with contaminated meat, but this outbreak demonstrates the need to be alert on all fronts. That is why the Energy and Commerce committee should act on the Safe Food Act immediately.

The law and policy of the United States with regard to Cuba make clear that there will be no normalization of relations, or weakening of any sanctions on the Cuban regime, until all political prisoners are liberated, all political parties are legalized, and a democratic transition leading to free and fair elections is clearly underway in Cuba.

President Bush has reiterated our policy. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon recently restated our policy, as has Secretary Gutierrez in the past. The inclusion of a new suggestion such as the one for a "referendum" associated with the Organization of American States (OAS) made Friday by Secretary Gutierrez, was unfortunate and inappropriate. While we all celebrate the referendum that took place in Chile in 1988, it is well known, for example, that Hugo Chavez, who has embarked upon on a campaign to destroy all democratic institutions in Venezuela, carried out a fraudulent referendum in August 2004 that was "validated" by the OAS. The statement by Secretary Gutierrez last week served to diminish the necessary clarity with which U.S. policy toward Cuba needs to be conveyed.

Congress has an opportunity to pass a comprehensive and viable immigration reform plan. I have strongly urged my colleagues to address this issue. Failure to do so will be an abrogation of our responsibility to our constituents and to our nation.

I commend my colleagues who, earlier this year, took the lead in this important debate. I believe every one of us tried in good faith to craft a bill to secure our borders and address the need for a future guest worker program that could meet our economic requirements, but we were never able to resolve significant differences.

In an effort to create a proposal that bridges those policy disagreements, I worked with Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana to incorporate the House priorities as well as elements of the diverse Senate views in a new approach. We have described our initiative as a starting point for determined deliberations that we believe would result in agreement between both Houses on comprehensive reform.

Our proposal first secures the borders of our nation by providing an immediate infusion of financing, technology, and personnel. When the president certifies to the Congress that we have regained control of the borders, our temporary, guest worker program will begin. Read more...

The House of Representatives passed border security legislation Thursday introduced by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.). H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act, moves the nation closer towards achieving a secure border.

There is a growing consensus in America that we need to secure our borders and eliminate illegal immigration incentives. This legislation is a first step in that process but in order to effectively address illegal immigration, Congress needs to adopt much-needed interior enforcement measures, reject any amnesty proposals, and crack-down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

The Secure Fence Act strengthens operational control of our southern border and ports utilizing additional physical barriers, fencing and increased use of state-of-the-art technology. It authorizes the construction of a 700 mile, two-layered fence along the southwest border with prioritized placement at critical, highly populated areas. It also mandates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to achieve and maintain operational control over the entire border by utilizing cameras, ground sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and integrated surveillance technology. A key provision in the bill requires the DHS to provide all necessary authority to border personnel to disable fleeing vehicles, similar to the authority held by the United States Coast Guard for maritime vessels.

I co-sponsored the Secure Fence Act because our borders represent a major vulnerability and we need to immediately address it. This is just the first step in a series of policies Congress needs to adopt in order to achieve a secure border. Next week, the House of Representatives will take up legislation that would provide funding for 1,200 new border patrol agents, increase the number of federal prosecutors for alien smuggling cases, reaffirm authority for state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws and to criminalize construction and financing of border tunnels.

The fact remains that the people in my district expect us to deal with illegal immigration head on and I will continue to fight for interior enforcement, against amnesty and for eliminating illegal immigration incentives.

History has proven that the Democrats have a horrible track record when working toward stability in the Middle East and it's laughable that they would blame President Bush for enabling Iran to become a global menace.  It was Democratic President Jimmy Carter who stood by as Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran, ushering in the dangerous, volatile theocracy that is still in existence today.  Most importantly, it was Carter, not President Bush, who in 1979 watched as the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun and American citizens were held captive for 444 days.

During the Clinton Administration, it is now clear that the secret Iranian nuclear program was up and running and Iran was providing support for Hezbollah and al Qaeda terrorists.  In contrast, President Bush has approached the Iranian problem from a position of strength, not appeasement and has rallied support from the world community to put an end to the Iranian nuclear program.  After all that's happened the Democrats still don't get it.  The pattern of unspoken appeasement clearly does not, and never will, work.  It didn't work in the 70's, didn't work in the 90's and especially won't work now.

When finally faced with growing public awareness and anger over just how corrupt our House had become, Republicans promised a great deal. In January, they asked us to believe they were going to reform their ways and work to eliminate the corruption they made endemic in Washington. But since then, very little has come from the Republican Party, even though it controls the House, the Senate, and the White House. If Republicans were interested in true ethics reform, they could have passed it swiftly. Instead, they seem determined to merely run out the clock on the issue, passing a few deceptive bills here and there while secretly hoping the whole subject will just go away.

We saw their strategy with the first ethics "reform" act passed by the House in February, a minor rules change that did little more than prevent former Members of Congress from using the House gym - as if that is the only place dishonest business transpires in Washington. Then in May, a broader Republican bill theoretically focused on preventing future lobbyist abuses was lambasted by commentators of all stripes for being what it was: a sham.

It has been a history of deliberate inaction, and this week's loophole-ridden earmark legislation was no different. It was nothing more than the latest Republican attempt to look busy while actually protecting business as usual. This bill - set to expire at the end of the year - will do nothing to stem the tide of corruption that has shaken the House to its foundation. It serves one purpose only: to help Republicans look like reformers when they go home to campaign for the November elections.

Read more...

Last week, House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi said the following about Osama bin Laden: "And if he is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done is done. And even to capture him now I don't think makes us any safer."

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I understand that there is no five year statute of limitations on catching terrorists who have murdered and are seeking to kill more Americans. Osama bin Laden has made his intentions very clear. We must never resign to be complacent in our efforts to capture terrorists like bin Laden. The American people don't want amnesty for terrorists.

I support a strong national security agenda that will help defeat Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. This month, the House will pass legislation that will strengthen America's resolve by creating terrorist tribunals to put away captured terrorists and strengthening terrorist surveillance programs to catch terrorists and their facilitators before they conduct new attacks.

Despite a recent ruling by a federal court that the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program was both unconstitutional and illegal, on Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee passed two bills that would approve the program and condone the president’s disregard for the rule of law.

On a party-line vote of 10 to 8, the committee approved S.2453, the “National Security Surveillance Act, Read more...