The Bush Administration's policy toward North Korea has so far failed for one very basic reason: it does not have one. Instead of dealing with the weapons of mass destruction that President Bush knew existed in North Korea, he launched a preemptive war in Iraq - a country that he only thought had these weapons. For the last six years, the Administration has resorted to name calling with North Korea and has not devoted the time or muscle necessary to make the six-party talks effective. While the Administration's rhetoric may make for good political theater, it does not lead to successful diplomacy. Whether it's his policy toward Iraq, Iran, or North Korea, the President's approach to diplomacy is clearly wanting. It is time for the Bush Administration to do more than swagger.

Obviously, I am pleased with the Court's decision.  I think it speaks to the Republican's strategy to undermine the will of the people.  This is about the Court stepping in and stopping that strategy and I am pleased with the decision.

Our hearing will evaluate the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq. We will hear from, among others, the GAO Comptroller General David Walker, Ambassador James Jeffrey from the State Department and Leith Kubba from the National Endowment for Democracy. These perspectives will be valuable in helping us assess our strategy to, in Mr. Khalilzad's words, 'end the war.'

On June 29, Senate leaders from both parties agreed to schedule a vote on H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would lift President Bush’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The majority of the American people support this bill. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed it. A majority of the Senate supports it as well. The urgency of this vote cannot be overstated. People are dying from diseases and medical conditions that might be cured through embryonic stem cell research. For these people, every month matters.

In 1988, Congress mandated that the Department of Defense keep statistics of crimes committed within the armed forces, including sexual assault, similarly to the tabulation of civilian crimes by the Department of Justice. This would allow crime rates to be compared between the civilian population and military personnel. Eighteen years later, the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System (DIBRS) has yet to be fully implemented, even though Congress has repeatedly ordered the Pentagon to complete the process.With hundreds of thousands of our soldiers on active duty defending our nation, we must ensure that servicemen and women are at the very least not at any more risk for crime than the general population, particularly in terms of sexual assaults. We cannot adequately do that unless we have accurate data about the crimes that are being committed, and we have been waiting eighteen years for the Pentagon to complete this project. I have introduced legislation (H.R. 5735) to give DoD a firm deadline to finally complete the implementation of DIBRS in the hope that it will not take DoD twenty years to get the job done. 

 

Increasingly beachgoers are being turned away from our Great Lakes beaches during the summer because of health hazards caused by water pollution. Often times this pollution comes from the dumping of sewage into the lakes by local municipalities. This practice must come to an end. That is why on June 29th, I introduced The Great Lakes Water Protection Act, H.R. 5734, along with Congressman Mark Kirk.Right now, many communities in the region allow untreated sewage flow into our rivers and lakes during heavy rainstorms because their sewage treatment infrastructure does not have the capacity to treat it. This pollution damages our environment and puts the public at risk from the heavy levels of bacteria in the water. The EPA recently determined that in 2003, 10 to 14 percent of swimmers at beaches in the Great Lakes suffered from gastroenteritis, leading to diarrhea, vomiting, and possibly serious illness for at-risk populations. And this is after more than 1,800 beach closings or advisories in that same year.

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Democratic and Republican leaders from both chambers of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol in May to reaffirm our commitment to the Voting Rights Act. Unfortunately, some House Republicans have been undermining our moral and historic commitment to voting rights by stalling the bill. I am encouraged that the Voting Rights Act is scheduled to come to the House floor next week. Democrats will continue to hold Republican leadership to their commitment of passing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation.

I would welcome the opportunity to vote for a free trade agreement with strong, enforceable labor and environmental protections that benefit American workers. Unfortunately, the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement has neither, and I will vote against it. This FTA builds on the failed NAFTA/CAFTA trade model which encourages corporations to abandon the United States to exploit weak labor and environmental standards in other countries. Much like past free trade agreements, it is not in the best interest of U.S. workers, small businesses, farmers, the economy, or the environment. Rather than continue this frantic "race to the bottom" of worker wages and standards, we should repair the damage caused by past trade deals like NAFTA, before more American workers lose their jobs and before more irreparable damage is done to our environment.

As the citizens of Mexico and the world await the final election results, it’s important to recognize the democratic progress Mexico has made to date. It wasn’t long ago that a single political party held a stranglehold on Mexican politics – the fact that this is such a close election with such high voter turnout speaks volumes about Mexico’s democratic progress. It is my hope that the current recount will evolve peacefully according to Mexican law, and that Mexican electoral institutions will prove themselves worthy of the respect of the Mexican people. Close elections and even recounts have become common here in the U.S., and there is every reason to believe Mexican institutions will similarly be able to meet this challenge. Regardless of who is ultimately declared the winner in these elections, it is my expectation that the U.S. and Mexico will remain close partners on the wide range of issues that affect our neighborhood, from border security to narcotics control to human rights and democracy in the region.