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.

Beginning with the Independence Day launch, more test-firings on
Wednesday and continued threats of even more launches today, I am urging
the U.S. and our allies to keep up our guard and stay calm in the face
of this provocatory ineptitude.  We should assure our trusted allies,
especially the Japanese of our determination to defend them.

This provocative action by the repressive North Korean regime is another
indication of their recalcitrance.  This action also is a test of the
genuineness and reliability of China's leaders who prop up the N. Korean
regime.  Their tangible reaction will be telling of their true
intentions.

Saturday, July 1st, marked the 38th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a treaty that will be rendered virtually meaningless if the proposed U.S. - India nuclear deal moves forward.Our country should be working to strengthen bilateral relations with India, but that effort should not come at the expense of nearly 40 years of international efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

Reversing decades of U.S. policy and tacitly allowing India's military nuclear programs to proceed without international oversight will severely undermine the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Our actions with regard to India will have broad-ranging implications on our efforts to hold Iran and North Korea to international standards.

By selectively violating our own commitment to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, we send the message that we will sacrifice international standards for non-proliferation when it suits our strategic interests. While there may be merits to the proposed deal with India, they are far outweighed by the prospect that China or Russia may follow our example.

The United States has few, if any, better friends than India. I feel strongly that the United States and India are destined to be great partners as they seek to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. One of these challenges is the need to develop new sources of energy. The Indian economy is growing by leaps and bounds, offering new opportunities, not only for India itself, but for India's partners as well. India will need to develop ten of thousands of megawatts of new power capacity in the next few years to meet this need and lift India's poorest from poverty.

But there is another twenty-first challenge that India and the United States must meet together. And that is the challenge of nuclear proliferation, particularly the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of extremist governments and terrorist movements. Read more...

There is a Legal Assistance Foundation right down the hall from my district office, and I see hundreds of people come through there, often coming into my office, because its the only legal recourse they can seek--its the last hope they have.

There are not enough resources, there are not enough attorneys.

Legal Assistance lawyers are just swamped, sometimes I feel sorry for them, knowing the number of cases they got.