Op-Ed

This is the time when every second-term president starts thinking about his legacy. 

Plain and simple — the farm bill should not be used as an avenue to increase dairy prices and distort the dairy market.

The continued political attacks aimed at U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder represent the most insidious kind of political gamesmanship.

 “I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

Six months into the 113th Congress, the GOP has doubled down on the limited identity it developed in the 112th. 

This is not a conspiracy. This is self-defense. 

As a survivor of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., two-and-a-half years ago, I am determined that no one else should have to endure such grief and loss.

This month, the House is writing appropriations bills for fiscal 2014. And it’s a crucial step. The budget resolution House Republicans passed in March outlined our vision for the country; it enunciated our principles. But these appropriations bills will put our principles into action. If we pass them, we’ll cut spending the right way. And we’ll reroute funding from yesterday’s priorities to today’s.

During the past week, we’ve heard about a series of major violations of our civil liberties, including the extremely alarming news that the National Security (NSA) is collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of American customers of Verizon. This wholesale snooping on innocent Americans is an unacceptable violation of one of our most basic freedoms, the right to privacy and to be free from government surveillance, and one of many unintended but predictable consequences of the USA Patriot Act. 

Slowly, step by step, the behemoth known as tax reform could return this year, after a quarter-century, to dominate the national conversation and affect every American.