The week begins with events commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  At home in Hawaii, here in Washington, D.C., and across the United States millions will participate in celebrations on Monday, January 15, recognizing this extraordinary American partiot. 

On Tuesday, I will join Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in introducing the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 in the U.S. Senate.  This is the same legislation that I helped introduce last year, and I am hopeful that the Senate's new majority will move quickly on this important legislation.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate will resume deliberations on S. 1, the Ethics Reform bill.  I support this comprehensive effort to strengthen ethics legislation and am pleased to see that our Senate leadership has made this a top priority.  Having just ended five years on the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics, I believe restoring Americans' faith in their government institutions is essential.

This Wednesday, I will chair the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness hearing on abusive practices in Defense Department contracting.  Our witnesses include the DoD acting Inspector General and the GAO Managing Director for Acquisition and Sourcing Management.

This year, I was asked to take on another committee and was fortunate to be selected to serve on the Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.  We meet on this Thursday to examine the state of transit security in the United States.