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People on both sides of the aisle want to know why a progressive Democrat is working with the author of last year's House Budget on Medicare reform. Here's why:
When I was 27 years old, I organized legal aid clinics to help low-income seniors. It was a life-altering...
79 Comments | Posted February 28, 2012 | 12:39 PM
Right now, the Obama administration and the International Trade Commission (ITC) are in the process of investigating complaints alleging that China is violating global trading rules to give their domestic solar-and wind-energy industries an advantage on the world market.
The contention is that the Chinese government -- recognizing the...
0 Comments | Posted January 18, 2012 | 4:59 PM
Dear Friends:
Today, thousands of websites have chosen to voluntarily go offline or modify their home pages with public service information. Some have called this a stunt. I say it's a brave and poignant reminder that we can't take the Internet for granted.
The...
0 Comments | Posted December 12, 2011 | 5:22 PM
When the Veterans Affairs Department implemented a program to provide home-based health care to veterans with multiple chronic conditions -- many of the system's most expensive patients to treat -- they received astounding results. The amount of hospital stays for the veterans participating in the program went down...
0 Comments | Posted November 16, 2011 | 10:21 AM
Today, the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing testimony related to legislation designed to combat online copyright infringement. The House Bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Senate version, which I have pledged to block in its current form, pursue an at-all-costs approach to policing the net...
0 Comments | Posted November 8, 2011 | 5:57 PM
Today, the Supreme Court was asked to tackle an important question: does the government need a warrant to use an electronic tracking device to secretly monitor your movements, 24 hours a day?
It's an important question and the fact that it's reached the Supreme Court underscores the fact that...
0 Comments | Posted October 17, 2011 | 3:03 PM
You may have seen the commercials about expanding imports of Canadian oil sands. The slick advertisements feature interviews with "regular Americans" surprised to find out that Canada is the U.S.'s number one foreign supplier of oil. The ad goes on to claim that by 2030, Canada could supply 25 percent...
0 Comments | Posted May 25, 2011 | 1:56 PM
Members of Congress are about to vote to extend the most controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for four more years, even though few of them understand how those provisions are being interpreted and applied.
As members of the Senate Intelligence Committee we have been provided with the executive...
0 Comments | Posted May 19, 2011 | 4:45 PM
Just one week ago the American people heard executives from the top five oil companies stand-up and explain why - despite record profits - they need the federal government to give them a break on their taxes.
We're talking about the billions of dollars in tax incentives and assistance that...
0 Comments | Posted April 14, 2011 | 8:07 PM
The U.S. Senate does not allow legislative provisions to be included in appropriations bills, for much the same reason that most Americans are concerned about earmarks: it creates a slippery slope by which lobbyists and special interest groups can sneak provisions into large, must-pass legislation.
Today, Congress...
0 Comments | Posted April 9, 2011 | 5:26 PM
It is hard to miss the irony in the fact that the very same week that Republicans were publicly heralding Congressman Paul Ryan's plan to inject market forces into the American health care system, they were crafting a budget deal to strip them from the health reform law. While Free...
0 Comments | Posted September 3, 2010 | 2:54 AM
In December of 2006, I introduced the Healthy Americans Act to reform the nation's health care system. Some on both sides of the aisle liked my bill, while others on both sides of the aisle did not. But the time has long since passed for debating the merits...
0 Comments | Posted April 21, 2010 | 7:45 PM
When the first members of Oregon's Army National Guard began returning from Iraq last weekend family, friends and neighbors literally lined up to welcome them home. 110 motorcyclists escorted the caravan of buses along a route lined with Oregonians holding signs to show their support. Parents, spouses and children rushed...
0 Comments | Posted November 16, 2009 | 8:40 PM
Polls show that Americans are really happy with the health insurance that they are getting from their employers; therefore health reform must protect these benefits by making it impossible for Americans to choose anything else.
I am mystified by this argument.
The logic is that, given the...
0 Comments | Posted October 28, 2009 | 6:47 AM
Congress passed the USA Patriot Act six weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The understandably intense fear and panic gripping the nation in those early days following the attacks fueled the near-record speed with which dramatic alterations to U.S. surveillance law were drafted, debated and made...
0 Comments | Posted April 17, 2008 | 4:03 PM
I believe that whether you love your job or hate your job, get laid off or are just in-between jobs, you deserve health care that can never be taken away.
Yesterday, I took a break from talking to the Senate about health reform and started communicating with the American people.
...0 Comments | Posted March 8, 2007 | 10:59 AM
Since 1994, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have considered it politically risky to offer a plan to fix America's broken health care system.
The American public, though, has paid the price for this silence as health care costs skyrocketed, millions went uninsured, and millions more grappled with...
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163 Comments | Posted March 19, 2012 | 4:46 PM