It was with great relief that I cast my vote last Thursday night in favor of the U.S. Troops Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007 – the bill to deliver much-needed resources to our Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This emergency funding was requested by U.S. military leaders nearly 110 days before Congressional Democratic leadership put forth this supplemental bill to provide $119.98 billion in discretionary funding, much of which will clothe, arm, and otherwise support our troops in the battlefield.

Members of Congress have an obligation to fund combat operations and military efforts, and last week with the passage of the War Supplemental, we fulfilled that obligation. What’s most important is that now our troops will receive the resources they need to do the job they have committed to do. Read the rest of this entry »

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) said unlike GOP frontrunners Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, he will “represent the Republican way of the Republican Party.” Gilmore spent time in this campaign video to single out each of them.

“As our nation faces grave challenges abroad and renewed liberalism at home, we as a party seem poised to abandon those principles. The three leading challengers for our parties nomination may be good men,but they simply don’t share our conservative values.”

I applaud President Bush’s new initiative to combat HIV/AIDS across the globe.  His plan will provide the resources needed to prevent the spread of the disease, treat those who have it, and assist children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

In the last several years, we have made great strides in treating HIV/AIDS, but there is still much to do.  By continuing our fight against HIV/AIDS across the globe, we can build on successful programs to fight back against this horrific disease.

Our global AIDS programs have been enormously successful in promoting prevention of HIV/AIDS through education and testing, providing life-saving treatment for those who have the disease, and assisting children and families whose loved ones are infected.  I look forward to working with President Bush and with my colleagues to expand upon this success. Read the rest of this entry »

The April fire at the D.C. Public Library in Georgetown revealed faulty and broken hydrants in the library’s vicinity. Firefighters were forced to use hydrants located two blocks from the fire. This was a wake up call for the city and the region.

It should be a wake up call for Congress, too. While D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin estimates that at least 10% of D.C. hydrants are broken and another 15% are in need of immediate repair, he states that 15% of the hydrants in the Capitol Hill area do not function and 18% are in need of immediate repair. If faced with a large-scale terrorist attack on the Capitol, first responders may face a malfunction at one out of every three hydrants. Read the rest of this entry »

For two weeks now, Americans have been paying two cents more for a first class stamp. Those two extra pennies aren’t enough to stop most individuals from mailing in a bill payment or sending a birthday card. But for America’s advertising mailers, a few pennies per letter can add up to millions of extra dollars in postage costs, and ultimately, a big impact on our national economy. According to the Direct Marketing Association, advertising mail contributed more than $660 billion in increased sales to the US economy in 2006.

The thousands of businesses and nonprofit organizations that send large envelopes or catalogs (“flats� in official postal parlance) were dealt a major blow earlier this year when the Postal Regulatory Commission recommended postage increases for flats that are far in excess of what the Postal Service had requested last year and what mailers have expected and budgeted for. Mailers expecting a 9-12 percent increase in postage costs for Standard Flat Mail are instead being hit with increases of 20 and more – as high as 40 percent in some cases.

Just as higher gas prices are affecting consumers across the country, these higher postage rates are having a huge bottom-line impact on many businesses and nonprofit organizations – an additional expense many will not be able to afford. Read the rest of this entry »

Video blogging from his car, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said he strongly supports the second amendment in his latest presidential campaign video.

“I believe that every law biding American has the right to keep and bear arms…” Tancredo said. “There are some people that I believe, should not be able to have firearms and those people are felons… Other than that, I am fully committed to the concept of the second amendment. I own lots of weapons myself, enjoy hunting a great deal and enjoy shooting.”

For two years, I have pushed for benchmarks - or ‘conditions for staying’ - in Iraq. The American people and Congress need a way to determine whether our strategies are working and if the Iraqi government is taking appropriate action to stabilize their country. It was reassuring to see benchmarks that I worked for, with my colleagues Senators Warner and Collins, included in the final passage of the emergency supplemental bill. If progress is not made, this bill will give us the groundwork to evaluate what our next steps will be. I’m pleased that Congressional leaders and the Administration agree that this is the right course of action.

The benchmarks would measure the progress of the Iraqi government on goals such as building internal security forces, distributing oil revenue equitably and recognizing the rights of minority parties in Parliament. The President will be required to report to Congress this summer and in September on the Iraqi government’s success in meeting these benchmarks. General Petraeus would also be required to be available to testify before Congress prior to the September progress report. Should these standards not be met, then $1.6 billion in economic support funding shall be withheld from the Iraqi government, subject to presidential waiver.

This agreement was difficult to reach, but it is a good compromise. It will ensure that the troops have the resources they need to do their jobs, critical domestic needs are met and the Iraqi government is accountable for progress in Iraq.

When the 1,000 page Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 reached my desk last week I was pleased to find a provision I originally introduced earlier this year to help curb identity theft was included in bill.

Protecting the identity of hard working Americans is of the utmost importance to me. Identity theft plagues innocent victims across the country, and we cannot take a comprehensive look at immigration reform without addressing this critical issue.

My amendment tears down the wall that prevents the sharing of existing information among government agencies and will help prevent identity theft before the damage to the innocent victim is already done. Read the rest of this entry »

Opportunity will be knocking at the door of thousands of working Americans this summer, in the form of a powerful way to have a say in the issues that affect their lives.

Working America — the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO for people who don’t have unions — is launching a huge canvass this summer to meet and talk to thousands of Americans in nine states who have been left out of the economic debate in this country. Already at 1.6 million members since its founding in 2003, Working America plans to reach 2.5 million by Labor Day 2008. By joining together, these virtually disenfranchised workers can send messages their elected officials can no longer ignore.

Members of Working America don’t fit any profiles of stereotypical progressives. Forty percent consider themselves political independents. Sixty three percent do not have a college degree; 32 percent own guns and 41 percent attend church at least weekly. And they are natural allies of labor unions in the fight for social and economic justice. Read the rest of this entry »

On Memorial Day, I had the privilege of joining New Jersey Veterans in honoring our fallen. I saw an elderly widow approach the monument in Bayonne where the parade started, kiss the fingers on her right hand and touch the name of her husband who fought and lost his life in World War II.

Moments like these bring home the fact that we need to support our troops, but we also need to know when to bring them home. New Jersey Democrats opposed the Iraq Funding Bill because we must determine an end to US combat operations in Iraq. A bill without timelines delays the process and does not hold the Bush Administration accountable. Our men and women in uniform are valuable treasures. Let’s protect them and stand up to failed Iraq policy.