Five years after the last recession ended, we still have higher poverty, lower wages and more uninsured.  We need to change our economic course.  Our focus should be on supporting working families, rather than on further enriching the wealthiest among us.

This Democratic Congress is moving in that direction by increasing the minimum wage, expanding health coverage for children, broadening access to educational opportunities, and addressing inequities in the tax code.

The resignation of Attorney General Gonzales is good for the president and good for the country. The responsibilities of the U.S. attorney general make it one of the most important positions in the federal government. For that reason, we need an attorney general who will maintain the Justice Department with the confidence of the American people. I look forward to the president’s appointment of a steward of justice who will administer the Constitution without prejudice and restore faith in the Department of Justice.

I was pleased to learn yesterday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has finally decided to resign. During the attorney general’s acrimonious tenure, he continuously displayed his complete disrespect for both the rule of law and the oversight responsibilities of Congress. For these reasons, I have long demanded his resignation.

As we move forward, many questions still remain. Alberto Gonzales cannot be the sacrificial lamb of this White House. A special prosecutor must still be appointed to investigate the attorney general’s false statements to Congress and the apparent criminal violations of law by Gonzales and others, including President Bush, by initiating the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program.

Rep. Nadler is chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. 

I thank Alberto Gonzales for his public service and wish him well in his future endeavors. It is my hope that whomever President Bush selects as the next Attorney General, he or she is not subjected to the same poisonous partisanship that we’ve sadly grown accustomed to over the past eight months.

I called months ago for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign over privacy abuses by the FBI and the lingering controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors.  It was past time for him to go. He had not been honest with Congress.  His credibility was shot. He has not respected the Constitution.

Now, let’s hope that the confirmation process for whoever the president nominates to replace Gonzales will be a healthy refresher course in constitutional values for the Bush administration and for the American people. Read the rest of this entry »

Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job. He lacked independence, he lacked judgment, and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove. This resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.

The resignation of Attorney General Gonzales is long overdue. The rampant politicization of federal law enforcement that occurred under his tenure seriously eroded public confidence in our justice system.

The President must now restore credibility to the office of the Attorney General. Given the serious loss of public trust and the disarray at the Department of Justice, the American people must have absolute confidence in the integrity of the next Attorney General as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and as defender of our constitution independent of political influence. The President’s nominee must have the character and stature to command that confidence. Read the rest of this entry »

Under this Attorney General and this President, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence.  It is a shame, and it is the Justice Department, the American people and the dedicated professionals of our law enforcement community who have suffered most from it.

The obligations of the Justice Department and its leaders are to the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people, not to the political considerations of this or any White House.  The Attorney General’s resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know — that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a great respect for John Warner’s service to our country and for his willingness to seek new directions in Iraq.  He is of the President’s party and the White House should listen closely to what my senior colleague from Virginia has to say.

There is nothing happening in Iraq that was not only predictable but also predicted. The United States must move aggressively toward a regional diplomatic solution that will stabilize the region. This will free up our forces to fight the war against terrorism and deal with long-neglected strategic challenges in other parts of the world.

Nearly half the students in four of Ohio’s big city public school districts are attending failing schools that rate a D or F on the state’s latest report card, according to an analysis by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

Further, relatively low percentages of both charter and district schools in the state’s eight-largest cities fared well in state and federal accountability systems. Only 38 percent of the district schools met the federal standard for adequate yearly progress, compared with 28 percent of urban charter schools.

The four-city analysis found 46 percent of 183,000 public and charter school students in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton attend schools rated either in academic watch or academic emergency, the two lowest categories in the state’s rating system. Read the rest of this entry »