The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general science society, congratulates the next president of the United States, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, on his historic and decisive election-day victory. We extend our congratulations as well to Senator John McCain for his service to the American people, and for his participation in an election that is a cornerstone of democracy.

In his acceptance speech of November 4th, 2008, President-elect Obama told the story of a 106-year-old American woman named Ann Nixon Cooper. He noted that, during her lifetime, “a man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin,” and “a world was connected by our own science and imagination.” President-elect Obama further called on U.S. citizens to “put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids, to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace.” Read the rest of this entry »

Concern over how America will meet its future energy needs is causing the power industry, politicians and even some environmentalists ask whether new nuclear power plants should be part of the nation’s energy mix. Increasingly, they are answering in the affirmative.

Among the factors that are getting nuclear a second look are rising electricity demand, possible greenhouse gas legislation, and American dependence on foreign energy imports, combined with high costs and the relative unreliability of various alternative energy.
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American technology companies this weekend are applauding passage in the House of a two-year extension of the Research and Development Tax Credit. The technology industry calls upon leaders from both chambers and the President to work out their differences and agree upon a two-year extension before the 110th Congress adjourns.

As everyone knows, time is running out. Legislators of all stripes express strong support for extending the credit in principle. However as long as they debate budget process, the message companies hear is ‘take your R&D elsewhere.’ And where R&D goes, jobs follow. Read the rest of this entry »

Since May 22, 2008, the FCC has been mulling a plan that calls the AWS-3 spectrum band to be used for a nationwide lifeline broadband service. This proposal is designed to kick start broadband competition, lower prices, and provide all Americans equal access to the myriad of benefits that come from being connected to high-speed Internet. Legislation now has been introduced in both the House and Senate that would require the FCC to auction this spectrum band for free nationwide broadband service.

Despite the significant political consensus supporting the availability of a lifeline broadband service, AT&T and T-Mobile, two of the largest phone companies in the world, have used procedural tactics to delay the pending vote twice this summer even though all five FCC Commissioners had voted in September 2007 to complete this important proceeding by an August 14, 2008 deadline. Key members of Congress noted last week the concern that the FCC should not fall for these procedural gambits by incumbent carriers that are designed to protect their turf and prevent competition. “By every measure, the U.S. is losing the international broadband race and our competitiveness as a nation is at stake,” stated Representatives Anna G. Eshoo and Edward Markey in an August 7, 2008 letter to Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman. “We are concerned that unnecessary interference testing would needlessly delay this auction and that this constitutes the very rationale to kill this effort totally.” Read the rest of this entry »

The health of the automotive industry is essential for our nation and particularly for my district which is home to the Ford plant in Avon Lake. This industry has the potential to help turn our economy around and it is critical that any recovery package include funding for the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program.

The initiative will provide low-interest credit to U.S. automakers and parts suppliers, allowing them to usher in the next generation of fuel efficient vehicles. Not only will this promote job growth, but it will help clean up our environment while reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

That is why I joined with Reps. Sander Levin (D-MI) and Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) to lead a coalition of more than 70 Members of Congress in urging House Leadership to fully fund the program. This funding will help bring renewed vitality to the automotive sector, while helping to ensure America is at the forefront of clean car technology.

Yesterday the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the controversial Child Online Protection Act (COPA); the law required Web operators to restrict access to large amounts of constitutionally protected speech.  COPA placed severe restrictions on a wide range of legal, socially valuable speech, including content relating to sexual identity, health and art.

In its ruling today the court said COPA “cannot withstand a strict scrutiny, vagueness, or overbreadth analysis and thus is unconstitutional.”  The appeals court decision was the seventh since 1998 that found serious constitutional problems with COPA.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Enzi is ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Yesterday, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Chairman of the HELP Committee, along with the CEOs of some of America’s largest employers and I joined together for a press conference to urge passage of the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act,” S. 1693, a bipartisan bill that will encourage the adoption of cutting-edge-information technologies in health care to improve patient care, reduce medical errors, and cut health care costs.

Doctors, hospitals, health care advocates, and the business community — including small businesses — are clamoring for Congress to take action and establish uniform health IT standards. Time is of the essence. Pen and paper record keeping can’t keep pace with the miraculous advances being made in medical science and health care. Keeping one foot in the 20th century while trying to prepare our health care system for the difficult challenges that lie ahead just won’t work. Congress should act on Health IT legislation as soon as possible, so that we can establish an interconnected, nationwide health technology system to improve the quality of care in this country. Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Lieberman is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

As part of my oversight duties as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I gaveled to order a closed hearing the other day to find out more about the Administration’s new cyber security plan, known as the Cyber Initiative. The plan, which has been kept under tight wrap, takes a government-wide approach to protecting the federal government’s information systems and databases. This means that many agencies will have newly defined responsibilities, which Congress needs to know about. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) part of the initiative has tripled in the past year, and that too merits our close attention. Read the rest of this entry »

This past week, a group of bi-partisan Senators from the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee led by myself, Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and the Committee’s Ranking Member, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), introduced legislation aimed at ending the deceptive practice known as phishing.  The Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (S. 2661) would prohibit the solicitation of a consumer’s personal information through the use of emails, instant messages, and misleading websites that trick recipients into divulging their information for the purpose of identity theft.  The legislation would also prohibit related abuses, such as the practice of using fraudulent or misleading domain names, by defining them as deceptive practices under the FTC Act.

Phishing and other online fraud activities directly undermine the vital trust of online consumers.  In a world that is growing more dependent on technology, we need to take every step possible to make the Internet safer and more reliable.  This begins with restoring the trust and consumer confidence that has been eroded by the prevalence of deceptive emails and websites that are defrauding the American people. Read the rest of this entry »

At midnight on Feb. 16, the nation’s terrorist surveillance law expired because House Democratic Leadership refused to bring up bipartisan national security legislation. At that moment, intelligence officials who spend their days listening in on phone calls between terrorists overseas were legally barred from following new leads without first following outdated and cumbersome warrant procedures — even if neither caller is calling from within the U.S.

House Democrats refused to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, ignoring a majority in Congress as well as the views of the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Mike McConnell, whom Democrats and Republicans tapped three years ago to “connect the dots.

Faced with an urgent warning by Adm. McConnell, House Democrats closed up shop and went home. That decision, according to top intelligence officials, left the U.S. more vulnerable to attack. Read the rest of this entry »