Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) yanks a student’s ethernet cable out of its wall socket and makes him pay her before he continues researching a term paper in the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) latest web ad.

The NRSC has targeted Landrieu for an objection to Sen. John Sununu’s (R-N.H.) bill to make permanent the moratorim on Internet taxes.

Landrieu has since denied that she supports Internet taxes. In a letter to supporters, Landrieu said this week that she voiced the objection on behalf of an absent member (Delaware Democrat Tom Carper) while holding the floor in an attempt to save funding for a Louisiana children’s mental health program.

Representing a rural state in the Senate presents some great opportunities to bring unique issues to the attention of national leaders. Certain things are frequently on the minds of constituents, including improving access to high-quality, affordable health care. At a time when Congress is looking for ways to improve access to affordable health care, expanding access to telehealth technology is a common-sense investment.

Through telehealth, a patient in Platte, South Dakota can visit with his specialist in Sioux Falls through a video screen without traveling two hours for the visit.  In South Dakota, telehealth technologies are utilized by all three of our major hospital networks. Additionally, many of the rural health clinics that serve the health care needs of some of the smallest communities in our state also utilize these technologies.

As the Senate recently began work on legislation funding various health and education programs, I was pleased to introduce an amendment that would increase funding for telehealth. Read the rest of this entry »

Fifty years ago on October 4, the Soviet Union changed the world by launching Sputnik I into orbit. People who were alive in 1957 vividly remember Sputnik.

It shocked the American public and dwarfed the achievements of our rocket program. It was so serious that President Dwight Eisenhower had to go on national television to apologize for our failure, and promised a boost to our science efforts. This led to an awakening of innovation, which resulted in the United States launching a comparable satellite of its own, the Explorer I, into orbit fewer than four months later. More importantly, Sputnik spurred U.S. investment in math and science education programs and sparked an intense focus on equipping our workforce with the skills needed to compete with the Russians.

Unfortunately, once again the United States is falling behind other nations. Read the rest of this entry »

In this video, David Isaacs of Hewlett-Packard says the country’s patent system needs extensive change.

Today, the President signed into law legislation I authored to improve math and science education and foster energy research to help secure U.S. competitiveness.  As far as I’m concerned, this is among the most important legislation he will sign this Congress.

Why?  Because the bill, know as the America COMPETES Act, is designed to ensure that U.S. students, teachers, businesses and workers are prepared to continue leading the world in innovation, research and technology.

This will help us keep American jobs on our shores by making sure we have the most skilled workforce in the world.  Other countries will always have lower wages, so in an effort to remain competitive our workforce must have the technical skills to make it advantageous for companies to keep their businesses here in the U.S. instead of moving overseas.  We start by making sure our children are receiving the best math and science preparation in grades K-12. Read the rest of this entry »

Jonathan E. Kaplan, a staff writer for The Hill, is covering the YearlyKos convention and will provide periodic updates on the Congress Blog.

Before I head off to Time Magazine’s party a few blocks from the McCormick Place Convention Center, here are a few highlights from the days’ events.

First, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) had been scheduled to participate in the “candidate forum” on Saturday, but she had not planned a post-forum with the bloggers here. That’s changed. To see why, click here.

Second, fireworks flew during a panel discussion between bloggers and some members of the so-called Mainstream Media (MSM). The bloggers ripped the media for a host of sins relating to its coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war and not holding the Bush administration accountable.

Finally, I’ve sat in on panels talking about the emergence of a new politics and innovations in campaigning. Right now, I’m listening to Joe Trippi, an advisor to former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.) in 2004, Stephanie Cutter, spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004, and Jerome Armstrong, the founder of mydd.com. Simon Rosenberg, the president of NDN, the New Democratic Network, is moderating the discussion, which is centered on how the Internet has changed campaigning.

Jonathan E. Kaplan, a staff writer for The Hill, is covering the YearlyKos convention and will provide periodic updates on the Congress Blog.

One dominant theme at the second YearlyKos convention is the outright anger toward the mainstream media (MSM in blogging parlance).

Lane Hudson, who first disclosed Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) emails to a former congressional page, S.R. Sidarth, whom former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) called “macaca,� and Mike Stark, whom an Allen aide tackled at a campaign event, blamed the mainstream media for poorly covering campaigns. The trio appeared on a panel together and credited blogs for connecting the dots and fleshing out the stories involving Allen and Foley.

However, Sidarth and Stark also argued that, even though Allen singled out Sidarth at a campaign event, it never would have become national news if Allen had not tried to deny what he said.

Last Friday (7/27/07), NASA released the findings of a review of NASA’s procedures for overseeing astronauts’ medical and behavioral health, commissioned in the wake of the scandal involving former astronaut Lisa Nowak.

When I got word of these findings a day before their release via the industry publication Aviation Week, I made it clear that the Committee would be looking for further explanation and details from NASA on the review’s disturbing findings.

Upon review of the actual report, my mind was not eased as to the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I announced the Senate passage of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 2007, which included an amendment that I introduced in conjunction with Senator Warner (R-Va.). The amendment, the Minority Serving Institutions Advanced Technology and Education Act, provides the infrastructure to address the technology gap that exists in this country’s minority serving educational institutions.

The legislation will set up a grant program to provide funding to secure equipment upgrades, campus wiring, technology training, increased internet access and other improvements to campus technology.

Today’s college students face an expanding global economy that requires a firm grasp on information technology. This legislation provides Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) the resources to effectively teach the next generation of American workers the technology skills to succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

In this video, Larry Sidman, a telecommunications lobbyist with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, discusses how Congress is preparing for the broadcasting industry’s switch from analog television to digital.