the administration has told us Social Security is in a crisis, headed for an iceberg, going broke, yet last week's revelation that the Medicare drug bill will cost nearly three times more than its original price tag, for a total of $900…

we have all done it. We all make mistakes. They are unavoidable. Yesterday we learned that the White House budget made a tiny little mistake, a $750 billion ``rounding error.'' According to the President's budget, the new Medicare…

Today I sent a letter to the Secretary of State requesting an investigation into how an individual, a professor at Northern Illinois University who is known for anti-Jewish comments, was selected to participate in an official U.S…

in December of 2003, Josh Bolton, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget wrote, ``With the adoption of the President's policies, our projections show a solid path toward cutting the deficit in half within the next 5 years.''…

I rise today to remember a dedicated public servant and great friend, Robert T. Matsui. It was a privilege and honor serving with Bob. Although we only served together for one term, I learned a great deal from Bob--starting when I worked…

today's New York Times reports on instant payday lenders who set up shop outside the gates of our military bases and charge staggeringly high interest rates to our troops. The Times found 200 payday lenders surrounding the Norfolk and…

I want to thank the Appropriations conferees for including in the conference report nearly $100 million to improve flu vaccine production capacity and technology, and, if necessary, to allow the government to purchase vaccine. This…

in today's New York Times we learned about Trudy LeBlue, an employee of a hair salon outside of New Orleans. Ms. LeBlue's story is like that of many hard-working Americans. While she struggles to make ends meet, her employer forces her to…

as we returned for this lame duck session, we are confronted with a slew of troubling economic news. Just yesterday we learned that inflation is up by 1.7 percent, the sharpest monthly increase in over 15 years. The value of the dollar is…

in the past 24 hours, AT&T announced it is cutting an additional 7,000 workers, Bank of America is laying off an additional 4,500 employees, and Unisys 1,400, and 18,000 manufacturing jobs last month alone were lost. Less than an hour ago…

Saturday, October 10, will mark the 2-year anniversary of the House of Representatives passing the war resolution. Let me give my colleagues some of the highlights in the last 48 hours and news. Iraqis eliminated illicit arms in the 1990s…

here are a few headlines from the last 24 hours: ``Iraqi Arms Threat Was Waning,'' the definitive government report saying there was a diminishing threat from Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction; ``France Was Ready To Send Troops to…

it may surprise many of my colleagues to hear this, but I am now convinced George Bush should remain in Washington. Now that D.C. has a baseball team, there is finally a job in this town which George Bush is qualified for and the work is…

a former CIA official recently said ``The best we can hope for in Iraq is a failed state hobbling along.'' The State Department's official travel warnings says, ``Iraq remains very dangerous.'' The national intelligence estimate from July…

today the Washington Post quotes a former CIA official who said, ``People at the CIA are mad at the policy in Iraq because it's a disaster . . . The best we can hope for is a failed state hobbling along.'' But this view is widely shared in…

I find the majority leader's comments almost ironic. I have done some research. This Republican-led Congress, the 108th, the House and Senate, has been hard at work naming post offices. In fact, more post offices were named in this…

on the subject of the marriage amendment, the House majority leader said earlier today, ``It is our job to make the laws in this country. And as easy as life would be for us, if the most controversial bills we had to vote on was to rename…

Maybe it would be much better if they just gave the benefit of $4,000. We would have accomplished what we set out to do. We introduced in a bipartisan fashion a concept of reimportation, allowing people to get access to the same name-brand…

a Republican lobbying firm who has Pharma as its client was offering a bounty of $4,000 per senior if that senior would come forward and say they are having a positive experience under the prescription drug benefit.

we are at the point where this administration has tried to finance three wars with three tax cuts, which has resulted in $450 billion in annual deficits and $3 trillion in additional debt. There is a right way to cut taxes and meet our…

I proudly rise to recognize the American Indian Center of Chicago, the longest-running urban Indian organization in the country and the leader of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition. I would like to congratulate the American Indian…

the Nation is talking about Dan Rather, CBS, and the false National Guard memos. Republicans are saying that he misled the Nation, that it is a scandal that threatens our body politic. Congressional Republicans are talking about an ethics…

yesterday in Denver the President said, ``When the American President speaks, he must mean what he says.'' That is interesting coming from an administration that told us the Medicare bill would actually cost $395 billion, all the while…

Last week we passed the 1,000th casualty mark in Iraq. Since then, we have lost another 12 of our fellow citizens in service to their country and its ideals. 1,012 American families are grieving the loss of their loved ones; 1,140 when we…

Today, nine more Americans gave their lives in Iraq, nine more families are going to be without their loved ones this holiday season, and nine more American families are grieving. Out of those nine, two soldiers and seven marines, perhaps…