May 29th, 2010, began like any other day for Army combat medic Ian Ralston of Waterloo, Iowa. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq, and he was familiar with the dangers lurking around every corner - after all, his job was to help soldiers who'd been injured in...

Kadyn Halverson, age 7, saw her school bus slow to a stop in front of her family's home near Northwood, Iowa, one morning last May. She crossed the street to climb aboard. Like my own three kids and many other Iowa children, she took the flashing red lights of the...

The House is considering a bill that puts the federal government in between patients and their doctors. It's a bill that gives unprecedented power to the federal government. It could result in the federal government preempting State Constitutions. And many have argued that the federal government overreach in this bill...

Are you kidding me?

What else can I say? I just left the floor of the US House after voting to extend the vital middle class payroll tax cut for another two months.

If Congress doesn't act before the end of the year, taxes will go up for 160...

Even as millions of Americans prepare for holiday travel, politicians in Washington are pushing for policies that will make our roads unsafe.

In an effort to make roads safer, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates truck safety standards, has proposed changing their rules to reduce the...

David Martin (60 Minutes): It's been two years since that operation, and it's still not safe to go into Ganjgal.
Dakota Meyer: It's not.
Martin: For all that loss of life, for all your courage -- what was gained?
Meyer: Nothing.
*Dakota Meyer received the Medal...

The Andrew Connolly Veterans Housing Act, a bipartisan bill that will extend a grant program to help injured and disabled veterans retrofit their homes after they return from combat, passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 23, 2011. The bill is named for Andrew Connolly...

It probably doesn't surprise you that Republicans spend a lot of time finding ways to protect their friends on Wall Street.

Just last month, House Republican leader Eric Cantor promised a group of oil speculators that he'll fight implementation of Wall Street reform and make...

Addiction is a dangerous thing, and tough to break.

Right now, the United States has an addiction to foreign oil -- an addiction that is not only crippling our economy, but is also funneling hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign governments and corporations. It's the biggest problem in America...

Being a Congressman is an incredible honor -- but I won't lie, there are some tough parts to the job. One of them is the time away from my family and the constant travel. Routine helps, and mine is mostly consistent: every week after I cast my last vote for...

The new Republican majority's agenda is pretty clear when you look at their list of legislation this Congress:

H.R. 1 -- decimate the programs that millions of middle-class families across the country depend on.

H.R. 2 -- repeal the landmark...

Remember when Republicans were saying that Washington was going to pull the plug on grandma? Little did we know, they were on to something.

The newly released Republican budget does indeed threaten grandma -- by dismantling Medicare and ending the guaranteed health care that so many seniors' lives depend on.

If you tuned in to the news this week, you've seen two big stories dominating the headlines and the networks: the conflict in Libya and the pending budget negotiations. (For the record, I don't count the escaped Bronx Zoo cobra as a big news story.)

Both Libya and...

In just three short months, Republicans in Washington and throughout the country have pursued one of the most sweeping attacks on rights and liberties in generations. In less than 90 days, we've seen a full out assault on the middle class, workers, and kids.

And now...American women.

If you think the middle class isn't under attack, then you need to watch this video:

Yesterday, I participated in an Oversight Committee hearing on the future of organized labor in America. Project Labor Agreements...

What did you buy this week? Now - how many of those items were made in America? Not many, I bet. Because even if we wanted to, most of us would be hard-pressed to buy only American-made products.

While U.S. jobs are steadily shipped overseas, the tidal wave of...

For years, Big Oil -- Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP, Texaco, and ConocoPhillips -- has raked in record profits. But their dividend to consumers is usually the same: higher gas prices that make it more difficult to get to work, shop for groceries or drop the kids off at school.

Americans may...

Americans spoke clearly on November 2nd: Congress must get serious about reducing the deficit and become better stewards of their tax dollars. But after endless talk over the last two years about fiscal responsibility, an exploding deficit, and our crushing debt to China, the House voted on a bill that...

On Thursday I was pleased to announce that long overdue policy guidance was released by the National Guard Bureau which will ensure that Iowa's Army National Guard and Reserve members are finally paid the "Respite Leave" payments they were promised when they completed the longest deployment since World War II...

As the important health care debate in Congress moves forward, certain members of the Senate insist on moving backwards. One of those Senators is my friend and constituent, Chuck Grassley.

Grassley used scare tactics last week at a town hall meeting in Iowa to convince voters that optional coverage...