Last night I had planned to leave the office early to read and get a little extra sleep before the big health care day.  I am reading Fighting Bob La Follette’s biography, at the suggestion of Fighting Dave Obey, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.   

Around 10:30, my phone rings. ...

Examining the election results for the New York 23rd Congressional District, I could only think of the headline in the Harvard Crimson reporting on the results of the famous 1968 football game and recent movie Harvard Beats Yale 29-29! It was a famous football game where the unbeaten Yale Bulldogs...

One of the joys of serving in Congress is to experience moments when your hard work is actually enacted into law. You celebrate each little step along the way - a hearing, an amendment, positive floor action, the other chamber moving on your legislation, the conference committee coming to an...

On July 12, 1996, I cast the worst vote of my political career. Having served in public office since 1973, that says something. While I've made other mistakes, this was different: it was a deliberate vote that I knew to be poor public policy and was against my values. I've...

Three or four times a month I will preside over House proceedings. While this can occasionally be repetitious, I find it to be a fascinating window into House operations. There is no better seat to watch the interactions of Members - who is talking to whom; who pays attention when...

Those with no solutions and no answers for how to reform our health care system are hijacking positive, bipartisan efforts that have contributed to a strong bill passed out of two House committees. Republican leadership has abandoned all efforts at passing needed health care reform -- even turning their attacks...

Two of my staffers were out for a run yesterday and came across a water main break in the middle of one of DC's busiest streets: the intersection of 23rd and I, right in front of GW Hospital and the Foggy Bottom metro. This brought traffic to a halt...

By Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Jim McDermott

While there is intense and critically important discussion about how to fashion affordable health care access and coverage for all Americans, it is important to reflect on how we pay for it.

Done right, this is every bit as significant as Social Security,...

The House of Representatives is preparing to take one of its biggest environmental steps in 20 years as we move forward on legislation that will reduce global warming pollution and hold polluters accountable.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is coming to the House floor, and not...

Tuesday afternoon was a fascinating display of the Obama touch as I joined other Ways and Means Democrats in meeting President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss health care reform. The president was clear and forceful in his commitment to not just add more money to health care...

The Green the Capitol Initiative undertaken last year by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard has successfully demonstrated how a few common sense steps can reduce energy consumption and improve the quality of our air. Simple programs such as providing locally grown, sustainable food choices to recycling...

It's hard to calculate the damage that has been done by the Bush administration-approved interrogation policy. The ill-advised and immoral practices that have come to light are intolerable. The United States, from before its founding under the leadership of George Washington, enforced a moral imperative against torture. It was not...

Never since the Great Depression has the financial industry had less credibility than at this moment.  Since the beginning of this recession in December 2007, more than 3.6 million Americans have been added to the unemployment roles, and the losses of U.S. financial firms has totaled more that $700 billion....

Last week in Connecticut, we had a tragic example of how reckless and dangerous keeping primates as pets can be. A chimpanzee that had been treated like a member of the household snapped. We still don't know exactly what transpired, or exactly why. What we know are the results, the...

With this latest attempt to strip bike funding from the recovery bill, Republicans have once again demonstrated how out of touch they are with their pathologically short-sighted attacks on bicycles. To their detriment, they are continuing their trend from last Congress of using the most economical, energy-efficient, and healthy forms...