Starting today, July 1, interest rates on need-based federal student loans will drop, making these loans cheaper for millions of college students. With our economy putting enormous financial strains on Americans and tuition prices continuing to soar, these new financial aid benefits could not be coming at a more critical...

When nine miners died as a result of the August 6 collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine and during the ensuing rescue operation, the first thought a lot of people had was: Not again.

In 2006, 47 coal miners died in the nation's coal mines, starting with the 12 miners...

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company recently sent Lilly Ledbetter a bill for $3,165.20.

It wasn't because Ledbetter bought new tires for everyone in her neighborhood.

Ledbetter, who worked at a Goodyear facility in Alabama for 19 years, was the plaintiff in a pay discrimination lawsuit against...

Keith Ludlum tells a story that will make your blood boil.

Ludlum, a veteran of the first Gulf War, returned home to North Carolina in 1993 to look for a job. He got one at a Smithfield food processing plant in Tar Heel, where he quickly found working...

At about 1:30 on Saturday morning, the House of Representatives approved a minimum wage increase that has little chance of survival in the Senate because it is coupled with huge tax cuts for the wealthiest estates in the country (8,200 of them would get an average $1.4 million each). Since...

In the Pacific Ocean, about three quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines, lies the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The islands are a territory of the United States, but U.S. labor laws don't apply to them. The result is that the islands are a haven for...

Three months ago today -- in the early morning hours of January 4, 2006 -- families in Upshur County, West Virginia, learned the terrible news that 12 of the 13 miners trapped by the explosion at the Sago Mine there had died. Since then, a string of accidents at U.S....

Many Americans who watched President Bush's speech tonight might have wondered how he could possibly tout new ideas about health care, given his record. After all, he orchestrated a gigantic bureaucratic nightmare with his Medicare Prescription Drug plan, which has left seniors without their prescriptions and drug companies grinning at...

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, President Bush proved once again just how far removed he and his Administration are from the life experiences of most Americans. The President issued an executive order on Thursday that makes it possible for federal contractors to pay extremely low...

Cindy Sheehan lives in Vacaville, California, near my hometown, and she is one of my constituents. I admire her for her courage. I have joined 37 other Democrats in Congress to urge President Bush to agree to Cindy’s request for a meeting. Given the enormous loss Cindy has suffered, a...

So it looks like no place is safe from partisan politics anymore -- not even the ballpark.

George Soros, the financier who provided significant support to Democrats in the 2004 election cycle, recently joined a bidding group interested in purchasing the new Washington Nationals. The possibility of a Democratic supporter...

In late 2002, two Afghani men died while in U.S. custody at the Bagram Collection Point in Afghanistan. Autopsies established that their deaths were homicides. At least one of them is believed to have been innocent of the charges that landed him at Bagram in the first place, but...