Every 3 minutes -- about the time it takes you to listen to your favorite song -- someone is diagnosed with breast cancer. With 1 in 8 women now expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer, this disease has touched all of us in some way.

October is Breast...

As steps are being taken under the health reform law to stabilize insurance rates, lower costs and coordinate care, a recent survey shows that health insurance premiums continue to rise.

Over the past year, the average cost for employer-sponsored family health insurance plans has skyrocketed by 9 percent, according...

In April, forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi fired cluster munitions into residential areas of Misurata.

Cluster munitions -- large bombs, rockets or artillery shells that contain many smaller submunitions -- are often used to attack enemy troop formations and armor covering a wide radius.

Unfortunately, civilians are often...

As a native San Franciscan, I know firsthand the destructive power earthquakes can have on lives, property and critical infrastructure.

Luckily this week's 5.8 magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter in Virginia, caused minimal damage and thankfully no loss of life.

The earthquake did cause two nuclear reactors at the North...

It is great news that gay couples in New York now have the right to legally marry.

It is wrong, however, that those same married couples will not be able to enjoy the federal rights and privileges afforded to straight married couples.

The reason is the Defense of Marriage...

Last Sunday, CIA Director Leon Panetta called me to say the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden was over. The man responsible for terrorist attacks against the United States in 1998, 2000 and 2001 had been killed.

This was a signature achievement, a brilliantly executed Special Operations mission that capped...

I don't know a single millionaire who needs a tax cut right now. But I know plenty of middle class Americans who desperately need every extra dollar in these tough economic times.

That's why I strongly support the "Middle Class Tax Cuts Act" to give permanent tax...

Just one week after chemical industry lobbyists blocked my efforts to introduce legislation to ban a controversial chemical used in baby bottles and sippy cups, the European Commission voted to ban Bisphenol-A, or BPA, from plastic baby bottles.

As of March 1, 2011, companies in the European...

One day our children will look back and wonder why we willingly risked our health by exposing ourselves to harmful chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in thousands of consumer products. Unfortunately, chemical industry lobbyists wish to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Just as the...

Once again, a major health insurance company has been forced to rescind plans for double-digit rate hikes on California consumers after an independent investigation discovered "errors" in the formulas used to calculate the figures.

Aetna has scrapped plans for rate hikes of nearly 20 percent, just two months after Anthem...

The ink on the nuclear arms treaty signed in Prague by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev was barely dry before some senators warned they may vote against ratification for reasons that in fact have nothing to do with the treaty. This makes no sense.

The new Strategic...

I was outraged and dismayed yesterday when I read an investigative story by Reuters that details how WellPoint -- the nation's largest health insurance company, with 33.7 million customers -- used a special computer program to systematically identify women with breast cancer and target their health policies for termination.

I...

No responsible parent would expose their infant to cigarette smoke or car exhaust. But every day in America, millions of infants are exposed to dangerous chemicals hiding in plain view. This exposure can lead to a wide range of adverse health effects later in life -- from increased cancer risk...

For the past three and a half years there has been a major debate over the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. This program, which involved the surveillance of communications between Americans and people outside of the country, began shortly after September 11.

It was brought to public light...