Wall Street and its allies have been calling the shots in Congress for decades, so they must be glad to see how things are shaping up on financial regulatory reform. Congress is about to vote on a final bill that fails to fix the key flaws in the bills passed...

Today I introduced bipartisan legislation, along with Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC), requiring a timetable to draw down U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The legislation is one component of a comprehensive national security strategy to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world. Below are several key...

Today, Virginians will turn out to elect their new governor. Unfortunately, Virginians who are eligible to vote but missed the October 5th registration deadline will not be able to play a role in this important process.

It would be a different story if these Virginians lived in our states, Wisconsin...

Since the late 1980s, the people of northern Uganda have lived a nightmare. Over the years, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by the brutal Joseph Kony, forcibly abducted tens of thousands of children to fill their ranks as soldiers and sex slaves. Sadly, this nightmare went mostly unnoticed by...

President Obama's strategy review for Afghanistan and Pakistan, unveiled last week, finally focuses the government's attention and resources where they are most needed. After years of our country being bogged down in Iraq, the president recognizes that the key to our national security is defeating al Qaeda, and that to...

Just hours after his historic inauguration, President Obama has made history again, by signing executive orders that undo, with the stroke of a pen, some of the Bush Administration's worst mistakes. President Obama is off to a great start on restoring the rule of law, and he's giving the...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and I don't always agree on the issues, but when it comes to her take on crisis in Zimbabwe, I couldn't agree more. Last week, Secretary Rice was right to call the June 27th election in Zimbabwe, as well as the power-sharing negotiations to this...

Today's Supreme Court decision on the millionaire's amendment left the core of the McCain-Feingold law intact, and that's good news for everyone who cares about stamping out corruption in government. The most important part of McCain-Feingold has always been the ban on soft money, a ban the Supreme Court upheld...

As the war in Iraq enters its sixth year, official US casualty figures approach 4,000 dead and nearly 30,000 wounded. These figures exclude the many who have less visible but no less damaging injuries to mental health; those whose injuries resulted from accidents while they served in a war zone;...

Today, as Americans analyze the election results from my home state, I'd like to share with you the concerns I've been hearing from Wisconsinites at my town hall meetings. Again and again, I hear the same, often anguished question: When will we get our brave troops out of Iraq? The...

The news coming out of Pakistan reminds us of what's at stake in our relationship with that nation -- which possesses nuclear weapons and serves as a base camp for al Qaeda -- and how our Iraq-centric policies are undermining our national security interests in the region. As the administration...

Over in Iraq, our troops get up every day and risk their lives in the middle of an Iraqi civil war. They have to do their job, no matter what the risk, and no matter what the cost. They do what they are asked to do...and so should Congress. Congress's...

Six years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, Congress rammed through the USA PATRIOT Act with little consideration of what that bill actually contained. Five years ago, Congress authorized a reckless and ill-advised war in Iraq. One year ago, Congress passed the deeply flawed Military Commissions Act. And late last...

The ink on the President's veto is barely dry, and already, a lot of Washington insiders - including some Democrats -- are saying Congress should just give in to the President. Never mind how hard people have pushed to bring Congress to this point, when we are finally standing up...

For the first time in the four-plus years since Congress authorized the Iraq war, Congress is having a serious debate about how we can fix the President's failed Iraq policy. Unfortunately, while there have been plenty of members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, voicing opposition to the President's plans...

On November 7th, 2006, Americans sent thirty-one new Democrats to the House and eight new Democrats (and a very progressive Independent) to the Senate with two clear mandates - fix our broken Iraq policy and clean up the way Congress does business. Our message to the voters should be just...

When the Iraq Study Group's report was unveiled this week, it was like the opening of a blockbuster movie, with reporters counting down the minutes until it was released. But now that all the hoopla has subsided, all we are left with is a Washington inside job: a report written...

In January, we will be looking at a new Congress, and with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, we will be looking at a new national policy agenda. I know that I am looking forward to moving the progressive agenda forward in the next Congress. But Democrats can't just...

With so much attention focused on the Foley scandal, there's another story that hasn't received enough notice: escalating violence in Iraq has resulted in the reported deaths of 24 U.S. soldiers since Saturday, and the Pentagon just reported that IED attacks in Iraq are at an all-time high.

Serious...

With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina tomorrow, as so many Americans remember the horrifying images of the disaster, the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be dealing with reality they face today - that in a lot of neighborhoods it looks like a hurricane hit a week...