Senate

Disaster Designation Comes Amid Efforts By Clinton To Push USDA And Senate Leadership To Take Action And Provide Relief For New York's Farmers

August 13, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed the decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to declare a federal disaster area in response to the damage caused in New York’s Southern Tier by high winds and hail.    » read more »

August 13, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) today issued this statement following the President’s remarks regarding the conflict in Georgia:

“This morning, President Bush expressed strong support for international efforts to broker a ceasefire in Georgia and affirmed the United States’ commitment to Georgia’s people and democratic government. I applaud the President’s statement, but I believe he must make these points directly to Russia’s leaders. There is no indication that he has done so since leaving Beijing.    » read more »

WASHINGTON -- August 12, 2008 – A bill introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to extend the United States Parole Commission for three years was signed into law by the President today.    » read more »

August 12, 2008 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Most corporations doing business in the United States pay no federal income tax to the federal government according to a new GAO (Government Accountability Office) study [PDF] requested by U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

The report says that two thirds of both American companies and foreign companies doing business in the United States end up avoiding all income tax obligations to the federal government despite corporate sales totaling $2.5 trillion.    » read more »

Urges USDA to Respect Subsidies for Small Farms

August 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC—Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in calling on the Bush Administration to implement the 2008 Farm Bill according to the law’s intent and abandon an interpretation that would disadvantage small farms across New York and around the country.    » read more »

Contractors Allegedly Violated Small-Business Laws

August 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC—Following release of a Congressional Budget Office report today showing the massive expenditures and an over-reliance on private contractors in Iraq under the Bush Administration and the revelation of a report by the Small Business Administration Inspector General showing Blackwater was awarded millions of dollars in federal contracts designated for small businesses, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on Congress to act on her legislation to reform the contracting system and put in place needed accountability measures and urged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an investigation into the impact of Blackwater’s violation.    » read more »

Half of Chicago Homicides Linked to Gangs

August 11, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) today applauded the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s decision to include Chicago - where half of all homicides are gang-related - in the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative, a move that the Senators requested in April. Through this initiative, $2 million will be made available for Chicago area law enforcement agencies to assist in developing plans to combat gang violence and implementing anti-gang strategies using three components of prevention, enforcement, and prisoner reentry.    » read more »

August 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement on the tenth anniversary of the African embassy bombings:

"Ten years ago, al Qaeda carried out simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Two hundred and twenty-four people were killed, including 12 Americans. Some 5,000 more people were wounded. The pain those bombings inflicted on the loved ones of the Americans that we lost - and on the people and economies of Kenya and Tanzania - can never be fully measured nor healed. I renew my condolences to all of those whose lives were changed forever on that day.    » read more »

State bill would ban use of Bisphenol A in baby bottles and other feeding devices

August 11, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) today called on the California State Assembly to pass legislation that would prohibit the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, sippy cups and other feeding devices for children ages three and younger.

Senators Feinstein and Boxer have co-sponsored federal legislation that would ban BPA from children’s products as well as require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the health effects of BPA in children and adults.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- August 11, 2008 -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) sent a letter Monday to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller pressing the Director to provide more information to Committee members about the misuse of so-called “exigent letters.” Press accounts last week revealed that Mueller apologized to editors at The New York Times and The Washington Post for a 2004 breach of Department of Justice guidelines regarding subpoenas for reporters’ phone records.    » read more »

Working Mother Media and Corporate Voices for Working Families Honor Senator Biden with the Best of Congress Award

August 12, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) has been honored by Working Mother Media and Corporate Voices for Working Families with the Best of Congress award, for improving the American quality of life through family-friendly work policies. The award spotlights Senator Biden’s congressional leadership in supporting working families through legislation and for employing family-friendly policies in his own office. A profile of Sen. Biden is featured in the August/September 2008 issue of Working Mother magazine, which hits newsstands today, and at www.workingmother.com.    » read more »

Sen. Menendez's Tax Certificates Legislation Would Increase Competition, Diversity in Telecommunications Industry

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is supporting diversity in media ownership with new legislation to restore the tax certificate policy for sales of telecommunications properties to socially disadvantaged businesses, or SDBs.    » read more »

Current military health insurance denies access to proven therapies

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week asked the Department of Defense to expand health care coverage for the nearly 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who may be suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). McCaskill and nine of her Senate colleagues are urging Secretary Robert Gates to expand TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, to include cognitive rehabilitation therapy, a proven treatment for TBI which is currently excluded from the insurance policy.    » read more »

August 4, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that a number of the largest American internet companies, human rights organizations and other stakeholders have reached agreement on a voluntary code of conduct that would govern internet companies operating in countries where internet freedom is restricted, like China. The participants are now reviewing the agreement for final approval.    » read more »

August 5, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC- After learning from General David Petraeus that he has formed an “Electrical Safety Joint Planning Team” to oversee the theater-wide assessment of all facilities following a series of electrocutions in Iraq, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today released the following statement:

“Last week's House hearing put on display that the Department of Defense was too slow and hesitant to respond to an emerging threat in Iraq: electrocutions of U.S. military personnel.    » read more »