Blog Post

To increase the public trust in Congress, the House has just passed H.Res. 895, to strengthen congressional ethics enforcement with a new Office of Congressional Ethics. This will bring greater accountability and transparency to the ethics enforcement process by requiring, for the first time in history, an independent review of alleged ethics violations by individuals who are not Members of Congress. Rep. Betty Sutton (OH-13) managed debate on this landmark rule.

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The House has just voted on overriding the President's veto of the Intelligence Authorization bill (H.R. 2082), but the veto was sustained with 220 Democrats and only 5 Republicans voting to override. The President vetoed the bill over the provision that extends to U.S. intelligence agencies and personnel the current prohibitions in the Army Field Manual against waterboarding and other torture.

Today the Education and Labor Committee Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing concerning President Bush's proposal to slash $281 million from funding for after school programs, which would force hundreds of thousands of children out of these safe, effective programs.

Subcommittee Chairman Dale Kildee: "By the administration's own calculations, its proposal could result in more than one million fewer students receiving services...

Admiral Fallon's decision to resign is a disappointment to those of us who viewed his reputation for candor as an essential asset in his role as CENTCOM commander. Although his views on the best way to deal with the challenges in CENTCOM's area of responsibility may not have matched those held by White House officials, Admiral Fallon was viewed in Congress as someone who was careful, forthright, and direct.

The House has just sworn in Congressman Bill Foster, who represents Illinois' 14th Congressional District:

Rep. Foster: "And now as you can probably already tell, we scientists aren't known for our fiery rhetoric, but as I stand before you today, it is my solemn hope that with less bickering and word-twisting in Washington, there will be more problem-solving.

This morning Chairman Henry Waxman of the Oversight Committee sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service (pdf), the Small Business Administration (pdf), and the Department of Labor (pdf) to request investigations into whether Blackwater has violated federal tax, small business, and labor