Blog Post

Yesterday the Appropriations subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a hearing, "Assessing an Effective Diplomatic and Development Program in Iraq: An Examination of the 'Diplomatic Surge.'"

Watch the hearing replayed on C Span 3.

Subcommittee Chair Nita Lowey gave opening remarks:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representatives Bobby Rush, Rosa DeLauro, Bart Stupak, and Diana DeGette and consumer advocate Donald Mays held a news conference in the Capitol this afternoon on Democratic efforts to promote consumer product and toy safety. Speaker Pelosi announced new comprehensive legislation coming:

Today Chairman Henry Waxman of the Oversight Committee wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ask who conferred immunity on the Blackwater security guards involved in the September 16 shooting, who authorized the grant of immunity, and when did Secretary Rice and other senior State Department officials learn about the immunity.

Full text of the letter:

You would think that the President would take pride in the New Direction Congress' bipartisan votes to make America safer by implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, give hard-working Americans a raise by increasing the minimum wage, make college more affordable for many more Americans, pass an Innovation Agenda to keep America number one, and uphold a high ethical standard by passing a sweeping lobbying and ethics reform bill. The President signed all these bipartisan bills; yet now he calls them a waste of time.

The Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is currently holding a hearing, "Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice." John K. Tanner, Chief of the Voting Right Section, will testify, as will Toby Moore, a redistricting expert with the division's voting section until the spring of 2006.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel issued the following statement after Congressional Republicans met with President Bush:

"President Bush's rally this morning reminds us that Congressional Republicans remain ready and willing to rubberstamp the Bush agenda: No to children's health care; No to a new direction in Iraq; and No to investing in America's future. The White House and Congressional Republicans want to continue the status quo."

The Foreign Affairs Committee is currently holding a hearing, "Russia on the Eve of National Elections." Witnesses will be Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution, and Andrei Piontkovsky, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Watch the hearing live >>

From the Oversight Committee:

Rep. Waxman, Sen. Kennedy Release New GAO Report on Inclusion of Seniors in Drug Trials

WASHINGTON, DC -- Rep. Henry A. Waxman and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy today released a new GAO report on FDA's inclusion of seniors in clinical drug trials for prescription drugs. The report finds that in several key areas, FDA rules for drug approval fail to guarantee the safety and effectiveness of drugs for seniors.