Blog Post

The House has just passed the final House-Senate agreement on the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 2272 by a vote of 367-57. This legislation is the culmination of a year and a half-long, bipartisan effort to pass an Innovation Agenda that boldly responds to the global economic challenges identified in the 2005 National Academies report, Rising above the Gathering Storm.

Today, in our fifth year of war in Iraq, the readiness of our forces has declined precipitously as the result of lengthy deployments. Our soldiers are serving their third and fourth tours of duty in Iraq, a war without end. This is unacceptable, especially at a time when the most recent National Intelligence Estimate shows that al Qaeda is gaining strength and the threat of terrorism against the United States is growing.

The New Direction Congress will always ensure that our brave men and women in uniform have the tools and training they need to do their jobs and return safely home.

The House has just passed H.R. 3159, Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act by a vote of 229-194. The bill mandates troop rest times equal to their deployment times, similar to an amendment by Senator Jim Webb, D-Va supported by 56 Senators as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. It would require active duty forces to be guaranteed that their time at home match the length of their deployment.

Today, Congressional Leaders met with President Bush at the White House about continuing disagreements on the fiscal year 2008 spending bills. At the end of the meeting, the leaders told reporters that they hoped that there could be fruitful negotiations with the White House to resolve what, in the context of the overall budget, are small differences.

Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid held a ceremony this afternoon to sign H.R.1, Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007. The legislation will now be sent to President Bush for his signature into law.

The Speaker's remarks:

The Oversight Committee is currently holding a hearing, "The Tillman Fratricide: What the Leadership of the Defense Department Knew." The hearing is part of an ongoing investigation and follows a previous hearing held in April. Witnesses will include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Former Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. John P.

With the House nearing debate on the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP), the House has passed several important pieces of legislation by wide bipartisan margins in just the last few hours.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which passed 225-199.