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The Armed Services Committee is currently holding a hearing on Security and Stability in Afghanistan and Iraq: Developments in U.S. Strategy and Operations and the Way Ahead.

Witnesses:

The Honorable Robert M. Gates

Secretary of Defense

Department of Defense

Admiral Michael G. Mullen, USN

Chairman

Joint Chiefs of Staff

Ambassador Eric S. Edelman

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Department of Defense

Vice Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN

Director of Strategic Plans and Policy

Joint Chiefs of Staff

Watch the live webcast>>

Today, the Chairmen of the Committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs issued a report entitled "Wasted Lessons of 9/11: How The Bush Administration Ignored the Law and Squandered Its Opportunities to Make Our Country Safer," which examines the record of the Bush Administration over the last year in implementing some of the key provisions of this critical law:

This morning, President Bush announced his plan on force levels in Iraq. The AP reports:

No reduction of forces in Iraq this year

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will keep roughly the same number of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year and pull about 8,000 troops home by February, a drawdown that's both slower and smaller than long anticipated.

In a speech to be delivered Tuesday, Bush says more forces could withdraw in the first half of 2009. But for now, the situation isn't changing significantly.

By the time the troops return home on the timeline Bush is proposing, someone else will be making the wartime decisions from the Oval Office.

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"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that the U.S. House of Representatives will take up a second disaster relief measure by next week to help Iowans recover from floods and storms that struck the state in recent months."

Congressman John Larson of Connecticut, Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, delivered the Democratic Radio Address this morning. In his address, Congressman Larson discusses energy legislation the New Direction Congress will bring forward to combat rising energy and gas prices and to ensure our energy independence. Larson explains, "for eight years, two oilmen in the White House have crafted this country's energy policy...Barack Obama summed up our sentiment on this Bush-McCain policy, in one word: enough!"

Listen:

Full transcript:

Hi, I'm Congressman John Larson of East Hartford, Connecticut, Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

In Denver, Barack Obama struck a chord with the American people when he spoke about the change we need now.