Menendez Calls For Federal Investigation Into U.S. Operations Of Oil Drilling Company Involved In Australia Spill; Energy Committee to hold hearing tomorrow on coastline drilling

November 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar urging an investigation into the safety and extent of Seadrill Limited operations along U.S. coastline.

Seadrill was the drilling contractor on the oil rig off the coast of Australia that recently failed, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in Australia’s history. According to their website, Seadrill currently has at least one rig in the Gulf of Mexico.    » read more »

November 21, 2009 -- Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln said today she and a majority of Arkansans want “health care solutions not stalemate” as she announced she would vote to open debate on a Senate Health Care plan that she vowed will undergo significant change in the days ahead.

Lincoln said any attempt to characterize her vote as a stand for the current Senate health bill that was introduced 72 hours before the vote is misleading. The bill was held open for public view for three days prior to the vote at Lincoln’s insistence. She said the vote on Saturday night would be whether to continue the debate on health care reform or drop the issue.    » read more »

Funds Made Available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

November 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., announced $4 million for a study on displaced autoworkers to analyze changes in the auto industry and identify retraining opportunities to adapt to green jobs.

The funds, to be split by Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, are part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s State Labor Market Information Improvement grant program which aims to support the analysis of labor market data to assess economic activity in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries and identify occupations and skill requirements within those industries. The funding was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.    » read more »

Senate Floor

November 21, 2009 -- Decision time is near on health insurance reform, and I will vote today to end the filibuster so the Senate can begin this important and historic debate to improve and reform our Nation’s health insurance system. Let’s not duck the debate. Let the debate begin. Let’s not hide from votes. Let’s have the courage to vote and stand up and vote on the amendments.

Let the American people know where we stand and not say, well, it never came — it never came up because of the filibuster. We can end the filibuster today. We can get going. We can let every American know where we stand.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, November 18 – Vermont and seven other states will share nearly $4 million in economic stimulus funding announced today under a green jobs program that was authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“If we get our act together as a nation and start addressing the major environmental problems of our time – global warming and our dependence on fossil fuels – we can create millions of good paying jobs,” said Sanders, chairman of the Senate’s Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee. “In other words,” he added, “good environmental policy is good economic policy.”    » read more »

"Great Step Forward for New Jersey"

November 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) reacted very positively to the major provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordability Act, introduced by the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV).    » read more »

Anti-Tobacco Senator Vows to Fight 'Pipe Tobacco Loophole' That Undermines Children's Health Funding

November 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), a longtime Senate leader in the fight against the tobacco industry, today called for reform following reports that tobacco companies are cheating taxes by exploiting a loophole in recent changes to tobacco excise taxes that were enacted to fund expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). By simply re-labeling ‘roll-your-own cigarette tobacco’ as ‘pipe tobacco,’ the industry is averting millions in excise tax payments every month.    » read more »

11/21/2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today announced, on the Senate floor, that she will be voting in favor of starting debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Landrieu said:

"Madam President, I first want to commend my colleague, Senator Cantwell, the Senator from Washington State, who has worked so hard and so long and in such a professional way. She has been extremely helpful to me through this process, and I want to acknowledge that and thank her.    » read more »

Judiciary Committee Approves Kohl Bill To Snuff Out Black Market Cigarette Smuggling; Tobacco Trafficking Funnels Money to Terrorists, Short-Changes State Tax Coffers

11/19/09 -- WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved legislation sponsored by Senator Herb Kohl to crack down on black market tobacco selling. The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act closes loopholes in current tobacco trafficking laws, enhances penalties for violations, and provides law enforcement with new tools to combat the innovative methods being used by cigarette traffickers to distribute their products. In 1998, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) had six active tobacco smuggling investigations.    » read more »

November 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, today applauded the Committee’s passage of legislation to expand local television access.

The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) of 2009, which Kerry cosponsored with Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), reauthorizes the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004, allowing consumers continued access to the local television broadcasting they rely on in their communities.    » read more »

November 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) released the following statement today following the Senate’s 60-39 vote to proceed with debate on the health care bill:

“By voting tonight to start debate, the Senate took the critical next step towards fixing a broken health care system. The bill will increase competition among insurance companies and give consumers more affordable choices. And it will eliminate the insurance industry’s two most outrageous practices, which have financially crippled too many Delawareans: denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and revoking insurance when it is needed the most.

"The bill will also help our economy by significantly cutting healthcare costs and reducing the deficit.”    » read more »

In letter to SEC Chairman Schapiro, Senator outlines dangers of manipulative algorithms and systemic risk

November 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) today urged Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro to take immediate steps to combat manipulative high frequency trading algorithms and end so-called “sponsored access,” which Kaufman and many market experts believe exposes the U.S. capital markets to systemic risk.

Sponsored access permits traders – many of which are unregulated hedge funds – to trade directly on an exchange, circumventing risk checks that apply to broker-dealer trades.    » read more »

November 20, 2009 -- Washington, DC -- The Senate is poised to begin debate on the newly introduced Senate version of the health care reform package, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act. The Senate will move to a procedural vote on Saturday that will allow full consideration and debate of the health care reform bill. The minority is filibustering in an attempt to kill the bill before it’s given an opportunity to be considered. Senator Tim Johnson released the following statement:    » read more »

November 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) released the following statement this evening after the Senate cleared a key procedural hurdle that allowed debate to begin on the health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.    » read more »

November 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) today issued the following statement on the Senate health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the total cost of the bill will be $849 billion, and when all provisions are accounted for, the bill will reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion over the next 10 years. In the following decade, it will reduce the deficit by roughly $650 billion.

Senator Hagan said:    » read more »

Recent USDA Report Shows: Nearly 1 in 300 Samples of Ground Beef Contain E. coli

November 19, 2009 -- Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the first New York senator to sit on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, announced today the introduction of the E. coli Eradication Act - legislation she authored that would for the first time federally mandate testing of all ground beef for E. coli.    » read more »

November 18, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand gathered dozens of women leaders to protest Representative Bart Stupak's (D-MI) amendment. Doctors, businesswomen, teachers, public health experts, city, state, and federal elected officials and pro-choice leaders from NARAL, Planned Parenthood and others gathered to denounce the discriminatory and dangerous anti-choice provision, which would effectively prevent women from purchasing reproductive insurance with their own money and put the health of millions of women and young girls at grave risk.

After it was revealed that the Senate health care reform bill will not contain the dangerous and discriminatory Stupak measure, Senator Gillibrand released the following statement:    » read more »

Delivers Floor Speech in Favor of Health Care Benefits for Jobless WorkersWashington, D.C. -- Nov 19, 2009 – U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) today spoke from the Senate floor in support of the COBRA Subsidy Extension and Enhancement Act, which would allow jobless workers to keep their health care while they sought new employment.

The text of his remarks follows:

Statement on the COBRA Subsidy Extension and Enhancement Act
Senator Al Franken    » read more »

Insurance Company Regulations Included in Merged Senate Bill

Washington, D.C. -- Nov 19, 2009 – U.S. Senators John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) today praised the inclusion of a key cost-saving insurance company regulation that they fought to see included in the Senate health care reform bill.

The bill released last night contains provisions that require insurance companies to spend a set portion of their insurance premium dollars on actual health care services, as opposed to marketing campaigns, CEO salaries, and administrative costs. This portion of the dollar, known in the industry as “medical loss ratio,” has been set at 80 cents for group insurance plans and 75 cents for individual plans.    » read more »

Provisions Franken Fought for to Protect Minnesota Included

Washington, D.C. -- Nov 19, 2009 – Today, U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) offered praise for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act introduced last night by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains several measures that Sen. Franken has been fighting for specifically, including two key cost-saving insurance regulations, an important reform of Medicare payment rates that would help Minnesota, and a reduced medical device tax rate.    » read more »