The historic return to power in Congress by the Democratic Party as a result of the 2006 elections has given us the opportunity to begin making significant advances in many areas of domestic and international policy, and, equally important, to start restraining the excesses of the Bush Administration.
We have had some important initial successes in such areas as increasing unemployment benefits, boosting college financial aid, strengthening Congressional ethics, implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, mounting serious investigations into Administration wrongdoing, and once again conducting genuine oversight of Executive Branch activities. But, there has unfortunately not been as much progress as I would have liked, mainly because in the U.S. Senate – where, due to the filibuster, 60 votes are needed to pass most major initiatives – the Democratic ratio is only 51 – 49.
This has been a major obstacle in our efforts to bring about an end to the disastrous U.S. military involvement in Iraq. In the last year, we have several times passed legislation in the House of Representatives to begin the process of withdrawing American troops from Iraq, but we have fallen short in the Senate. The difference in the voting patterns of the two chambers is largely a function of the Constitution, which requires the full House to be elected every two years, while only one third of the Senate faces voters in each election. This means that today a majority of the House membership, elected in 2006 when opposition to the war had reached its current higher level, supports withdrawal. But, only one third of Senators ran in 2006, with the others elected in 2002 and 2004 when support for
President Bush's approach to national security, including specifically the Iraq war in 2004, was much stronger.
I will continue doing all I can to press for fundamental change in our Iraq policies, but it is clear that we will have a much better chance of success if we elect more Democrats to Congress in November of 2008, regardless of who wins the Presidency. That is why I believe the upcoming elections are so crucial, and why I am putting a very high priority on doing all I can to elect as many Democrats as possible in November. My efforts include campaigning for Democrats who are running for open seats or who are challenging incumbent Republicans; supporting Democratic candidates financially; and working closely with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee [1], the party organization which has the specific task of helping elect more Democrats to the House.
Of course, electing more Democrats will also enable us to make further strides in other policy areas, such as reducing economic inequality, restoring key domestic civil liberties abridged by the Bush Administration, making the tax code more progressive, addressing global climate change, and in many other ways working to reverse course from the Administration's extremely conservative approach. Some of these matters are addressed here, but this site is not meant to be a comprehensive, official catalogue of all my positions on issues before Congress. Rather, it presents my views and the opinions of others on some of the key policy and political battlegrounds today, as well as providing some important information about the 2008 election and my campaign.
As the election approaches, I will be adding new material on an ongoing basis, and also periodically sending out comments on significant political developments to those who register on this site to receive email updates [2].
