The Organization of American States (OAS), led by its Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, held their Ninth Policy Roundtable and Report Launch: a discussion on “Making the Law Work for Everyone.” Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State of the United States, began the discussion. She said that the majority of the world’s people are unable to use the law correctly; there are approximately four billion people worldwide that are outside the system in which law can work for them. Because of this, Albright explained that a vicious cycle is created that makes it even harder for poor people to escape poverty. (more…)

At a “Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act” press conference, California Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) speaks about a letter she received from ailing, famed Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offering his approval on the bill’s passage. (0:52)

 

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Senator Leahy chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee on a hearing titled “Protecting the Constitutional Right to Vote for All Americans.” The hearing was almost canceled as Senator Kennedy was scheduled to co-chair the hearing. Senator Leahy out of respect was questioning whether or not to postpone the hearing, but decided to proceed. Jonah Goldman, Director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections, Pam Karlan, Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford in addition to three other witnesses were on hand. (more…)

There was a full committee hearing this morning on “Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century” with witnesses that included Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards, in addition to Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner and chairman and founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. (more…)

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee held a hearing today to discuss “Unemployment in a Volatile Economy: How to Secure Families and Build Opportunity.”

Chairman of the committee Edward Kennedy (D-MA) spoke briefly to say that his committee cares about fellow human beings and is concerned about rising unemployment, the lack of jobs, and what happens to people when they lose jobs. He said that the country’s unemployed have been looking for work longer than in any period in recent times.

Ranking member Mike Enzi (R-WY) said that the administration must ensure that workers and students are provided the resources needed in order to live lives without severe financial troubles. He stressed the importance of improving k-12 education where, he said, 7,000 students drop out every day. He talked about a Tennessee high school principal who set up a successful institute to inspire students to pursue higher education and help curb the dropout rate. He said that high schools are only graduating about 70% of their students each year and unless that rate improves, the nation will lose $3 trillion in unearned income. He concluded by saying that a large number of those who graduated high school still have not met the educational requirements to pursue higher education or work and said that there is a need to put a system in place for longterm education, training and retraining.

The New York State commissioner of the Department of Labor Patricia Smith told the committee that her city’s rate of longterm unemployment rate is higher than it has been in recent times and that the rate is expected to continue rising. She said that youth unemployment is the highest of all age groups as nd urged Congress to modernize the unemployment system by closing gaps. She complained of the long time period that workers must wait to access their benefits and said that she agree with Pres. Bush’s FY2009 budget which calls for reduced funding and services for employment.

Princeton University professor of Economics Alan Krueger cited a rise in the unemployment rate from 4.4% in March 2007 to 4.9% as of January 2008. He said that the average duration of unemployment for an unemployed worker was 12.7 weeks in January 2001. Today, he said, the average duration has climbed to 17.5 weeks. He said that polls conducted reveal that both low and high-income Americans feel that it is currently a bad time to find a job and said that losing a job often has a “scarring effect” on workers, even after they find a new job. Krueger also said that it was “unfortunate” that Bush’s new budget calls to eliminate funding for research projects to study the employment and economic situation.

Non-profit organization Wellstone Action led a rally on the steps of our nation’s capitol building supporting the House passage of a bill ending insurance discrimination against the mentally handicapped. Speakers at the rally included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

The speeches of Pelosi and Hoyer were preceded by Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). Each speaker urged that the mentally ill should be treated and insured just as other sickly patients are.

The most emotionally stirring sentiments of the afternoon came from former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Carter, with a distinct soft Southern accent, addressed the crowd with a short speech voicing her satisfaction about finally seeing the bill passed by the House, after years of failed efforts.

Rep. Kennedy was particularly hopeful that the bill would be passed by the President in coming weeks. Pelosi reminded supporters that passage of this bill would help insure that soldiers returning from Iraq could have access to the mental health care they would likely need upon returning from duty.