Dear Friend,
I am excited and honored to help
set an agenda for change in the
new Congress. I have worked on (1)
a new direction for Iraq; (2) a
smarter, real security at home and
abroad; (3) energy independence
through alternative energy development
and technology; (4) addressing our
health care needs; and (5) fighting
for rural America. I want to take
this opportunity to report to you
my work on these particular agenda
items, and highlight Senate action
in the first half of 2007.
The Senate has passed a number
of legislative measures which I
supported, including (1) a fiscal
year 2008 budget resolution that
proposes tax cuts for middle class
families, restores "pay-as-you-go"
budgeting rules abandoned by the
previous Congresses, and puts our
nation on the path to balancing
the budget in four years; (2) the
first federal minimum wage increase
in nearly a decade; (3) congressional
ethics and lobby reform; (4) the
America COMPETES Act, legislation
intended to put America back in
the forefront of scientific research
and advancement through a combination
of improved math and science education
and expanded science research and
development funding; (5) overhauling
the Food and Drug Administration's
drug safety programs and overall
mission; (6) lifting existing restrictions
on federal funding of new embryonic
stem cell research; (7) preventing
health care discrimination based
upon inherited conditions; and (8)
the largest increase in support
for the Nation's veterans in history.
We also provided (9) emergency agriculture
disaster assistance to help Colorado's
farmers and ranchers hit hard by
this past winter's record blizzards
on the heels of disastrous drought,
(10) emergency wildfire funding,
and (11) overdue assistance to the
Gulf Coast's Katrina victims and
communities.
New Direction for Iraq
I have been part of a core group
of Senators who have sought to chart
a new direction in Iraq, including
opposing the President's "surge"
strategy and imposing timeframes
and goals for U.S. presence there.
The President has so far adhered
to an open-ended continued policing
of another country's civil war.
I believe that through our efforts
we will see Iraq policy changed
in the near future. I have supported
a bill to implement the recommendations
of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group
(ISG) for future U.S. involvement
in Iraq and, importantly, termination
of the U.S. combat role in Iraq.
Homeland and National Security
The Senate passed legislation to
enact the remaining recommendations
of the 9/11 Commission regarding
homeland security—2 ½
years after this bipartisan commission
first made its recommendations to
Congress. That effort includes my
amendments to (1) create a Rural
Policing Institute, a special, rural-focused
law enforcement training institute,
and (2) require a Quadrennial Homeland
Security Review, a strategic plan
every four years similar to the
Defense Department's Quadrennial
Review. I worked on a comprehensive
immigration reform package designed
to fix our broken immigration system.
I will continue to fight for an
immigration system that fixes our
borders, enforces our laws, and
upholds the moral values of America.
I also helped introduce the School
Safety Enhancement Acts to help
address K-12 and college campus
violence which include my proposal
to establish school safety hotlines
for reporting potentially dangerous
situations, modeled after Colorado's
statewide "Safe2Tell"
program, which I helped develop
while Colorado's Attorney General.
And I joined a bipartisan coalition
of Senators in introducing the Gang
Abatement and Prevention Act, legislation
to fight gang violence and invest
in programs to prevent our youth
from joining gangs.
Greater Energy Independence
In late June, the Senate passed
the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection,
and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007.
This landmark legislation (1) dramatically
increases production and use of
biofuels; (2) includes my "25
x 25" amendment establishing
a national goal of producing 25%
of our energy by 2025 from renewable
sources like solar, wind, geothermal,
and biomass; (3) establishes new
efficiency standards for appliances,
vehicles, and buildings, including
an increase in fuel efficiency standards
for passenger cars, trucks and SUVs
to 35 mpg by 2020; (4) measures
to promote advanced vehicles and
vehicle technologies, including
my amendment to promote the development
and use of electric and hybrid vehicles;
(5) a target of 35% reduction in
U.S. oil consumption by 2030; and
(6) investments in carbon capture
and storage technology to reduce
greenhouse gases, including my amendment
to require a national assessment
of the capacity to sequester carbon
(carbon capture and sequestration)
to reduce pollutants from power
plants.
In March I organized the 2007 Colorado
New Energy Summit in Denver, with
over 1,000 people attending. In
March I also joined the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
and the leaders of CU, CSU, and
School of Mines in a signing ceremony
at the state capitol ratifying the
Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory
Agreement dedicated to performing
world class research and to develop
new energy technologies and to transfer
these advances as rapidly as possible
to the private sector. I proposed
this initiative following my 2006
Energy Summit and was able to obtain
state legislative support and approval
of this unique collaboration.
Addressing Our Health Care
Needs
In addressing veterans' health
care legislation for 2007, we delivered
a historic package for 25 million
veterans, including my proposals
to provide improved access to health
care for rural and Native American
vets, creation of a VetsRide program
to assist veterans with travel to
VA medical centers, better travel
reimbursement rates for vets' travel
expenses, and new reporting requirements
on the VA's progress toward improving
care for rural veterans. We also
authorized the remaining funds needed
for construction of the long-awaited
Fitzsimons VA Hospital in Aurora.
And the VA announced that Craig
will be the location for a Community
Based Outreach Clinic that will
offer medical treatment to veterans
in rural northwestern Colorado,
a project Rep. John Salazar and
I have worked on with community
members in rural northwestern Colorado,
the VA, and veterans to establish.
I also introduced a bill that would
give benefits to approximately 10,000
Rocky Flats employees who became
ill after working at the former
nuclear weapons plant if they suffer
from one of the 22 specified cancers
known to be linked to their radiation
exposure. And Senator Arlen Specter
(R-PA) joined me in introducing
legislation to expand access to
the highly successful Colorado-born
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)to
all 50 states, providing at-home
nurse visits for up to 570,000 first-time
mothers each year. Studies have
shown that programs like the NFP
are cost-effective, generating more
savings in future costs than expenses,
and improve health quality among
children and their families and
reduce incidents of child abuse
and neglect, improve child cognitive
development and reduce children's
behavior problems.
Fighting for Rural America
Along with my Energy Bill work
on alternative and renewable energy,
which directly impacts and assists
rural America, I introduced the
Rural Community Renewable Energy
Bonds Act, creating tax-exempt renewable
energy bonds to promote local and
community-based wind farms and other
renewable energy projects (bonds
now available only to large utility
companies), and the Rural Wind Energy
Development Act, creating a 5-year
wind energy investment tax credit
for rural small wind energy systems.
In addition to my efforts in obtaining
emergency agriculture disaster relief
and wildfire funding, I have fought
for full funding of the PILT program,
relied upon by most Colorado counties
to replace tax revenue not otherwise
paid by the federal government,
which owns much of our state. Also,
as a member of Senate Agriculture
Committee I have a key role in crafting
reauthorization of the Farm Bill,
which will sets agriculture policy
for America for the remainder of
the decade. I have hosted several
farm bill listening sessions throughout
our state, including the first Senate
committee hearing by Chairman Harkin
outside Washington.
I hope to update you on more of
my work in the coming months. In
the meantime, you can visit my Senate
website at salazar.senate.gov for
more immediate information. You
can also sign up to receive more
frequent electronic newsletter updates
from me. To do so, go to salazarforcolorado.com.
Thank you for the opportunity to
serve in the U.S. Senate, and to
make progress on the issues so important
to our Nation's future.
Respectfully,
