On Monday, I traveled to New York City to meet with Rev. Al Sharpton and fellow members of Congress to discuss last week's verdict in the trial of the three police officers accused of shooting and murdering the unarmed Sean Bell the night before his wedding. We were joined by the Bell family, including his fiancee Nicole, and together, we visited the scene of the November, 2006 shooting.

The extinguishing of Sean Bell's young life is a tragedy that deserves justice, and I will continue to press for a full and fair investigation into the shooting and its prosecution. But this tragedy is far from being the first of its kind-- as Tom Robbins wrote in this week's Village Voice, "To get to the issues surrounding the death by police bullets of Sean Bell on the morning of his wedding day, you first have to joust with all the ghosts that have preceded him: that of [Michael] Stewart, of Arthur Miller, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Timothy Stansbury, Khiel Coppin, and a score of others. The fact that those who mistakenly die at the hands of the police are most often black and Hispanic remains the most obscene tax levied on this city's communities of color. It is an old injustice, but one for which the powers-that-be still lack any credible answers."

The credible answers that we seek in the face of Sean Bell's tragic death may not be easy to find, but we will never fail to search. We will continue working to erase the lasting inequalities in our criminal justice system--in the memory of Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, and many others, and in the hope that the pain and frustration felt in their deaths may be prevented for other families, communities and generations.

I recently sat down with members of the scientific community at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health to discuss collaborative efforts on the issue of universal health care. The school's dean, Dr. Michael Klag, was welcoming and supportive, as was everyone else I met with there. I look forward to learning from the research conducted at Bloomberg and to working with the scientists and professors there who share our commitment to all Americans have access to health care. For more on my visit, click here.

As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I have spent a lot of time focusing on the egregious politicization of the Department of Justice under President Bush. But political interference with the basic functions of the Executive Branch in this Administration extends far beyond DOJ. Yesterday, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a disturbing report on politicization at the Environmental Protection Agency. The report was based on a questionnaire filled out by nearly 1,600 EPA scientists and showed that 60 percent of respondents experienced what they saw as political interference in their work over the last five years.

As one of the report's co-authors told the Associated Press, "'we have hundreds of scientists saying there is a problem' with assuring scientific integrity within the federal government's principal regulatory agency." Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has said that his Committee will investigate and sent a letter to the EPA Administrator, Stephen Johnson, asking him to be prepared to answer questions on the matter when he appears next month to testify.

For more information on the matter, and to read the report as well as Chairman Waxman's letter, check out the excellent post at TPMMuckraker.

I sent the following email with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. We are urging the Senate to support the House FISA legislation that does not include retroactive telecom immunity. I hope you can join us in this effort.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a strong and
balanced FISA bill, legislation that protects America’s national
security while defending civil liberties – without granting retroactive
immunity to phone companies. Retroactive immunity would abet the
Bush-Cheney Administration’s efforts to avoid accountability for its
actions.

This was a tremendous accomplishment -- and would not have been
possible without the hard work and support from engaged citizens like
you. The fight for a fair FISA bill has been waged all across the
country: in the halls of Congress, on progressive political blogs, in
newspaper editorial pages, on the public airwaves, and around dinner
tables and water coolers from coast-to-coast.

But there’s still much work to do. Now that the
House has passed a fair FISA bill, it’s time to turn our attention back
to the Senate – and we hope you’ll join us in urging our Senate
colleagues to sign on to the strong FISA legislation the House passed
just last month.

Urge the Senate to support the House’s strong and balanced FISA bill – forward an email to your Senators now!

We’ve already seen the impact of grassroots activity on the FISA
debate. Your emails, phone calls, blog posts, and letters-to-the-editor
– including more than 1,600 letters written [by you and other friends]
in response to our call last month alone – really do make a huge
difference. Thank you so much!

Now we need your help to make sure that our colleagues in the Senate
know that the American people are watching – and that they want a FISA
bill that protects our national security, preserves our civil
liberties, and refuses retroactive immunity to telecom companies.

Urge the Senate to support the House’s strong and balanced FISA bill – forward an email to your Senators now!

First the Bush-Cheney Administration tried to bully the House into
accepting its own deeply flawed FISA legislation. Then White House
officials and Congressional Republicans refused to meet with us to
hammer out a better bill. And then the President and his allies blocked
our attempts to temporarily extend existing surveillance legislation –
incredibly blaming Democrats for their own efforts to let the
legislation expire.

Despite all of this bullying, cajoling, and foot-dragging, we’re
proud that our House Democratic colleagues stood firm, refusing to
water down the strong, balanced FISA bill that passed the House and is
now on its way to the Senate.

Now we need your help to encourage our Democratic colleagues in the Senate to stand firm as well.

Urge the Senate to support the House’s strong and balanced FISA bill – forward an email to your Senators now!

Thank you, once again, for your continued support on this critical issue.

Sincerely,

Yesterday's New York Times included an excellent story about the rising costs of so-called "specialty" drugs, often prescribed for long-term and life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. Some insurance companies have made subtle changes in their plans recently, charging subscribers a percentage of the cost of the drug, rather than a flat co-payment. So instead of paying $20 for a 30-day supply of a critical medication, the cost soars to $325 or much, much more for the same supply.

The article has a theme that is very familiar to all of us in the fight for universal health care: the increasing hardships placed on people who were, or at least thought they were, adequately insured. But as long as health care is dominated by private, profit-driven insurance companies, none of us will be adequately taken care of. The rising costs of prescription drugs as described in the New York Times article is another in the growing list of compelling reasons to move to universal, single-payer health care.

In this morning's New York Times, Paul Krugman tells the stories of just a few of the 27,000 uninsured or underinsured Americans each year whose deaths could be prevented by adequate access to health care. He refutes President Bush's ludicrous claim a few months ago that people do have access to health care in this country, "After all, you just go to an emergency room."

Mr. Krugman goes on to mention the media's recent inquiries into the accuracy of statements by Sen. Clinton on the campaign trail, where she told one of the emergency room horror stories recounted in the article. Although I believe that Sen. Obama has the better health care plan between our two Democratic candidates, I think what is important to keep in mind is that we are finally restarting a national conversation about the need for universal health care. Candidates are talking about it, journalists are writing about it, and my Congressional colleagues and I will continue to keep pushing for it.

Forty years ago today, on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr. was brutally murdered. He had traveled there to support local striking sanitation workers, despite decreasing political support for his campaigns against poverty and the war in Vietnam and numerous threats to his life. In the four decades since, people of every opinion and position have claimed to have his voice on their side--that if Dr. King were alive today, he would most certainly say this or that. For myself, I would rather have Dr. King speak in his own words. Because although his life was extinguished forty years ago today, the light that he shined in the darkest corners of our world was not.

Here is the text of the final speech Dr. King gave before his assassination. I know that it may be tempting to think back on this dark day forty years ago, and to feel sadness, frustration or even pessimism about how much work is left to accomplish Dr. King's Dream. But as I re-read this speech this morning, I was filled with a renewed sense of encouragement that I hope you will share, because I think Dr. King's words continue to ring as true in our time as they did in his: And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

As you know, the House voted 233 to 32 last month to hold Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in contempt for failure to comply with subpoenas issued by the Judiciary Committee in its investigation into the U.S. Attorney firings and the politicization at the Bush Department of Justice. Speaker Pelosi referred the contempt citations to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and on February 29, Attorney General Mukasey responded that the Justice Department would not prosecute.

Along with the contempt of Congress vote, the House authorized the Judiciary Committee to file a lawsuit to enforce the subpoenas. (TPM has our complaint posted here.) On March 10, we filed in the District Court here in DC. Since then, the Judge in the case, Judge John Bates, has scheduled the first oral arguments for June 23, and we hope to have a ruling on the White House's most expansive executive privilege claims shortly thereafter.

I will continue to keep you updated on the case as we move forward, but I also want to recommend TPMMuckraker.com for excellent, up-to-date coverage. And as always, thank you for all of your support as we work to bring accountability to the Bush Administration.

Over the past several weeks, Tibet has seen its largest protests for independence in nearly two decades. The protesters' cries for freedom have been with violence and a crackdown by the Chinese government. On Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and nine other Members of Congress visited the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan government in India. I did not travel with them, but I want to echo Speaker Pelosi's call for "shedding bright light on what is happening inside Tibet."

As a nation and as individuals, we most hold China to its promises to improve its human rights record in advance of the upcoming Olympic games. For more information about what is happening in Tibet and what you can do to get involved, I recommend checking out this website: http://www.racefortibet.org/act/help.php.

Yesterday, the New York Times published this editorial on the current debate over updating FISA. It calls for President Bush to finally join that debate, instead of merely offering "propaganda intended to scare Americans, expand his powers, and erode civil liberties." It also praises the House for passing the FISA bill that Rep. Reyes and I authored, which "preserves constitutional protections against unreasonable searches" and denies retroactive immunity for the telecom companies.