On May 23rd, I am participating in an event with The Nation Magazine, the Institute for Policy Studies, and local organizers from Detroit to discuss our economic crisis with city residents. We will address how we, as a country, can protect ourselves from greed that undermines the hard work and progress of so many in order to unjustly enrich so few.

Paul Krugman weighs in on the insurance industry's recent claim that they support Obama health care reform and *surprise* found a way to cut trillions in costs.  Krugman is encouraged but suggests the devil may be in the details.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=1&hpw

Helen Thomas had a recent exchange with the president's press secretary Robert GIbbs inquiring why the administration didn't support single payer health care.  She followed it up with this wonderful op-ed:

http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2009/05/helen_thomas_expand_medicare_t.html 

There is an excellent investigative piece on NBC Dateline on the mortgage crisis and the role of banks that made fraudulent loans.  Here is a link to the video and other coverage. 

One of the most spectacular ways that President Obama changed Washington during the campaign was to enlist an army of volunteers who acted like community activists, developing a broad grassroots organization.  This was very helpful in the campaign field operation, registering voters, informing citizens of the candidate's initiatives, and turning people out to vote.

President Obama has undertaken a novel approach to governing from the White House.  He has decided to re-engage the 13 million people who invigorated his campaign, asking them to reach out to their friends and neighbors in support of his budget.  I am a big fan of these efforts, described in greater detail in the Washington Post.

I thought you might like an update on what Congress is doing regarding AIG's $165 million executive bonuses.  Here is a summary of judiciary activity.

I attended a health care forum in Dearborn, Michigan arranged by the White House and heard plenty of support for HR 676.  The Detroit News had a good story on this as did the Free Press.

This has been a very busy week-- as I'm sure you have read by now, the Judiciary Committee reached an agreement in our lawsuit to enforce the subpoenas issued in the U.S. Attorney firings investigation.  We will get access to the White House documents, Harriet Miers and Karl Rove will testify, and the Bush Administration's overbroad executive privilege claims have been rejected.
 
Much of the week, for me and a number of colleagues on the Committee, was also spent working on legislation to help families save their homes from foreclosure, which the House passed yesterday afternoon.
 
The other focus this week, which of course is always at the front of my mind, has been reforming our failed health care system.  I joined President Obama at the summit he hosted on health care reform at the White House yesterday to discuss how we can make quality health care accessible and affordable for all Americans.
 
I'm in Philadelphia this weekend to continue the discussion on health care with the Physicians for a National Health Plan and PA for Democracy, but I'll try to post more about the work that we accomplished this week in between meetings.

I want to share with you an article I read in the Washington Post magazine yesterday, in which the author writes of her time listening in on the work of a credit counselor at the Homeowners HOPE Hotline, a nonprofit created to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes obtain voluntary mortgage modifications.  It gives a telling view of how difficult and rare voluntary modifications are, and how desperately we need additional options for families to save their homes.

As I watched President Obama walk into the House chamber last night, I was once again filled with the hope and excitement I felt so often during the 2008 campaign -- recognizing that our country is on the brink of a new era in which we will rise to meet great challenges and ensure that the American dream is a reality shared by all.
 
I was especially heartened to hear the President say that health care reform can not wait for a later day and that providing affordable health care to all Americans is critical to ending the current economic crisis.  But as President Obama gathers business leaders and doctors, and Democrats and Republicans, to begin working on a comprehensive solution to the health care crisis, I urge him to include the millions of voices asking for a single-payer plan.
 
My bill for single-payer health care reform, H.R. 676, had the most cosponsors of any health care bill during the 110th Congress, a number we're sure to exceed in the 111th.  It has the support of labor unions, thousands of doctors and nurses, civil rights groups and religious organizations.  Most importantly, it has the support of millions of Americans like you who are fed-up with the failures of for-profit health insurance.  The single-payer movement needs a seat at every health care dicussion the President hosts.