11.26.08 President Kennedy once observed: "In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognize the opportunity." Today, America's credit crisis is roiling Wall Street and pushing the economy into a recession. However, one of the few benefits of the economic slowdown is the decrease of energy prices caused by a decline in global demand. The cost of a barrel of oil has fallen almost 70 percent in just four months. While some politicians are ready to take the energy issue off the table, we should use this short-term drop in costs to renew our commitment to a long-term energy solution. If we take the necessary measures to increase domestic energy production today, it will strengthen America's economy and national security tomorrow.

AUSTIN-U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, made the following statement regarding President-elect Barack Obama s promise today to cut wasteful government programs and his announcement that Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag would join his Administration s economic team as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. "I welcome the President-elect s commitment to reform the federal budget process and rein in wasteful government spending. For my part, I look forward to working with President-elect Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress on quickly identifying and eliminating inefficient, ineffective and outdated federal programs. Families across Texas, and across the country, are forced to make tough decisions with their own budgets every day, particularly in the current economic climate. It should be no different for the federal government. Yet, year after year, too many government programs are funded because there are small-but vocal-special interest groups backing them with little Congressional oversight to determine when ideas have run their course. Already, in an initial analysis of 1,000 federal programs the Office of Management and Budget recently concluded that nearly 25 percent of them were either inefficient, or their efficiency could not be determined. That is why I have been a strong advocate for the creation of a Federal Sunset Commission to review federal spending programs. Modeled after Texas own Sunset Commission, this bipartisan group would be tasked with reviewing federal programs, determining their efficiency, and making recommendations on whether they need reform or should be eliminated all together."

11.21.08 Parents often casually remark that today's children grow up too quickly. In one particularly alarming sense, that sentiment is true. A generation of children whose health has been threatened by sedentary behavior and poor eating habits now face some of the deadly health risks once limited to adults, such as type 2 diabetes. Without serious lifestyle changes, these children could struggle with significant, lifelong health challenges, including heart disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.

The Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility should remain open so long as America s national security warrants it. That calculus is complex, which President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers surely will discover as they prepare to assume the aw...

Senate members began debates on a possible $25 billion bailout of the Big Three automotive companies, but Sen. John Cornyn and other Republican senators oppose the way the Democratic Senate leadership is pushing its passage. Democratic leaders ar...