Tanya Long, a parent from Columbus, Ohio, speaks at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). She participated in a CAPTA-funded program to overcome her drug abuse and to provide a safe home for her children. She says that strengthening CAPTA will save thousands of lives. (0:34)

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At a National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) says America must fight together for comprehensive immigration reform and must honor America’s immigrant heritage. (0:47)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recounts a story of a young lady he encountered in Nevada who was the smartest student in her class but could not go to college because her parents came to America illegally. Reid says he wants to pass the Dream Act so that people like her are not denied citizenship and education. (0:55)

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At the 25th annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says Latino elected officials and voters have the power to make change and that their votes are important. (0:35)

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At a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee hearing on the renewal of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says that domestic violence is involved in half of child abuse cases. He adds that the youngest children are the most abused.(0:54)

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House Republican leaders Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Rep. Adam Putnum (R-Fla.) briefed reporters this afternoon at their weekly pen and pad briefing. Paramount to their discussion was the high cost of fuel which has dominated discussion on Capital Hill for the past few weeks.
Both Blunt and Putnam pointed to Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) as an example of Democrats not doing anything on high energy costs. Green today had said on the House floor “we need answers and not just slogans.” Blunt has told his members of the Republican Caucus that they should “talk about the issue of energy until they are blue in the face.”
Referring to the recent Medicare vote which passed the House, Blunt said “the Democrats did a great job where you had an active group of doctors and pharmacists.” But Blunt added that President Bush still has pull on Capital Hill. “I think on matters such as FISA and national security he still has got some pool,” said Blunt. Blunt, however, added that it is the threat of a presidential veto that has the strongest pull.
On the Supreme Courts decision today to overturn Washington D.C.’s hand gun ban the Minority Leader told reporters that there currently are no plans to do anything federally. Blunt added that he and Putnam would welcome any hearings on the issue of guns but joked “I doubt they’ll do that,” said Putnam.

Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) says that Latinos permeate every part of American society at a luncheon sponsored by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). Menendez says Latinos are faced with a transformational opportunity and that the road to the White House comes through the Latino community. (0:56)

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The credit card practices of college students was discussed by the
House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said that college students are targeted
by credit companies and likely to end up with high debt. She
continued, saying students are often rewarded for releasing their
personal information to credit card companies with items like t-shirts
and pizza.
According to Christine Lindstrom of the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group, decreased federal and state funding for education causes
students to pay for larger shares of their education and often
necessitates credit cards. Lindstrom said her organization is working
to educate college students on financial responsibility and how to be
a good consumer with a credit card. Lindstrom’s organization also
wants to give students the option to prevent universities from
releasing their names to credit card companies.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) reminded the committee that college
students are adults and though they often use credit cards for
inappropriate purchases, Congress should not deny them their right of
economic freedom. Hensarling said he fears that a solution would have
unintended damaging effects and suggested toughening anti-fraud laws
that prevent minors from being given credit cards. Brett Thurman, the
student-body president of the University of Illinois at Chicago,
stated that students’ issues are directly linked to high educational
costs and that credit card companies should not be able to give cards
to students that have no annual income.

The Senate Health. Education, Labor, and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Subcommittee, said that the Act provides grants to programs to prevent and treat child abuse, among many other things. He said that rates of physical abuse of children in the past few years have gone down, while rates of neglect have remained high. He added that half of child abuses cases involve domestic violence and that the very youngest children are the most abused and neglected.
Cheryl Boyce, chief of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Child Abuse and Neglect Program, emphasized the prevalence of neglect in child abuse cases. She said that child abuse leads to serious problems later in life, including depression and alcohol abuse.
A parent from Columbus, Ohio, Tanya Long, provided testimony of someone who has used a CAPTA-funded program to prevent child abuse. She used Parents Anonymous, an abuse prevention organization, to lift herself out of drug addiction and learn to provide a safe and healthy home for her children. Dodd said that he expects strong bipartisan support for the renewal of the Act.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) welcomed respected national leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) to speak at its 25th annual conference. The National Leadership Luncheon kicked off with a $1 million donation to NALEO from State Farm Insurance Companies.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) were met with a standing ovation when they took the stage to give their welcome address. Salazar thanked Reid for being a champion of Latinos and diversity but also reminded conference attendees that Latinos still had a long way to go. Menendez said the past year had been transformational with around 17 million Latinos eligible to vote and praised the record turnout for elections. Despite a bout of laryngitis, Pelosi took the stage and reminded the crowd that Latinos ‘hold the key to the White House.’
Reid said that this election was an opportunity for the Latino population to shape the country. He credited Puerto Rico for having the greatest percentage of their men and women serving America in the military compared to all the other states. Menendez mentioned that the first soldier to fall in the war on Iraq was a Latino and not even a U.S. citizen.
Clinton gave the closing remarks and made a call for more Latino elected officials. In reference to the more than 1.3 million Latinos who applied for naturalization, a number greater than the goal set by the ‘Ya Es Hora’ campaign, Clinton said America must honor its immigrant heritage and ‘start acting like America again.’