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The global war against terrorism will be a long, protracted conflict. The federal government needs to be properly structured and to have the tools that it needs to protect Americans today,tomorrow, and 10 and 20 years from now, and Congress should beappropriately organized to support this effort. A balanced,forward-looking, and nonpartisan final report from the 9/11Commission would be a significant step in the right direction.

The Bush Administration's FY 2005 budget proposal calls for $47.4billion in homeland security funding: approximately 13 percent morethan estimated FY 2004 spending and a significant and appropriategrowth in homeland security expenditures. Most important, theAdministration's funding priorities dovetail well with the criticalmission areas established in the national homeland securitystrategy.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has relearned painful lessons on how to win the peace.

The House and Senate each deliberately ignored the Joint EconomicCommittee's sober warning  when passing different versions ofMedicare legislation (H.R. 1 and S. 1), providing a universal drugentitlement: That entitlement will massively disrupt, one way oranother, existing private drug coverage for millions of seniors,particularly the drug coverage provided by employer plans.

The United States Senate will soon render its advice and consent to the nomination of Steven Chu as the new secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE).