National Issues

BOSTON -- Attorney General Martha Coakley is arguing in new court filings that the federal law defining marriage as the union between a man and woman forces Massachusetts to discriminate against its residents and violates the traditional rights of

Gay marriage became legal in the state on January 1st but conservative Republicans quickly announced plans to seek repeal.

CONCORD — Six weeks after New Hampshire legalized gay marriage, the House overwhelmingly defeated two measures Wednesday that would have taken away their right to marry.

New Hampshire House members yesterday soundly defeated two efforts by conservatives to roll back gay marriage laws in New Hampshire.

Associated Press - February 17, 2010 5:45 PM ET CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's House has rejected a bill that would have repealed the state's 6-week-old gay marriage law.

The New Hampshire House today rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred gay marriage in New Hampshire. CACR 28 defined marriage in this state by saying it can only be between a man and a woman.

The New Hampshire House on Monday soundly rejected a bill repealing the state's new gay marriage law, only an hour after it rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have barred gay marriage in the state.

Associated Press - February 17, 2010 4:45 PM ET CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's House has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one...

There is still no official winner in the Republican gubernatorial primary, but frontrunner Bill Brady has been busy back in the State Senate in Springfield, where he recently proposed a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage.

CONCORD (AP) - Opponents of gay marriage are asking the House to repeal New Hampshire’s six-week-old law legalizing the unions. They also want the House to back a proposed constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate one individual to serve in his Administration: Michele M. Leonhart.

April 16, 2007, brought the deadliest day of violence on a college campus in our Nation's history. The horrific crimes committed at Virginia Tech University filled our souls with sadness. One year later, we remember the victims murdered and wounded that day.

President Bush on Monday said, "I do want to say something about trade. There's big disappointment around this table about the action the Speaker took on the Colombia free trade agreement. This free trade agreement is good for American workers and it's good for American consumers. And this free trade agreement is in our national interests. Yet that bill is dead unless the Speaker schedules a definite vote. This is a unprecedented move and it's not in our country's interest that we stiff an ally like Colombia, and that we don't encourage our goods and services to be sold overseas."

"Colombia is one of our strongest allies in the Western Hemisphere. They are led by a very strong and courageous leader, President Uribe. He's taken courageous stands to defend our shared democratic values. He has been a strong and capable partner in fighting drugs and crime and terror. And he's delivering results. The Colombian government reports that since 2002, kidnappings, terrorist attacks, and murders are all down substantially, as is violence against union members." - President George W. Bush, 4/7/08

President Bush on Monday said, "I welcome you as stars on the football field, and I welcome you as soon-to-be sailors and Marines who have a major responsibility to protect the United States from harm and spread the great blessings of liberty so we can have peace. I cannot wait to be able to say to you someday, 'I'm proud to be your Commander-in-Chief.' And so I welcome you to the Rose Garden. I congratulate you on being fine football players. More importantly, I congratulate you on being patriotic Americans."

Today the President directed the Secretary of Agriculture to draw down on the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to meet emergency food aid needs abroad. With this action, an estimated $200 million in emergency food aid will be made available through the U.S. Agency for International Development. This additional food aid will address the impact of rising commodity prices on U.S. emergency food aid programs, and be used to meet unanticipated food aid needs in Africa and elsewhere.

Laura and I are saddened by the death of John Archibald Wheeler, one of America's greatest physicists.

President Bush on Monday said, "We're here tonight to commemorate the 265th birthday of Thomas Jefferson, here in a room where he once walked and in a home where he once lived. In this house, President Jefferson spread the word that liberty was the right of every individual. In this house, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark off on the mission that helped make America a continental nation. ...With a single sentence, Thomas Jefferson changed the history of the world. After countless centuries when the powerful and the privileged governed as they pleased, Jefferson proclaimed as a self-evident truth that liberty was a right given to all people by an Almighty."

In his weekly radio address, President Bush said, "Since the surge began, American and Iraqi forces have made significant progress. While there's more to be done, sectarian violence, civilian deaths, and military deaths are down. Improvements in security have helped clear the way for political and economic progress. The Iraqi government has passed a budget and three major "benchmark" laws. And many economic indicators are now pointed in the right direction."

During National Crime Victims' Rights Week we highlight our dedication to protecting and strengthening the rights of crime victims and their families.