Barbara Lee

The nation's Catholic hospitals, including three in the Bay Area, face a new religious mandate in the new year: to provide life-sustaining food, water and medicine to comatose patients who have no hope of recovery. Read More

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the directive Nov. 17 to the more than 1,000 church-affiliated hospitals and nursing homes in the United States and to all Catholic doctors and nurses. Read More

As U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives prepare to negotiate to combine the two distinctly different health care bills, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are vowing once again to push for a public option to make the final bill affordable for their largely African-American and low income constituencies. Read More

The U. S. Senate has finally taken a procedural vote toward passage of a health care bill with a final vote expected this week, just in time for Christmas as President Obama had hoped. Read More

eve of a historic health care vote in the Senate, liberal Democrats in the House have launched a full-throated defense of the public option — a sign of battles to come when party leaders try to meld the two bills. Read More

The Senate just passed a third and final cloture vote, by a count of 60-39, on the health care bill. Read More

In the fear-filled, nationalistic fervor after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001, Congress rushed to approve President George W. Bush 's decision to attack Afghanistan, the country where the terrorist leaders had trained for their suicide voyage. Read More

Local Democratic parties will have a leadership team going into 2010 and beyond. Read More

African American leaders emphasized the need to jump start job creation across the country. Read More

The Congressional Black Caucus is asking President Barack Obama to direct money from an anticipated jobs bill to poverty-stricken communities. Read More