Two more Senate Democrats climbed aboard the Elizabeth Warren bandwagon on Friday, signing on to a statement circulated by Sen. Al Franken encouraging President Obama to nominate the Harvard professor to lead the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an entity she first proposed and helped shepherd through Congress.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the P Street Project have been urging their membership to flood Congress with calls of support for Warren. Franken’s statement gives advocates something to organize around. The group is also calling on citizens to sign a petition backing her.

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A massive oil spill in Michigan has Minnesota lawmakers asking that the pipeline owner, Enbridge Energy Partners Ltd., be investigated that similar leaks don’t happen here.

A ruptured 5-foot section of pipeline spilled more than 1 million gallons of crude oil, by Environmental Protection Agency estimates, into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge says it has recovered about half of the oil spilled, which spread over a 25.mile section of the river.

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MANKATO, Minn. – Senator Al Franken showed up for the last official day of Vikings training camp. He predicted Brett Favre will return to the Vikings this season.

The players were happy to be done with their time in Mankato and another highlight was the arrival of Senator Al Franken.

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MANKATO, Minn. — Vacationing Sen. Al Franken had plenty to say about his beloved Minnesota Vikings on his first visit to the team’s training camp.

Franken watched practice on Thursday morning and met with a couple of players, including his self-declared favorite, tight end Jim Kleinsasser. The Minnesota Democrat said he believes the team should have a new stadium built and that he expects Brett Favre to be the quarterback this season.

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U.S. Senator Al Franken (DFL-MN) last Sunday invited press to his Drake Bank Building office to continue updating the progress on the approximately 4,500 forcibly repatriated Hmong in Laos. It was a timely meeting now that President Barack Obama has nominated Karen Brevard Stewart as the next United States Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Franken noted that he had submitted an Ambassador nomination request for State Senator Mee Moua, who has taken an active role in several efforts related to the Hmong in Laos and Thailand – from the returnees, the oppressed and the grave desecration issue at the Wat Tham Krabok Buddhist monastery in Saraburi, Thailand.

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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has joined Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to introduce legislation to improve student academic achievement, reduce over-identification of children with disabilities and reduce disciplinary problems in schools by intervening early.

The Achievement Through Prevention Act would make it easier to implement school-wide programs that create a positive learning environment, as well as a system to provide early interventions tailored to the needs of each child.

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Citing a Center for Public Integrity investigation of BP refineries having the most egregious safety violations in the industry, Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Al Franken want the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to demand stricter worker safety requirements in its negotiations with BP over $90 million in fines.

The plan would help OSHA find problems before they erupt in an explosion or other catastrophic incident by requiring BP to report injuries, deaths, and safety incidents that currently go unreported, the senators said in an August 9 letter to OSHA. Murray is chairman of the Senate’s employment and workplace safety subcommittee, and Franken is a member of the panel.

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The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) applauds U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), for co-sponsoring the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act (S. 3621).

The bipartisan legislation will help the country address a critical shortage of veterinarians serving our rural areas by making the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) tax-exempt, thereby increasing the number of veterinarians who can participate in the program. The act would also apply to similar state programs that encourage veterinarians to practice in underserved communities.

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For years, internet and free-speech advocates have championed the concept of net neutrality, arguing that the alternative was a nightmare scenario that would allow internet service providers to offer different tiers of service based on a person’s ability to pay premium pricing for the highest speeds.

Shockingly, this very scenario now appears very real, as Google and Verizon are on the cusp of announcing a deal that the New York Times reports “could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege,” as the FCC, which would like to regulate the deal, is sidelined due to a court decision.

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A group of bipartisan senators this week introduced legislation to entice drug makers to focus more intently on cures for uncommon children’s diseases.

Sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), the Creating Hope Act aims to solve a nagging problem inherent to the market-driven world of pharmaceutical manufacturing: how to encourage the creation of expensive-to-develop drugs that few patients need?

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