EARTH DAY: As we celebrate Earth Day 2008, we must focus on the need for comprehensive, environmentally friendly policies that emphasize renewable, efficient alternative energy sources. This year, Congress will be considering the comprehensive Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act which would move us closer toward achieving energy independence and help us become a world leader in the fight against global warming. Unfortunately, the current Administration has not been a friend of the environment. The President's recent speeches do not erase nearly eight years of antipathy toward the environment and outright cuts to programs designed to protect the health of the Chesapeake Bay and other natural treasures. I urge all Americans to get involved in helping to protect, preserve, and restore our planet's natural treasures. Not just on Earth Day, but every day of the year.

EQUAL PAY: Equal pay for equal work should be a cornerstone of our nation; to negate it is to deny our basic principles of equality and justice for all.

This week, the Senate is expected to consider the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which I have co-sponsored. By clearly defining when an individual could bring a claim of discrimination against his or her employer, this bill would reinstate decades of precedent-setting decisions in the lower courts and actions by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that were recently overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is the fair and right thing for Congress to clarify and restore the intent of the original law.

Tuesday, April 22, is Equal Pay Day. Never heard of it? It marks the approximate time that it takes a woman to make up the salary difference from the year before between her and a man having the same experience and doing the same work. The statistics are alarming. According to the US Census Bureau, on average American women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. In Maryland, according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation, the median annual income for men with a college degree or more is $73,000 vs. $57,000 for women. Minority women face an even larger gap. Equal Pay Day helps to draw attention to the disparities millions of American women face - knowingly and unknowingly -every day when they are denied equal pay for equal work, often by substantial margins.

CELEBRATING SMALL BUSINESS: Since 1963, this week has been designated as National Small Business Week. As a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I recognize that successful small businesses will help pull our economy out of these troubled economic times. I've been proud to work with my colleagues to pass into law many pieces of legislation that are helpful to America's 27 million small businesses, including: small business tax relief; increased technology partnerships and other assistance through National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST); help for small businesses who want to increase their energy efficiency and decrease their dependence on foreign oil; competitive grants for Women-Owned Small Businesses; increased use of small, high-tech businesses to help the military; expanded counseling and financial assistance to veterans and reservists seeking to start or expand a business and keep their business afloat during deployments; and increased limits on the amount small businesses can write off their taxes or "expense" for new investments this year.