He also voted against funding that was not tied to a timeline for pulling troops out of Iraq and voted against the president's requested troop surge.

Health Care

In the Connecticut Senate, Larson sponsored one of the nation's first family medical leave laws, a bill that became the basis for legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate by his home state colleague, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.). Once he got to Congress, he fought to defend Social Security and Medicare and extend health insurance. He avidly opposed any attempt to privatize Social Security. Larson also introduced legislation to allow the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare recipients, and he proposed a measure to provide grants to cities for mental-health services and violence prevention.

Larson was a key player in the push to pass Obama's health-care reform plan in the House. After more than a year of legislative wrangling, the House passed the Senate version of health-care reform on March 21, 2010, clearing the way for the Senate to approve a package of amendments insisted on by the lower chamber with a simple majority (using a process known as reconciliation).

The $940 billion bill requires most Americans to carry health insurance and requires that insurance companies cover them, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It establishes a national insurance exchange allowing Americans to compare and purchase insurance plans. The bill will be paid for by increasing taxes on well-off Medicare recipients and by taxing premium insurance plans. By the end of the bill's 10-year roll-out, 32 million uninsured Americans will have health coverage and the deficit will be $138 billion lower, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

The Economy

Larson was torn on the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in October 2008. He worked to get support for the bill on both sides of the aisle, and was openly angry that more Republicans didn't support a bill advocated by a Republican president.

"Now, Republicans have handicapped our oversight functions and left our economy in shambles. The rescues of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns underscore a policy where executives get bailed out and the people get the bill," he said.

Energy

In June 2008, Larson introduced legislation that would ban speculators from buying oil on the futures market, something he said would help lower soaring gasoline prices.

Larson supports fuel cells, a source of alternative energy that is already an established industry in his home state of Connecticut. He is a co-founder and leader of the House Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Coalition.

In 2001, Larson worked with Dodd on the Energy Independence Act of 2001, which would have invested $1 billion into fuel cell technology and requested a plan to ensure the U.S. was energy self-sufficient by 2011. The bill never became a law, but Larson has continued to push for independence from foreign oil.

"Energy affects a number of critical policy areas, including the environment, the economy, and our foreign policy. We must aggressively seek to end our dependence on foreign oil and I will work with my colleagues to continue to build a coalition to advance this crucial goal," Larson said in 2004.

He has been a member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming since March 2007.

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