War Oversight

Against a U.S. incursion into Iraq from the outset, Tierney voted against the 2002 resolution that authorized the Iraq war.

Since taking the helm of the Oversight Committee's National Security subcommittee, he has probed contractor abuse, weapons' control and the amount of U.S. resources being poured into Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Tierney's subcommittee also oversees the timeline for possible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, including the withdrawal of weapons.

Tierney is a longtime opponent of building a missile-defense shield and its exorbitant costs. In September 2009, he praised the Obama administration for halting the construction of a European missile-defense shield. "The investment the Bush administration has been making to deal with the nuclear missile threat is way out of balance with the more probable non-missile threat," he wrote in 2008.

In May 2008, Tierney introduced a bill that would have cut $966 million from missile-defense programs and moved it to other initiatives, but the bill was ultimately tabled for "going too far."

The Environment and Energy

In 2007, as a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, Tierney cosponsored the Green Jobs Act, which authorized up to $125 million in funding to establish national and state job training programs to address job shortages that are impeding growth in green industries. Once the bill passed, Tierney stressed the importance of training workers in renewable energy industries, saying, "We must take immediate steps to strengthen and diversify our manufacturing sector by creating good, new jobs and preparing people to take advantage of them....it will help reinvigorate America's economy and improve our global competitiveness."

Congress passed the act as part of the 2007 energy bill. The act was praised by controversial former White House aide and ex-green jobs czar Van Jones, who appeared as a guest on Tierney's cable-show.

Tierney is a member of the Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, which seeks alternative, safe energy sources for a more energy efficient America. Additionally, he supports the Climate Stewardship Act, which aims to "accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our nation's dependence on fossil fuels."

The Economy

Dissatisfied with the provisions aimed at the middle-class in Obama's February 2009 economic stimulus package, Tierney pressed for "further relief in the form of job retraining programs, improved access to education, addressing child-care concerns, and improving upon food stamp allotments and extensions of unemployment benefits." He initially voted against the fall 2008 $700 billion bailout as too much of a blank check, but supported the final version when the crisis intensified.

In January 2009, Tierney wrote an op-ed featured in the Salem News Online declaring that "any stimulus package must put money in the hands of those who will spend it quickly to stimulate the economy, without dangerously adding to existing structural debt."

Election Reform

With the aim of creating a voluntary public-financing system for congressional elections, in late June 2005, Tierney sponsored the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act.

Though the legislation did not advance past committee, Tierney persisted and in April 2009, reintroduced a similar bill.

Health-Care Reform

Tierney supported the public option in the 2009 health-care debate, arguing that "Seventy-two percent of the American people want a public option." So,"let's make it strong, let's make it good and put a stop to the outrageous behavior of the insurance companies."

Tierney also favored an individual mandate that would require everyone to carry health insurance, as well as market-driven reforms. He opposed the non-profit cooperatives that were included in the fall 2009 Senate Finance Committee bill.

Tierney argued that no small businesses in his district would be negatively affected by the overhaul. "It is projected that the health care legislation as currently written will allow for approximately 14,400 small businesses to receive tax credits so that they may provide coverage for their employees, and will assist over 9,000 seniors in avoiding the donut hole in Medicare Part D," said Tierney.

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