Last week, Donnelly led a delegation with Congressmen Donald Cazayoux (D-LA), Steve King (R-IA) and John McHugh (R-NY) into Iraq and Afghanistan to visit US troops and assess the situation between he American military and Iraqi forces. During this time of uncertainty on the hill regarding America's position in Iraq, Donnelly felt that showing encouragement and support for the ilitary overseas would help boost morale and ease diplomatic tensions.

Donnelly:"My first stop was in Iraq, which I found to be significantly more stable since my trip this past December. This was evident to me throughout my travels around the country, and especially in Fallujah. The improvements will, hopefully, allow us to withdraw additional troops in the next few months, and we will continue to cede control of more territory to the Iraqis, allowing our soldiers to head home while leaving behind a secure Iraq."

After visiting the Middle East, he stopped in Georgia which is currently undergoing hostilities with aggressive Russia to show American support for the political ally.

Donnelly expressed his concern for the democratic country and wanted to express his sentiments of good will.

After Obama's controversial trek across Europe to express his sentiments of future peace between America and other world powers, is Donnelly's trip to visit troops and express support overseas a "publicity run" as Obama's was called, or is the tactic of speaking face-to-face with our allies becoming a diplomatic trend?

Last month, Donnelly sponsored a bill which amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat certain income and gains relating to fuels as qualifying income for publicly traded partnerships, which, in effect means that businessmen wishing to establish ethanol pipelines domestically will be granted the same tax breaks as those who now own and operate pipelines that transport petroleum products.

The bill, entitled, Biofuels Pipeline Act of 2008 will hopefully provide another step in derailing oil speculation and behooving car companies to produce E85 vehicles by providing the alternative fuel in more places.

Donnelly: Only when we work together and take an “all-in” approach that utilizes America’s resources, labor, and ingenuity will we end our dependence on foreign oil, reduce energy prices, and make our country more secure.

Donnelly endorses the SAVE Act, a rather conservative piece of legislation headed by Brian Bilbray (R-California) aimed at cracking down illegal immigration by keeping track of immigrants who pass through the criminal justice system via databases kept by Homeland Security.

The Act also stipulates record keeping and logging of all companies that have employed illegal immigrants and been indicted. Though Donnelly agrees that the "system[of immigration] is broken", he is mostly interested in the Act's stipulation for 8,000 patrolmen, E-verification for employers with past offenses and providing more funding to increase the level of border patrol technology. This proves that in order to get things done, Donnelly is willing to employ bipartisanship to reach a house consensus and fix America's immigration problems.

Donnelly: “Illegal immigration has become nothing short of a crisis in this country. The SAVE Act offers an immigration policy that strengthens our borders and enforces our employment laws. I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the bill to the floor.”