Senator Franken

Let me just say, I wasn't impressed by his riff on Perry Mason during the Sotamayor hearings, but I admire his first piece of legislation and think that, if the government is going to spend money then there's no reason it shouldn't be on something like this:

In his first piece of legislation as Minnesota's junior senator, Al Franken is looking to expand the number of service dogs available to wounded veterans.

Franken wrote in an opinion piece published Monday in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that his proposed pilot program will train "a statistically significant number of dogs" to measure the benefits to veterans living with devastating injuries sustained on the battlefield.

The dogs' companionship, Franken said, provides invaluable health benefits -- both physical and emotional -- to veterans suffering from debilitating injuries and psychological disorders.