Mr. President, I very much appreciate the comments of the Senator from Iowa. My expectation is that the Coast Guard study and report will include the consideration of the specific needs of individuals with disabilities with respect to…

I rise to speak on behalf of the senior Senator from North Dakota and to thank him for his dedicated service on behalf of the people of North Dakota and on behalf of the people of this great Nation. I think this is 26 years that he has…

Yesterday was the 3-month anniversary of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans' lives were tragically lost, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. To date, none of the terrorists have been brought to justice. In…

I thank the gentlelady. Mr. Speaker, my discharge petition at the desk is really an approach that the American people spoke loudly in. Every single one of us just came through an election, and the message was abundantly clear to me: Why do…

I would add to that this is a commitment to civility that Senator Coons and I share, and it is also one that our Congressman John Carney certainly does, and winning in races before him, Mike Castle. If you think of all of those--Castle…

Would my colleague yield? Madam President, I want to follow up--we are supposed to talk about tomorrow being Delaware Day, if I could do that. But I wish to follow up on Senator Coons' remarks on the fiscal cliff. A friend of mine who has…

And we have fun doing them. One of the things we are going to do--a great idea from a brandnew Senator to Delaware about a year ago--is to have a ``Taste of Delaware.'' In fact, we are doing that this afternoon. It is not something paid…

We have this beautiful center of Georgetown, with all these beautiful old brick buildings, courthouses and other buildings, and as we gather there in the circle of Georgetown--and the Senator may have said this and I just missed it--but…

Madam President, today I would like to speak on several important issues pending before the Senate--issues that I believe are related. I want to speak first about the recent proposal to change the rules of the Senate with a simple majority…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Facing Challenges

Mr. President, I thank the esteemed Senator from Texas and the Senator from Kentucky. I see the Senator from Iowa has joined us as well. I rise to speak in support of the STEM Act but also to respond to the Senator from New York. I see the…

Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the legislation before us, the repeal for Jackson-Vanik for Russia and Moldova and the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. The two main components of this package represent a…

Today, let's show the American people the politics of the possible. Let's focus on what we agree on, not what we disagree on. Let's find common ground. We can accomplish this by extending the middle class tax cuts immediately. Let's have…

Madam President, today I wish to honor the military service of Jonathan Mickle. Jonathan died on October 30 in Rye, NH. He is remembered as a dedicated servicemember who served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation…

What table is it at which we have no seat because we have not ratified this treaty? What is it that we cannot do by having the most aggressive laws, the most robust laws protecting Americans with disabilities that we somehow achieve simply…

If my distinguished colleague and friend, the senior Senator from Massachusetts is correct, that this would have no impact on our law, if in fact it does nothing, then why would we make it part of the U.S. law? Why would we make it part of…

Yes, of course. It doesn't become the law of the land just because it is in the treaty. But it often does. Its entry into customary international law can become facilitated by the U.S. ratification of it.

First of all, whenever we ratify a treaty it becomes the law of the land under article VI of the U.S. Constitution. Secondly, whenever a body of law, whether embodied in U.N. convention or otherwise, becomes part of the corpus of customary…