Trent Lott

I think that many aspects to what the Obama administration and the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is doing and the race for the top that have some positive features.

A lot of it is because Republicans when they start talking don't talk about education. You have to talk about it. You have to go there, where they are.

The answer to education is not just more money. It's not just stimulus money. It's not just money for technology. It's how you use that money. And I emphasize rewards of incentives rather than punishments for the kids or for the teachers.

We do not filibuster judges. And if we were to do that, we would change the culture of this place.

There are no problems.

I think one of the best infrastructure visions we could have as a country today would be to create high-speed passenger rail service that moves people economically and efficiently around the country. The irony is, as long as we continue to…

I too am concerned about some of the costs we have had at Amtrak. In fact, the last time we passed Amtrak reform, I included a provision in that legislation to allow food to be contracted out. Up until that point, it could not even be…

The amendment would modify the bill's competition pilot program to allow an unlimited number of existing Amtrak routes to be open to competition from freight rails that seek to operate passenger trains in exchange for Amtrak's current…

We're going to go forward, trying to do our part, and we need to count on the administration, the airlines, the entire industry, to do their part.

However, like so many of the things that we complain about in the Congress, we looked around, and we found the enemy, and it is us.

I do think that the congestion problem is going to continue to grow until we begin to make tougher decisions.

But, unfortunately, the wheels have come off in the Finance Committee, in the House, in trying to find a way to come together in a bipartisan, nonpartisan way.