Mr. President, this is the Sessions-McCaskill amendment, offered with Senator McCaskill, my colleague from Missouri. It is a bipartisan amendment, and it is one that I think is very important. I hope my colleagues will give it serious…

I thank the Senator. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.

Mr. President, I have at the desk amendment No. 3337. I ask for its immediate consideration. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Alabama [Mr. Sessions], for himself and Mrs…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of Amendments.'')

The number of new unemployment benefit claims jumped last week to 496,000 Americans. More people out of work, more people looking for those promised jobs. Meanwhile, a year later, we're bogged down debating the administration's $1 trillion…

Mr. President, I was not on the floor after the vote last night, but I did get a chance to read some of the transcript of the back-and-forth between Senator Bunning and Senator Durbin and others. I understand that Senator Durbin retained…

Besides the question and the need for jobs, I think it is important for America and for my colleagues to know that the meeting yesterday at the White House at Blair House was a vitally important meeting. I know that many Americans were…

Sometimes we come to the floor, Mr. Speaker, but we don't understand, really, the impetus and the importance of the work that is being done here. To my colleagues, what we are doing is securing the American people. We know that right now…

I thank the Senator from Illinois for allowing me to ask those questions. I think the Senator from Kentucky is speaking on behalf of the conscience of a lot of Americans, a majority of Americans, if they heard this debate. He is doing it…

I appreciate my friend from Iowa, and I appreciate the points that he's been making. You heard so much information today. It was a bit mind-boggling when you think about the number of people that were in the so-called summit today, and not…

I would appreciate that. And in a colloquy, if the gentleman would allow me the time since he has indicated he has no further speakers, I will go ahead and consume my time with the knowledge that he would then be ending very quickly. And I…

We are well aware that the Democrats have a sizable majority in this body, and if the Democratic leadership, including yourself, is committed to not paying for this and taking care of this appropriation by borrowing additional money from…

The Senator from Illinois is very eloquent in his advocacy. But I think he is avoiding the question posed by Senator Bunning, who simply says he is prepared tonight to fund the programs that you wish, to have them go forward. As I…

I thank the gentleman for his work on these issues. I thank him for always being willing to be involved in these. These are tough problems. These are complex problems. You know, the activity today, I referred to it earlier today on a radio…

I am happy to yield 4 minutes to an esteemed senior member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble).

Reclaiming my time, let me just run through a little bit. We heard right at the end of the 6-hour discussion down at Blair House today, the President and I believe the Speaker of the House said that the time for incrementalism has passed…

It just shows you the type of tension that we are going to set up between the State and Federal Governments if we were to pick up and pass either the House or the Senate bill and send it down to the President for his signature.

It's interesting, perhaps the one thing that would provide the right impetus in the competition to hold down those costs we are not going to do, and that's the ability to buy across State lines. In the individual market, buying a policy…