Hope is not a strategy. Hortatory talk about what the Iraqi government must do is getting old. I mean, I have heard over and over again the government must do this. The Iraqi army must do that. Nobody disagrees with that. The brutal fact…

You know, I am going to relish this victory.

Now we can have a -- a new beginning, a new face at the Pentagon, who doesn't carry the baggage that Secretary Rumsfeld carried.

You know, last week the vice president said, regardless of the outcome, the administration would go full speed ahead in the same direction. Well, I think that the American people have said, not so fast!

Democrats now have the majority in the United States Senate.

It was a sweet family story her mother shared to inspire greatness in her daughter, to great results, I might add.

The story that I thought as a little girl is not quite right.

You know, and I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests…

And I'm certain that, if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was…

We know this is not working, and we know that it's creating, you know, very difficult problems for us down the road.

We know this is not working and we know that it is creating, you know, very difficult problems for us down the road.

These loans as high as 800 percent, just absolutely disgusting, ripping off service men and women and their families.

As a Senator representing more than 115,000 North Carolina-based service members and as a member of both this committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, this issue is one of my top priorities.

the department has recommended establishing an interest rate cap of 36 percent for service members and their families.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the good work you have done with the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection act which we passed in June, and that did a good job about abusive sales practices.

Supporting our service members means more than providing the equipment and training necessary for fighting the War on Terror, Mr. Chairman.

We may be at loggerheads on certain things outside the Capitol, but we can work well together inside the Capitol.

With my support, the Senate approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2007 defense authorization sponsored by Senator Jim Talent to enact a 36 percent annual interest rate cap on abusive loans to service members.