I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg), the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), and the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson) are necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from…

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Lautenberg) are necessarily absent.

I don't believe many, if any, of us believed when we voted for [the AUMF] that we were voting for the longest war in the history of the United States and putting a stamp of approval on a war policy against terrorism that, 10 years plus…

None of us, not one who voted for the AUMF, could have envisioned we were about to give future Presidents the authority to fight terrorism as far flung as Yemen and Somalia.

This has been an orderly hearing. It has been a hearing conducted with some decency.

As we continue to experience unacceptably slow economic growth, it will be important that we do not apply additional barriers from Washington.

I am extremely concerned with conduct of this Executive Branch.

The fact of the matter is, we were asked by the ranking member on the floor--the hearing tomorrow has three Republican witnesses and two Democrat witnesses.

I want to fix our broken immigration system.

I assure you, they are going to say bring tens of thousands of workers to America, but they are going to give them green cards.

I think we have to get away from this notion and we have to stand up for farmworkers.

I want to join the Ranking Member, Zoe Lofgren, in expressing our desire to work with the other side of the aisle in a bipartisan manner.

I want to make sure that, as we have--we are suggesting today, that if there is an employer in America who wishes to hire an undocumented worker, that the full weight of the law is applied to that individual.

I would hope that as part of any process we make tests, especially in the first few months, that when we catch any scoundrels out there attempting to hire undocumented workers, that we enforce the full force of the law against them.

It is kind of an irresponsible request.

I do not believe this is the time for EPA to launch new programs when there is clear evidence it must focus on its legally mandated responsibilities.

We need to do better, recognize advancements in technology, reward innovation, cut red tape.

We want to know what the agency is doing in its core, statutorily authorized programs; whether it is sticking to congressional intent.