Mr. President, we expect to yield back time and confirm the Hurwitz nomination during Tuesday's session. We are also working on an agreement for amendments to the farm bill. ____________________

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 7:12 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 10 a.m…

Mr. President, I come to the floor outraged that following a hearing that I held as chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee entitled ``The Path to Freedom: Countering Repression and Supporting…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning…

I thank the ranking member. This bill repeals the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices used in the United States that was originally enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act. Now let's talk straight to the American people. How many…

In less than 1 month, the interest rate for student loans is scheduled to double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. This increased rate, combined with the skyrocketing costs for college, will make it extremely difficult for Americans to afford to go…

And to pay for this change, the majority once again returns to the true-up provision--how many times are you going to go there?--which only hurts the middle class, who receive needed subsidies to enter the health insurance market. So…

You can say you're giving the government more power. Why are we so frightened to give oversight to government? This is what got us into a big jam in the last 20 years when there was very little oversight over financial transactions. We…

Treasury could prohibit U.S. banks from accepting wire transfers or honoring credit cards from banks found to significantly hinder U.S. tax enforcement. We all support, I would hope, in this body, enforcement of the tax law. As much as we…

I think that this is a very important amendment. We talked about reining in tax cheats, and that's what we're talking about here. Given the relationship between offshore tax avoidance--and we've seen chapter and verse of how people avoid…

Mr. President, I was unavoidably detained for rollcall vote No. 114 on the nomination of Timothy S. Hillman to be a United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts. Had I been present, I would have voted yea…

Americans are growing more and more cynical of politics and politicians with good reason. Citizens United opened the floodgates to unrestricted special-interest campaign spending in elections, and we need to put an end to the influence of…

I stand today with my colleague from New York (Mr. Grimm) to support the working men and women of this great Nation. You might take a quick look at section 517 of this legislation, the appropriations bill, and think it doesn't stop the…

On May 31, 2012, I missed the three rollcall votes of the day. Had I been present I would have voted: ``no'' on rollcall vote 297, Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 5743, H.R. 5854…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. The jobs where PLAs are used require higher skills, higher wages for engineers and laborers. Undercutting their ability to bid on contracts will not only hurt the project and the Department of Defense's…

I thank my good friend Trent Franks for his extraordinary leadership and courage. He is a pro-life champion. Mr. Speaker last year, an undercover videotaped sting operation by Live Action exposed several Planned Parenthood affiliates who…

I want to state for the record that on May 30, 2012, I missed the three rollcall votes of the day. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 294, H.R. 5651, The Food and Drug Administration Reform Act of 2012; ``yea''…

I stand today to support H.R. 5651--Food and Drug Administration Reform Act of 2012, which reauthorizes the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) prescription drug and medical device user fee programs through 2017. This legislation will…