I wish to express my opposition to Reid amendment No. 143, as modified. I do not believe public institutions of higher education, or any entity, should be carved out of the definition of micro entity in the underlying legislation. Had a…

It is one thing to ramp up. It is the other thing to ramp up without proper training and also the proper controls on the training.

I also want to put into the record a criticism on locality pay.

The thing that concerns me is we have Diplomacy 3.0 with this goal of ramping up at a time when we're on an absolutely unsustainable course in terms of being able to pay the bills.

The recommendation of the Deficit Commission was to essentially reduce State Department personnel by 10 percent based on studies that we reviewed.

Mr. President, I want to thank all of the cosponsors who joined in support of my amendment, particularly Senators Boxer and Grassley, who recognized the importance of this amendment for the proper functioning of the PTO and for the…

I also ask the Chair to advise me when I have consumed 15 minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair will do so. ____________________

Madam President, I thank the majority leader and the minority leader both for their comments on this report. It is important for the American people to know that this is the first of three reports we are going to receive. This report just…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for up to 20 minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, I rise to voice my concerns regarding S. 388, a bill to prohibit Members of Congress and the President from receiving pay during government shutdowns. While I believe it is important we in Congress lead by example, I am…

I like this program, and I like it for a lot of reasons: first, because it has been bipartisan in a place and at a time when that has been hard to achieve.

I think this really mitigates the need for hard power, when we can do things in a cooperative and a peaceful way.

We are also at a very tenuous point that energy producers are a little tenuous on being able to invest into future plans.

The more that we can hand back to the States, and the fewer things that we're trying to do from DC...

If this plan continues to move forward in a way that is not consistent with science, the actions of the EPA could dramatically increase the cost of every product in America, based on a single decision.

The more compliance officers that we hire to be able to fill out paperwork and be able to submit it back to EPA and other agencies, the slower our economy becomes.

This is a major issue to us in America, on how we're going to deal with hydraulic fracking.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to challenge this body, and I hope that my message is well received. This Nation was founded on the rules of the Constitution, not the opinions of Republicans and Democrats. Our decisions are judged in the light of the…