Mr. President, I rise today to explain why I am voting no on the budget deal later this afternoon. First and foremost, I am voting no because I do not think this is a meaningful, substantial start to getting our hands around what is the…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown of Ohio). Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

Mr. President, I am proud to join my colleague Senator Landrieu in introducing today this RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act of 2011. I want to also thank her and compliment her on her leadership on this issue. Senator Landrieu has been developing…

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 265, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.'' Stated against:

Madam President, I want to highlight an important provision that is included in the Homeland Security division of this bill. It is related to the firefighter hiring program known as SAFER. In 2009 and 2010, Congress approved waivers for…

Mr. President, I see other colleagues on the floor waiting to speak so I will try to wrap up these remarks in about 5 minutes. But I do want to add a few things and thank my colleague again. He is on the committee that will take this bill…

Mr. President, I am going to speak for 2 or 3 minutes in a brief introduction, and then turn it over to my colleague from Louisiana. We are both very excited and enthusiastic to present to the Senate and to Congress work that has been…

Mr. President, I understand there are other colleagues on the Senate floor. I want to speak for a few minutes as chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee and express my views about the vote we are going to cast in a few…

I see other colleagues on the floor, and I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized for the next 15 minutes so Senator Vitter and I can introduce a very important piece of legislation. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sanders). Without objection, it is so ordered. (The…

I have urged the calling of this hearing now for some time.

I am glad that we are not doing this in a haphazard, disorganized fashion which will make an already difficult situation that much worse.

Therefore, using the nearly identical language from legislation that was previously filed by the chairman of the Small Business Committee, Senator Landrieu, and by Senator Benjamin Cardin, our bill extends judicial review to the proposed…

Local and State representatives met with a company representative to emphasize the land acquisition's importance and Fort Polk's significance within Louisiana.

Our bill extends the RFA to guidance documents as well.

I look forward to hearing about that effort from Cass Sunstein, who is overseeing the process as the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

Mr. President, I watched with great interest President Obama's speech about our spending and debt crisis. That is what I would call it. He did not use as stark terms, unfortunately, but it is a spending and debt crisis. First of all, I am…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Collins and Members, for the opportunity to visit with you today and for this very important hearing.