Mr. President, I got an early Christmas present on the day it was expected! On Wednesday, December 15, Allison Quinn McGrady was born to my daughter Emily and husband Mike. I have been able to hold each grandchild on the day they were…

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oklahoma. It is a great pleasure for me to be able to make an announcement from the floor of the Senate. I ask unanimous consent to share my joy as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without…

I thank the Chair. The Risch amendment seeks greater transparency, greater accountability of tactical nuclear weapons, and the Risch amendment recognizes that tactical nuclear weapons can undermine stability. So with that, Mr. President, I…

Mr. President, if you will let me know when I have used 4 of the 5 minutes I am to have. Mr. President, I rise today to support the amendment by my friend and colleague and next-door neighbor on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as…

Mr. President, I come to the floor to talk about the McCain-Barrasso amendment to the New START treaty, and I appreciate hearing all the strong and passionate support for this amendment from my colleagues on the issue of missile defense…

Mr. President, At the end of each session of Congress it has long been a tradition in the Senate to take a moment to express our appreciation and say goodbye to those who will not be returning in January for the beginning of the next…

Mr. President, it is indeed a privilege to join my friend and colleague, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. He made mention of the six Christmases he spent away from home. Members of this body and of this Nation know that…

Mr. President, at the end of each session of Congress it has long been a tradition in the Senate to take a moment to express our appreciation and say goodbye to those who will not be returning in January for the beginning of the next…

Yes, Mr. President. That is exactly what I see here. The senior Senator from Massachusetts said--and this is a transcript from a few minutes ago. He said that the idea that we are going to try to take out of here is nonbinding, nonlegal…

Madam President, I rise today to express my views on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as New START. This treaty is an extremely important and serious matter. New START significantly impacts America's national security…

I thank the Chair. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as the Chairman knows, Senator Johanns of Nebraska has proposed a Republican alternative on this issue. Would the Senator amend his request to substitute the Johanns language?

Mr. President, it is always a bittersweet moment when the end of a session of Congress draws near and it becomes time for us to say goodbye to those of our colleagues who will be returning home at the end of the year. We know we will miss…

Mr. President, I want to say a few words about the Senator from New Hampshire as well. I have had the pleasure over the years of serving with him and watching him and learning from him, as we did once again today. It is always amazing at…

Well, it is astonishing. I know the people of Wyoming as well as the people of Mississippi always oppose Washington's wasteful spending, but when I read that the health care officials are leasing more than 70,000 square feet of space on…

With that, I thank and congratulate my colleague for his vision and his foresight and his leadership because this is, I believe, how the Founding Fathers would have seen it. I believe those who wrote the Constitution would be on board with…

It talks about Federal rulemakers. That is whom I believe we are talking about, these unelected bureaucrats. Federal rule makers, long the neglected stepchildren of Washington bureaucrats, suddenly find themselves at the center of power…

I ask unanimous consent to be allowed to engage in a colloquy with my colleagues. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.