Madam President, I don't yet want to call up my amendment--I have been working with Chairman Mikulski on this--until they get an agreement. However, I will discuss for a moment amendment No. 83, which I am cosponsoring with Senator Isakson…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up amendment No. 83.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 2 minutes. After my remarks, I ask that the senior Senator from Arizona be recognized.

I would say to Chairwoman Mikulski that the amendment I would have offered along with Senator Isakson would strike the language on the pilot projects that expire at the end of the year with privatization of customs services. It is…

We had this discussion back in 2009 and 2010 when we debated this health care law, that Members of the House and Senate continue to receive health insurance. I recall one House Member was unhappy during campaigning against the Affordable…

It doesn't take away the insurance for those people voting on this amendment; that is correct.

Madam President, I assume a number of my colleagues have seen the movie ``Lincoln.'' One particularly brief but poignant moment of that movie showed the President's staff discouraging him from spending so much time talking to regular…

I appreciate the words of the Senator from Illinois. To close, Senator Durbin's comments accurately explain that there is a bias in this institution on tax policy and health policy for some Senators to take care of themselves and people…

It is true. That is true. This is open to people regardless of how they vote on the Cruz amendment.

I would like to see Senator Cruz or one of the supporters of the Cruz amendment offer an amendment.

In my State and the Senator's State, since his State is slightly larger than mine--over 1 million seniors in each State and hundreds of thousands in the Presiding Officer's State of Wisconsin-- millions of seniors have received some kind…

It is my understanding this has been sort of the hypocrisy we have woven through this debate over the last 3 years.

Apparently not good enough for a senior, not good enough for somebody who is low income but working two $10-an-hour jobs, I guess it is not good enough for them.

The Cruz amendment doesn't just anticipate changes in the future, it takes away all these services which have been out there that I have been talking about: the thousands of people in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin who have benefited…

These kids would be on their own, but the Senators who are pushing this amendment would still have their health insurance, just to reiterate that.

Almost 100,000 of Ohio's young adults are now able to stay on their parents' health plan. Seniors have saved almost $300 million in prescription drugs just since the passage of the health care law, with an average per beneficiary savings…

I rise this evening just to honor and pay tribute to a dear, dear friend of mine and of the community in my congressional district, Leo Keating. He was the grandfather of my legislative director, Ryan Keating, and of his brother, who is a…

If the gentleman would yield too, I'd just comment on the infrastructure piece. So here we are today, needs abound in the country, both rail, combined sewer, highways, bridges--I mean, each of our counties, you pull out how many bridges in…