The status quo is no longer an option.

There's a difference between revenue raisers and tax increases. There are ways of raising revenue without raising taxes. If it's a tax increase, that's something that Republicans in the House and in the Senate are not going to support.

Clearly, the process was abused. You don't use a hotline to bait and switch the country into a military conflict.

There is a concerted effort to say we are okay with the terrorism as long as we keep the price of gas low down here.

I think the administration is making a very concerted effort. We can give them half, three-quarters of their revenue to Hugo Chavez.

We need to show Chavez that we are serious and that there will be penalties to pay for assisting and accommodating the terrorist Iranian regime of Mohammed Ahmadinejad.

Thank you, Senator Shaheen. It's a pleasure to be here today, and I thank you for chairing this hearing on a number of water and power measures.

I want to also thank Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Mike Lee for introducing this important legislation.

Thank you. I've got a couple of technical lingering questions just related to the funding mechanism contemplated in S. 1224.

It doesn't seem to me to be a very good idea, if we want something to happen, to say 'may' rather than 'shall.'

It makes a difference in much the same way that if my wife said, 'Mike, take out the trash, you shall take out the trash and do the dishes,' that means something different than 'Mike, you may take out the trash and do the dishes.'

Nothing further. Thank you.

I want to also thank Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Mike Lee for introducing this important legislation.

If you're committed to having it happen, I assume that it wouldn't be a problem to use the 'shall' language.

We can't speak now for what successive Congresses will do.

I was a big fan of that. I was in high school when it passed, and I had great optimism for it.

I think tying the spending reductions to the debt limit increase is very important.

And I should also tell my story. I'm also unemployed.