Madam President, first of all at the beginning, let me thank two of my colleagues who have worked incredibly hard with me on the issue of Senate rules reform--Senator Merkley from Oregon and Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa. Senator Harkin…

it's unfortunate in a sense that we didn't get our wide ranging energy bill out of the committee

Senator Merkley hit it on the head. That is a problem, and we have had that consistently in the 2 years that he and I have been here. My understanding is, it happened in many of the years before that time. In fact, Senator Byrd was very…

One of the things that happens--and we have seen a lot of this--we know some Senator is objecting, for example, to a nomination, a high nomination in an executive department and does it secretly so we do not know on the Senate floor, the…

Let me also say one thing about the talking filibuster that hit me, and that is bipartisanship. As we know, both of us, I think, were on the Senate floor when Senator Arlen Specter gave his farewell address. I believe the Presiding Officer…

I think this shows this isn't about a power grab; this is about trying to work to make sure the Senate is going to work better for the American people. The fifth provision of S. Res. 10--and as Senator Merkley knows, we are down here today…

Mr. President, I know the Presiding Officer has also been a part of this rules reform effort. We very much appreciate that. It was mentioned here about Senator Byrd. I think one of the most interesting stories about Senator Byrd, I say to…

Mr. President, I am also waiting. Senator Merkley is waiting to put in his unanimous consent request on the talking filibuster proposal which goes to the heart of the problem we have today. One of the things I have learned the last 2 years…

Mr. President, that is the essence of it. What we have now is Senators leaving. We actually had the case where a Senator wanted the cloture vote to take place but then left and went home. That is a pretty disgraceful situation. I have…

if we had a lot of these protocols in place then we probably wouldn't have had to have a moratorium after this spill

Mr. Speaker, last year we took a desperately needed stand for America's families and small businesses over the insurance companies. We took a stand against insurance company abuses like discrimination against the sick, lifetime limits, the…

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the many victims of Saturday's tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, and to voice my hope for a full recovery for each of the survivors, particularly my colleague and friend, Representative…

I want to thank Representative Martin Heinrich for his leadership in introducing H.R. 205.

Mr. President, with the process we are in right now--and we have had questions back and forth on this whole issue of Senate rules reform--I want to respond to Senator Alexander because Senator Alexander raised some questions, and some of…

The Senator from Iowa makes an excellent point. I was here for his talk earlier, where the Senator led with the filibuster and laid it out and Senator Alexander came back and asked these questions. I think the key question is the one the…

The Senator from Iowa and my good friend, the Senator from Oregon, want to speak. The Senator mentioned--and I want to put this quote in the Record--the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn, who came to the floor and talked today. One of the…

Mr. President, let me first say to our majority whip, Mr. Durbin of Illinois, that I very much appreciate his long-term effort in looking at rules. I know he signed on to several proposals today. I know he is on the one Senator Merkley and…

Let me finally say to the Senator from Oregon, the Presiding Officer, that I very much appreciate his support both in working with me on the constitutional option and sorting out the details and making sure we have things right and also…