Mr. President, as you know, the budget-appropriations process has broken down. Neither the House nor the Senate passed a budget resolution which provides a basic roadmap for our spending decisions for the next fiscal year. As a result of…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To reduce spending other than national security…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up my amendment No. 4676 and ask that it be made pending. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report. The assistant editor of the Daily Digest read as…

I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Washington.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will not object if the Senator from Washington would substitute the language which is at the desk which extends all the things she has talked about this evening, as well as provides a…

do you believe this is an important initiative in light of our heavy reliance on this capability in the wars we're fighting?

I remain concerned, however, about the approach of the Administration's reauthorization proposal, which is the basis for the Committee's deliberations.

It's critical that confidence be restored and that the utilities and the regulatory agencies responsible for pipelines are held accountable for the safety of their pipelines.

I hope that the representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will also update the Subcommittee on the accident that occurred in July in Marshall, Michigan.

Creating a budget every year doesn't seem to be the best way to save money.

the fact that we are a nation at war . . . calls for sustaining the current military force structure

We owe it to those who lost their families, friends, or homes in San Bruno, and to those affected by the oilspill in Marshall, to find out what caused these accidents and to take steps to prevent them from ever happening again.

Do you agree with General Petraeus, the current commander of our forces in Afghanistan, that the B-1 bomber aircraft plays 'a very big role' with regard to providing close air support for our troops on the ground in Afghanistan?

I want to come back to the point I made earlier about the positions authorized by the PIPES Act.

The Pipeline Safety Program is funded through user fees.

Secretary Lynn has stated that there is an ongoing 'scrub' of the warfighting accounts to 'see if we can gain better effectiveness, better efficiency, better productivity from those forces.'

I think we have to take them seriously and reexamine the path that we're on.

The long-term presence of U.S. forces abroad reassures allies and partners of our commitments--we cannot simply 'surge' trust and relationships on demand.