Mr. President, when the health care reform bill passed, the Speaker of the House famously said: We have to pass this bill so we can figure out what is in it. Well, what more and more Americans are finding when they look at what is in it…

this Department is awash in taskings for reports and studies.

Secretary Gates in his August 9, 2010, speech said that he was implementing a 10 percent reduction in funding for advisory and assistance contractors in intelligence areas and a freeze in the number of senior executives in the defense…

consider consolidation or closure of excess bases and other facilities where appropriate.

They have. I simply say to my colleague from Alabama, in his remarks he noted the pattern we are starting to see that exists with regard to--the Senator from Alabama mentioned the Attorney General of this administration and their nominees…

Mr. President, I close by saying as well, I think in all cases, you have to judge people not by what they say but by what they do. Clearly, the record would suggest, as it did with Justice Sotomayor, a certain hostility toward the second…

I say to my colleague from Nevada, it comes down to their horrible record on gun rights. It made it impossible for these two organizations to conclude that they would be impartial constitutional judges on this issue even though they tried…

Mr. President, the NRA wrote in that case: . . . Judge Sotomayor's judicial record and testimony during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings clearly demonstrate a hostile view of the Second Amendment and the fundamental right of…

Mr. President, I continue by saying that after reviewing Ms. Kagan's record of testimony at the confirmation hearing, Gun Owners of America concluded: . . . the available evidence portrays her as a forceful advocate of restrictive gun laws…

If I might ask the Senator from Alabama this--because he is the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. I know he has dealt with numerous nominees to the Supreme Court in the past, as well as probably hundreds of other judicial…

I heard my colleague say--and I would be interested in having him confirm--didn't Ms. Kagan teach constitutional law and would it not have been appropriate at that time for her to have looked at the Founding Fathers' intent on the second…

Mr. President, I say to my friend from Nevada, it is troubling--very troubling, and maybe even telling--that the President would ask us to confirm an individual who admittedly has not reviewed the justification for the second amendment in…

If we don't get these agreements signed, we are going to lose significant market opportunities to competitors.

The panel supports an increased investment in long-range strike systems and their associated sensors.

This is an important review, something that I had advocated in the defense authorization bill. I think it has borne out that it was something that needed to be done.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The remarks of Mr. Thune pertaining to the introduction of S. 3652 are printed in today's Record under…

Mr. President, today i pay tribute to Clarence Wolf Guts who passed away on June 16, 2010, at the South Dakota State Veterans Home at the age of 86. Clarence was the last surviving Lakota Code Talker. Code talkers played a crucial role in…

Mr. President, we have been bombarded with some pretty big numbers lately. Our total national debt recently topped $13 trillion. In 5 years, it is expected to pass $20 trillion. This fiscal year alone, the Federal Government plans to run a…