Mr. President, I would like to join in the comments of my colleague from New Hampshire and the concerns she has expressed, along with my other colleagues who serve on the Armed Services Committee. But, first of all, I thank Chairman Levin…

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Georgia for his very thoughtful comments. Senator Isakson has been working on a biennial budget for a very long time. I was pleased to join him in this session of Congress. And I agree with him. I…

Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in expressing my clear and unequivocal support for a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution, Senate Resolution 10. With our out-of-control and unsustainable debt threatening…

Prime Minister Putin's assertion that the funds that the United States and other donors provide to civil society groups constitute unwarranted interference in Russia's internal affairs is a tiresome cliche, a well-worn canard, and without…

We think that is something we should all be doing. And I applaud the administration for taking action under the authority that they have.

We expect to continue our successful approach of cooperating with Russia when it is in our interests.

it's critical for the United States to stand behind these protesters and it's important that they know that we hear what they're doing and support their right to demonstrate.

There have been some who have indicated that they don't believe that the administration has been forceful enough in calling attention to what happened in Russia and in supporting the protesters.

Nobody familiar with democracy believes that that's a real number.

I think I certainly have had a perception, that I think is shared by many, that President Medvedev has been easier to deal with in terms of human rights concerns.

Our role is as a supporting actor in this. The Russians are the leading actors in this drama.

We'll continue to demonstrate our support, not for particular candidates or electoral outcomes, but for a process that is more open and genuine.

I think that the curtain has gone up on a new act right now since last weekend's elections.

it would send a very powerful signal to the Russian people that the United States is stepping up its willingness to invest in their future.

This is an extremely important measure that Congress needs to pass as quickly as possible.

I would strongly encourage support for that and hope that there would be more funds available should Russian organizations want to avail themselves of it.

We should think about how we can set the bar high in terms of expectations for those actions.

one of the reasons for holding this hearing is to hopefully bring some more momentum to passage of this legislation, which I believe and I think most of the Senators who were here today believe is very important.