Mr. President, I come to the floor today in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, also known as ENDA. For my State it has been quite a year for equality. Last November we were the first State in the country to defeat a…

I'm on the Judiciary Committee and chair the antitrust subcommittee.

the retail industry contributes $2.5 trillion to our Nation's annual GDP.

a half a million dollars for a small company our size is outrageous.

I also wrote to the FTC asking them to examine the abusive assertion tactics and to bring enforcement actions.

For every dollar we invest, there is a $2.60 savings.

Because my state is down to 5.1 percent unemployment. We have job openings.

I think our state is ahead of the curve, as you know we are the home of many major Fortune 500 companies including innovative companies like 3M and Medtronic and we have a very high number of women in the workplace.

is there some ideal target that you would like to see for Federal support of R&D as a percentage of GDP?

And I tell you, Senator Alexander did such a beautiful job of describing that.

And Senator Rockefeller, I know you understand EPSCoR quite well, and Senator Thune, as well.

I believe the evidence shows that that is very possible.

I know how we need to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.

Many, many studies show, as Senator Alexander eloquently said, that we're losing our global competitiveness.

We're such a great country. We have so much to be proud of. People that come to this country and stay. We have to protect it.

I worry about that, Senator, and I'm sure you do, too.

I definitely concur and believe that they are important.

I suggest that there is a role for this political body in thinking about revising the 1925 statute.