Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. I rise in support of the extension of this legislative activity, and I want to be associated as closely as possible with the comments made by my colleague from Texas, who seems to have…

I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry). And listening to the words of the gentleman from Oklahoma, very well spoken. You know, I often ask what are the top issues, what are the top things Americans are concerned with right now…

Why did I vote against H.R. 3630 yesterday? I could list many reasons, but I only have 1 minute so here are three. One, the bill extends unemployment insurance for some jobless Americans and then drastically cuts months off of benefits for…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the C National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012. Mr. Speaker, I oppose this bill because it fails to rein in our out of control defense spending, it includes over $115…

Madam President, I thank my colleague from New York and colleague from Missouri for putting in context where we are today. But let's take one step back and look at what is the issue. The issue is basic: Will the payroll tax cut that…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business until 5 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without…

It's an honor to follow my friend and colleague from California who's retiring at the end of the Congress, which is another year. Even though we disagree probably too many times to count, no one questions her passion and her commitment…

Madam President, in about 30 minutes, we will have a rare chance on the floor of the Senate--it does not happen often. We will have consideration of two efforts to amend the Constitution of the United States. We all take this seriously…

Madam President, last night the House of Representatives passed a tax cut bill, one that is doomed in the Senate and that the President has made it clear he will not sign. It is important for us to move beyond this stalemate on an…

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Texas. I know her objection was on behalf of the Republican Senate leader. I would appeal to him and all Republicans on that side of the aisle, let's get down to the business of extending this…

The job of each generation is to make sure the Constitution deals with critical problems facing the country, so we amended the Constitution so we could prohibit slavery. We amended the Constitution so we could grant women the right to…

What I would like to do now, in sort of a chess clock style, is take 10 minutes, with unanimous consent, to be equally divided between me and the Senator from Delaware on the subject of the balanced budget amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER…

I would close by saying the Senator and I agree. I think the Simpson-Bowles plan is the right way to go, and my hope is that we join together on a bipartisan basis to reduce expected Federal borrowing by $4 trillion along the lines of that…

Mr. President, too often we have set-piece speeches in the Senate without any resort to the traditional debate, where two sides are equally dividing time without a set script on a critical issue before our country. I would like to restart…

Mr. President, the United States needs to adopt a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. It was a good idea when Thomas Jefferson backed it and it is an even more important idea today. What we are seeing in Europe is a collapse of…

What we see now, today, though, is that we are awash in $15 trillion in debt and that since the creation of the triple A credit rating by Standard & Poor's, the United States has now lost that rating. When young Americans are born today…

I want to thank the gentlewoman from Wisconsin for yielding. I rise in strong support of her opposition to this amendment. I rise in strong support of the passage of the underlying bill. This resolution fails to recognize that there are…