Helping resolve this dispute was a top priority, and on February 14, 2015, the President directed me, Secretary Perez, and Secretary Foxx to travel to California to meet with the parties to help them reach a resolution.

Mr. President, I rise to express my support for the President's nominee, Dr. Ashton Carter, to serve as our Nation's 25th Secretary of Defense. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel Let me first say a few words of thanks to Chuck Hagel, our…

Mr. President, today I wish to celebrate one of the most admired, well-known Americans and Presidents this great Nation has ever seen. Just 56 years ago, Carl Sandburg addressed a joint session of Congress and remarked about him: ``Not…

I would answer in the affirmative. That is why the unanimous consent request I am going to make is the easiest, quickest solution to our problem--a clean, bipartisan appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. But we are…

Mr. President, I don't understand why the Republicans in the House and the Senate have decided to hold up one appropriations bill of our Federal Government, the appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, the one agency that is…

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid) is necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 5, as follows: [Rollcall…

Madam President, regular C-SPAN viewers, this is your DVR alert. Get your TiVo ready. After today you will no longer hear the dulcet voice of Kathie Alvarez calling the roll in the United States Senate. After nearly 30 years as an integral…

Madam President, are we in morning business? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in executive session.

Mr. President, while I am pleased the Senate is moving, and moving quickly, on Ashton Carter, I am troubled that my colleagues across the aisle are delaying consideration of Loretta Lynch, the President's nominee for Attorney General of…

Mr. President, I have been trying to understand what has been holding up the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is the agency we created after 9/ 11 that merged 22 different agencies of our…

Mr. President, I also rise today to speak about the recent progress we have made in restoring the Senate as an institution. After being sworn in as President pro tempore just over a month ago, I rose to address the state of the Senate and…

Mr. President, last week I joined my colleague Senator Burr in unveiling the latest version of our legislative proposal to repeal and replace the so-called Affordable Care Act. We are joined this time around by our friend in the House…

I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The acting minority leader.

Mr. President, on the same week that the President released his national strategy, a pilot in the Royal Jordanian Air Force was burned alive by radical Islamists. While the administration was putting the finishing touches on this document…

I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the underlying bill, the America Gives More Act of 2015. In particular, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a bill that is near and dear to me, and that is the…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Mark Baba, a detailee on the Finance Committee, be allowed on the Senate floor for the remainder of the day. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, today I am reintroducing bipartisan legislation to provide support for environmental education in our Nation's classrooms. I thank Senators Kirk, Durbin, Whitehouse, Heinrich, and Bennet for joining as original cosponsors of…

Mr. President, I commend the chairman for his very clear and thoughtful conduct of these hearings with respect to Dr. Carter. The reason we are here today on the verge of a very strong vote for Dr. Carter to be the next Secretary of…