The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. DeMint), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter). Further, if present and…

There's going to be an enormous world market and if we don't do this now we're not going to be part of it.

They will. They can, and they have to.

Solyndra was actually undercut by the fact that the Chinese spent so much in promoting their own solar industry.

GPS technology wouldn't of happened without the government.

What we're basically doing is fighting for the future.

So that when my colleagues on the other side, who aren't here, when they sing the praises of fracturing and then demonize government involvement in picking winners and losers, it seems like they don't know the history of this industry.

We seem to have a debate here in this Senate over the very nature of the role of government in development of new technologies.

The internet, for goodness sakes. DARPA created the internet.

Your report points to government support for development of all kinds of technologies that have led to all kinds of jobs.

Civilian nuclear reactors wouldn't have happened without the government.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. I believe we are going to have a cloture vote on this bill tonight, and I am pleased that all early indications are it will pass tonight…

One of the concerns about Dodd-Frank, and maybe even more specifically this area of Dodd-Frank, as you know, and it has been one of my concerns, is the more you crank it down, the more the regulations become more and more onerous, the…

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Indiana for his words. We both are from States that have a lot of jobs involved in medical devices, and, in fact, this bill is something we worked on very hard. I am the cochair of the medical device…

Mr. President, today we are going to turn to a nomination that the Senator from California has just referred to, Paul Watford, to be circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit. I am disappointed that the majority leader has brought this…

Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan legislation to which the Senate will move to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration user fees and critical programs to ensure Americans have access to safe and effective…

What are the vibes on the Appropriations Committee?

What about investment in technology, which is often more than a 1-year deal?