I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To determine the impact of certain postal facility closures…

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oklahoma. I actually learned a lot sitting here listening. I know energy production is very important to his State and, obviously, to our Nation. I know he has a wealth of knowledge regarding this…

I thank the leaders for their excellent work and the people who joined them. I think the policy has been debated well. I do wish to say, at the beginning there was discussion that there be a 60- vote threshold at the end and that some of…

Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support a one-year extension of the Small Business Administration, SBA, 504 loan refinancing program that was originally authorized in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. This bill…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: Beginning on page 16, strike line 8 and all that follows through page…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To improve the Postal Service Health Benefits Program). On…

I call up my amendment No. 2073, and ask unanimous consent that it be modified with the changes that are at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report. The legislative…

Madam President, as modified, this amendment would simply eliminate a very problematic provision in the underlying bill, provision section 105, but it has a very bad effect, and this would clear that up. It would shift onto Medicare and…

Madam President, I rise support of my amendment, which has been modified in consultation with the managers of the Postal Reform bill, S. 1789. I am very pleased that both Chairman Lieberman and Ranking Minority Member Collins have agreed…

Madam President, I call up my amendment No. 2074 and ask unanimous consent that it be modified with the changes that are at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report…

Senator Cardin will take over and chair this hearing.

As we consider tax reform, we have an opportunity--indeed, an obligation--to improve the taxpayer experience.

Let us reform the code to give taxpayers more certainty and more predictability.

Senator Hatch is going to come a little later.

Madam President, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on S. 1789 and give the Postal Service both the financial footing and the business tools it needs to compete in this new communications age. Let's start by facing facts. USPS is losing…

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The yeas and nays were ordered. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the substitute…

Madam President, with the passage today of S. 1789, we have given the United States Postal Service--created more than two centuries ago in the age of inkwells and quill pens--the tools to thrive in the age of e-mail and the Internet…

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Amendment No. 2073, as Modified