Douglas Alexander

the purpose of that test is to simply give new meaning to what it means to be an American. That oath of allegiance which these 650,000 new citizens will take is basically the same oath that George Washington and his officers took at Valley…

I wish to, in the remaining time, mention two other proposals that have to do with the great American outdoors. Yesterday, a group of 17 Senators and Congressmen from North Carolina and Tennessee took a historic step by writing a letter to…

another generation has passed. There are new challenges and new opportunities. My proposal to the conservationists last night was it is now time for a third President's Commission on Americans Outdoors to follow the Rockefeller Commission…

I wish to make remarks about three matters of importance to the great American outdoors, all of which have been happening this week and which are important for our country. First, I wish to comment on a provision the Senate struck from the…

my purpose today is to say I believe it is time for President Bush to take the Iraq Study Group report down off the shelf and use it for something other than a bookend. But first let me say something about the resolution that we are about…

I will conclude my remarks with a little bit of history. If you sense, in my voice, a heavy amount of disappointment, it is because this goes back a long ways. In 1983, when I was Governor of Tennessee, I proposed what then was the first…

The Head Start program is an enormously popular and successful Federal initiative. It began in the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States. In fact, I have always thought it was a part of the story of the American…

finally, let me make this observation. I was visited today by representatives of the Tennessee Education Association. I have not always gotten along well with the Tennessee Education Association because of the subject we are discussing…

I wish to speak about a casualty of the budget process. It is a very disheartening development, and I hope it is an oversight, not the first symbol of the new Democratic Congress's education agenda because I don't think it should be, and I…

let me mention a few of the details of the Teacher Incentive Fund, so that we can understand what happened in the House of Representatives. The Democratic majority in the House reduced the teacher incentive fund from $99 million to…

I salute the Senator for his work. I think we ought to hear him carefully when he reminds us of one of the most obvious solutions to that problem, the 2-year budget. That idea has broad support in this Chamber, and it is a very simple…

I compliment Senator Kyl for his work. I expect a vote for the minimum wage with the small business tax adjustments that are with it. As I said on the floor of the Senate the other day, it is not the most efficient way for the Government…

So the student who suggested the minimum wage came up with a pretty expensive idea, an $11 billion price tag, or $18 billion, according to another study. But those estimates are about raising the cost of everyone's wages to $7.25 an hour…

sometimes we like to say something so often and so vigorously that we believe it actually does what we say it will do, and I am afraid that is the case of the minimum wage arguments that have gone on since 1939. Perhaps it did in 1939, but…

One final question, Mr. President. Does the Senator from New Hampshire believe that Federal spending is one of the most difficult challenges we have here and is a matter that will need a bipartisan approach? And that we need to employ all…

The President last night did his job. It was a truly Presidential speech, in my opinion. He talked about truly Presidential issues last night, and he did what Presidents are supposed to do. He did not give us a laundry list. He talked…

If the President sends a package of proposals back and asks: Do you really want to spend this money, and if a majority of the Senate decides that it did, and a majority of the House decides that it didn't, what happens then?

my sense of this amendment is that it understands human nature pretty well. Is it not the Senator's experience as Governor, and as a member of the Appropriations Committee for a long time, that sometimes items slip through, and that the…

I believe the Isakson principle is the basis for a comprehensive immigration bill that could attract 85 to 90 votes in the Senate and could, in a fairly short period of time, be reconciled with legislation passed by the House of…

today the Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Akaka, reintroduced the Native Hawaiian Reorganization Act, a bill that would create a new, race-based government within the borders of the United States. I strongly oppose this bill. This legislation was…

I salute the Senators from Arkansas and Texas on their comments about the timber tax. That is not my subject today, although I intend to talk about competitiveness, jobs, but this is something we do need to pay attention to, not just for…

former Senator Lyndon Johnson used to say about himself that having Lyndon Johnson as majority leader was good for the United States of America and it hasn't hurt Texas one bit. When I think of our country and Bill Frist, I think of lower…

I am here to support the Lugar-Biden legislation that would implement changes in law necessary to secure our Nation's civil-nuclear agreement with India. This is very important to our future for two reasons: No. 1, India is one of the…

Mr. President, today the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, made an important speech at the National Press Club. In her remarks, she discussed the report from her Commission on the Future of Higher Education. This commission was…

We met with President Hu for about an hour, those of us from the Senate. We talked about a variety of issues with him: North Korea, Iran, Iraq. He was more animated about this subject than any other subject, which is why I suppose we had…