this omnibus appropriations bill funds the Federal Government through September 30, 2012, at the level of spending agreed to this past August in the Budget Control Act, which reduces overall spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10…

I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

we hear a lot about tax breaks and tax loopholes around the Senate. I wish to talk about a tax loophole, a big one, that is on its way out. It is a $23 billion tax loophole. It is not a loophole in the tax code of Washington, DC. It is a…

I wish to speak this afternoon about a lesson that Washington, DC can learn from Maryville, TN, which is my hometown. It is a lesson that most of us learned in kindergarten and I learned in my mother's kindergarten, which was in a…

is it time to begin the Republican time? The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.

This is a rare piece of legislation, something we agree on across the aisle, that could immediately save 340,000 jobs, that keeps the clean air rule the EPA has proposed, but simply gives them time to write it properly, the authority to…

will you let me know when I have used 4\1/2\ minutes? The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.

we will yield back the Republican time so that we can move ahead and report the bill. ____________________

last week during the debate on clean air, in which I opposed overturning a rule that allows dirty air from other States to blow into Tennessee, costing us jobs, and hurting our health, I said: Why should we be picking on a good rule when…

I thank the chairman. Mr. President, that is exactly right. Just so Senators know, Senator Reid has filled the tree, but what we hope to persuade him is that we know the number of amendments we have and that he doesn't need to do that. He…

this is a States rights argument. It is about allowing States to close a loophole--a tax loophole. It is about stopping the subsidization of some taxpayers over other taxpayers, stopping the subsidization of some businesses over others…

last week the Senator from Wyoming, Mr. Enzi, and the Senator from Illinois, the Democratic whip, introduced a piece of legislation which is called the Marketplace Fairness Act. In doing so, I think they solved a problem that has persisted…