I would like to congratulate the men and women of our military for a courageous mission, and our intelligence community for accurate and important intelligence. I would like to congratulate the President for his persistence in bringing a…

I have just returned from visiting east Tennessee where there were devastating tornadoes last week. The President, at the request of our entire congressional delegation, has declared four of our counties--Washington, Greene, Hamilton, and…

I rise today to support the nomination of Kevin Sharp to fill a judicial vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The Senate will be voting on the President's nomination within a few minutes. Kevin is an…

No. Ms. DeLAURO. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, can you tell me how much time is left? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Connecticut has 6\1/2\ minutes remaining, and the gentleman from Louisiana has 2\1/2\ minutes…

I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 35, if adopted, will add provisions to the continuing resolution, H.R. 1473, to prohibit any funds in this act or any previous act from being used to implement the Patient…

In closing, a key component of this spending agreement is a guaranteed up-or-down vote in the Senate on a provision that would prohibit any funds in this act or any previous act from being used to carry out the Patient Protection and…

I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant editor of the Daily Digest proceeded to call the roll. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). The Senator from Vermont.

I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority time has only 1 minute 30 seconds at this point and then the majority time has 30 minutes. The Senator from Tennessee may proceed…

last month marked the 1-year anniversary of President Obama signing the health care bill into law. I believe it was an historic mistake. We have talked about the health care law in a variety of ways. One thing we have said is that at a…

if another Senator wishes to speak, I will be succinct. I will try to do mine in a less period of time. I thank the Chair for its courtesy. I wish to speak on two subjects. First, there has been a good deal of discussion in Washington…

on Friday, I spoke at the Ladies Hermitage Association's Annual banquet in Nashville. This extraordinary organization, for 122 years, has preserved the home of President Andrew Jackson. No former President's home has more historical…

it is my sad responsibility to announce that former Gov. Ned McWherter of Tennessee has died this afternoon. Ned had many friends here in Washington, but he had a lot more in Tennessee. What symbolized Ned McWherter to me was a story that…

I thank the Presiding Officer, and I notice that the Senator from New York is also on the Senate floor. I thank him for his work on this issue. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.

I ask unanimous consent to divide equally the remaining amount of morning business time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The remarks of Mr. Alexander and Mr. Schumer pertaining to the introduction of S. 679 and…

the Senator from New York and I are on the Senate floor today to introduce legislation that will help make the Senate a more effective place to deal with the big issues facing our country, such as the debt, our national defense, and other…

this is St. Patrick's Day, as Reverend Austin mentioned, and we celebrate that. We are coming up on another important anniversary, and that is the anniversary of the enactment of the health care law, which the majority regards as a…

I join Senator McConnell in welcoming Reverend Austin from Murfreesboro, TN, just down the road from Nashville. He formerly worked here, as Senator McConnell said. We are delighted he has this privilege today to pray at the beginning of…

I thank the Chair also. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

With Senator Johanns' leadership and others, we will work to repeal the 1099 provision. Senator Hatch and others are working to give Governors more flexibility in the Medicaid Program. And we will continue to advocate solutions such as…

I ask unanimous consent that Senator Bennet and I have up to 10 minutes for a colloquy. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

one more time, the bottom line of this proposal by Senator Bennet and myself is that every minute a teacher spends on an unneeded test or regulation is a minute the teacher cannot devote to teaching a child. What we are asking the teachers…

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a memorandum on the Colorado-Tennessee working group on effective regulation and assessment systems for public education, which outlines the roles Senator Bennet, myself, Secretary…

Senator Bennet and I have just announced an effort that I think most teachers, most principals, and many parents will want to be a part of. We are going to look at the education system in Tennessee and in Colorado--two of the more…

We talk a lot about the law of unintended consequences in dealing with legislation. In this case I believe the health care law is a situation where we had a lot of predictable consequences. Republicans were saying, for example, premiums…