Richard Shelby

The administration's proposed rescission of $98 million in funding for the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center is troubling.

The White House does not appear to believe the assessment of its own Department of Homeland Security.

We owe them a debt of gratitude, as well as you, the leader, Mr. Mueller.

What more vile crime in the world than to do harm to children.

Counterterrorism alone makes up now 40 percent of the FBI's budget.

The FBI does keep America safe. It is an agency that is on the job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Reducing the DNA backlog is one of the single most important issues facing all of law enforcement in this country.

It makes no sense to me.

Senator Shelby and I want to stand very close sentry over anything that could be cost overruns where our budget is heading in the direction of a boondoggle.

We have had hearings on that in the Banking Committee, and are working with the FBI and the Justice Department on that.

However, the budget request doesn't necessarily reflect that.

We hope to hear about the need for new agents, analysts, and professional staff.

We want to protect ourselves against organized crime, and there is a budget request of $116 million for dismantling organized criminal syndicates.

This needs to be changed.

But we should never, never lose focus on the student.

But the grants, Senator Pryor brought this up, does the grant program do detriment to a lot of the rural counties?

The unemployment rate jumped to 4.2 percent February 2008. February 2009, it had gone up to 8.7 percent. February 2010, it is 11.1 percent, it was.

I think it was a flawed program.

If we can't get the stuff to the commanders in the field, it's not worth the investment.

I think it was a flawed program.

I was stunned and disappointed to find that out of 500 possible points for Race to the Top, only 15 points, 3 percent of the whole application dealt with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the STEM.

But we should never, never lose focus on the student.

I think it is very important, and you have done this, you have focused, among other things, on the loss of teachers and support and so forth.

I will be brief, but I don't get this chance every day.

But if you go where the need is, you are going to go to a lot of the rural areas, too, are you not?