Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 39 service members from California or based in California who have died while serving our country in Operation Enduring Freedom since December 7, 2010. This brings to 276 the number of service…

Mr. President, I have been listening very carefully to the remarks of my friend about what we have to do, what is in front of us. Of course, he is speaking for the Republican Party for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Let…

Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the memory of Lieutenant Vincent ``Vince'' Perez, and Firefighter and Paramedic Anthony ``Tony'' Valerio. Both of these heroes were long time veterans of the San Francisco Fire…

I want to say to my chairman, whom I sit next to on the Foreign Relations Committee, how much I admire his work in the arena of foreign policy, and everything he has given to become one of the most informed human beings on the planet in…

I thank the Senator. I also wish to ask this: Although there is no authorization in this resolution for the use of ground forces in Libya, for which I am pleased, are there any circumstances where ground forces could be deployed?

I want to say thank you very much to Chairman John Kerry for his work on this. I also want to thank the others who helped work on it. I know other Senators did, in addition to Senator McCain. On our side, I know Senator Durbin, Senator…

I have two more questions. If the President decides to change the mission and order the use of U.S. ground forces for reasons other than the circumstances previously mentioned, does the chairman agree that nothing in this resolution would…

It is my understanding that the authorization provided for under this resolution would expire 1 year after its enactment; is that correct?

Mr. President, is it in order for me to ask some questions of the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee at this time? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senators may engage in a colloquy.

Building on that, isn't it true that the NRC--as we have learned by reading their founding documents--is an independent commission; isn't that a fact?

I say to my friend, given those two points, plus the ones my friend made, it seems untenable that the NRC, which is supposed to be an independent agency, would assert itself into a matter between the State of Vermont and a private company…

Madam President, we have spent many days talking about the importance of the bill before us which would reauthorize the Economic Development Administration. The EDA is a proven success. I think it is instructive that no one on the other…