Mr. President, I am so pleased to be on the floor with some very good news out of California and how ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, is working in our great State. People are phoning. People are going online. People are talking with…

Five seconds. I hope we get these two wonderful nominees on the way to confirmation today. I hope we will be patient and that we will all work together to fix the problems with health care. I think, at the end of the day, it is going to be…

Mr. President, since the government shut down about 16 days ago, I have been coming to the floor of the Senate to express my chagrin at this manufactured crisis. Then, of course, the second manufactured crisis, the crisis of perhaps doing…

Here is what has happened because of this 16-day shutdown. Here is what has happened because that shutdown was paired with a flirtation with a default. The S&P has cut the annualized U.S. growth view closer to 2% from 3%. . . . That is a…

I wish to thank my friend, and I hope we can continue to have these conversations. I thank the Presiding Officer for recognizing my friend so he could make his point. We are, as leader Pelosi said, playing with fire. We are playing with…

Just this afternoon, after the bipartisan plan was stalled here in the Senate and the House went forward with their partisan plan. What Fitch did is a warning sign. It is a warning sign for businesses in terms of their borrowing costs to…

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to use as much time as I might consume. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Madam President, the Senator from South Dakota has pointed out how concerned he is about jobs and economic growth. He is concerned about our not doing enough appropriations bills. He is concerned that we have not resolved our differences…

Mr. President, I thank the Chair for allowing this interlude. I do want to say to my friend, I think it has been very helpful that he and I have been in this conversation because we share the view that these two self-inflicted wounds are…

Through the Chair, I thank my friend. This contractor issue is a sleeper issue in a way, as this woman writes in the Baltimore Sun, because if you look at the numbers, you may see more contractor employees affected than Federal employees…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for such time as I may consume. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, we now find ourselves, amazingly, in day 14 of a government shutdown--a shutdown that was brought to us by the Republicans in the House. They are sitting on a bill we sent them to open the government and they refuse to take…