So the complaint is now we are closing loopholes. We're closing provisions worked out with the administration, that asked for a much larger package, that will make sure that the foreign tax credit is not abused so that jobs are shipped…

It is patently inequitable that current law forces these members to fund their own VA disability compensation by forfeiting most or all of their military retired pay. H.R. 4213 properly acknowledges that such members should be vested for…

Mr. Speaker, you have just heard the Republicans say to unemployed workers whose benefits are expiring: We don't care. Forty billion dollars, the biggest unpaid part of this bill, is for unemployment benefits to the 1.2 million people…

I oppose the Feingold amendment. Section 1019 of the Feingold amendment specifically requires the President, by December 31, 2010, to submit a timetable for the completion of redeployment of our troops out of Afghanistan. The message our…

earlier this month, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the threat posed by the ability of terrorists to purchase firearms in America and legislative proposals to address that threat. Before…

a year and a half ago, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations began a review of the causes of the financial crisis. The subcommittee, which I chair, sought to answer a fundamental question about a crisis that was, at that moment…

among the most difficult issues we dealt with in the debate over the Wall Street reform bill we approved last week is that of proprietary trading and conflicts of interest in the financial system. This trading, often involving risky…

I would support the Feinstein amendment No. 4113 to close the London loophole. Senator Feinstein and I and other colleagues have been working together for years to put a cop back on the beat in U.S. commodity markets, and it is a pleasure…

first of all, I thank Senator Merkley for his extraordinary work on this amendment of ours. We are very hopeful we are going to be able to get to a vote. As it stands right now, we are going to get to a vote because we are the pending…

It is unconscionable that a military officer in the uniform of the United States, who has put his life on the line for this country, month after month after month, has had his promotion held up by one Senator. It is only one Senator. All…

I want to briefly come to the floor to talk about what happened here today. We saw the long arm of Wall Street come to the Senate and reach right into this Chamber. It should not have happened. We all should have learned the lesson as to…

I am pleased to cosponsor amendment No. 4016, introduced by Senator Mark Udall and Senator Lugar, to help provide Americans access to their credit score, an essential piece of personal financial information. The way things stand now, the…

I come to the floor to support the amendment of the Senator Franken, amendment No. 3808, along with his cosponsors. This will address a major unresolved cause of the financial meltdown. The cause which this amendment focuses on is the…

I really regret that the minority has decided to use this bill as an opportunity to talk about the health care bill I think in totally irresponsible ways. I don't think it is fitting for the service of the veterans of the United States of…

I rise as a cosponsor in support of the Merkley-Klobuchar amendment to prohibit kickbacks to lenders who steer homeowners into bad mortgages. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recently completed an 18-month…

for more than 20 years, a group called the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, has operated in central Africa, perpetrating some of the most horrific acts of violence one can envision. The LRA began as a rebel group saying it drew its guidance…

I come to the Senate floor today to speak in support of a package of amendments to the financial reform bill that is a result of an investigation by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair. I am submitting these…

first, let me commend the Presiding Officer. Senator Merkley has been an avid leader in doing something significantly important to end the role of proprietary trading, which is something that helped create a housing bubble, expanded that…

Proprietary trading brings high amounts of risk directly into the financial infrastructure and has repeatedly and severely damaged the financial system. It was a large part of the banking collapse of 1929, which is why Glass-Steagall…

There needs to be a general framework for trade policy, and we have been working to spell that out. A trade policy, as we expand trade, as we must, does so in ways that are mutually beneficial; that expand the benefits of trade. Within…

I wish to start with a poem in honor of Ernie Harwell, who passed away yesterday. This is the way, for decade after decade, the great broadcaster of the Detroit Tigers started when the first game of the season came along. For, lo, the…

I want to say a few words about the nature of this legislation. I want to start off by saluting the bipartisanship in this House. I want to salute the work of our staffs, working with USTR. I would like also--and I think others would join…

I come to the floor to congratulate the students, faculty, staff, and parents at Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, MI, who learned today that President Obama will deliver the commencement address for their high school next month…

Now, throughout these hearings we see a lack of accountability. Executives of Washington Mutual make the reckless mortgage loans--not held accountable. Executives at Goldman Sachs and their company packaged many of these same loans that…

April 16 marked the 3-year anniversary of the deadliest shooting rampage in our Nation's history, a tragedy that took the lives of 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members and wounded 17 more. In the aftermath of the shooting…