I want to thank you, and the Mine Safety Health Administration for its self-reflection over the past year to increase the effectiveness of current safety requirements.

I think we're united in your efforts and the President's efforts to remove Qadhafi.

I welcome that response, and I would note that it marks a departure from many years ago when missing children were thought to be exclusively a local or State issue.

I hope that we will see prosecutions soon.

I am unhappy and frustrated with the most recent efforts by the administration to send a message in this area.

The inability to fill those 1,100 slots in my view would be really a disservice to the FBI and severely disadvantage this great organization, and I hope you agree with me in that.

In fact, in seeking to uphold statutes, lawyers begin, if they represent either a State or the United States, with the argument that every statute that is passed by this legislative body, which represents the people of the United States…

I think it really is designed to raise awareness and show our own commitment to fighting bigotry.

civil rights is indeed this joint venture among Federal, State, and local partners.

Wouldn't it make sense to engage or involve the States and local governments more actively in this effort?

I want to go back to the question that Senator Durbin was pursuing.

Your challenge is primarily in the area of enforcement, not so much the substantive authority that you would see the Congress improving.

the most important protocol, though, that we have followed and we will continue to follow is what is in the best interest of the case.

As intolerable as injustice and intolerance are in this country, as dangerous as intolerance and injustice, is indifference...

If you wait until the train wreck to come together for the first time, you are seldom going to be able to forge the necessary consensus.

I want to express my appreciation to you for holding this hearing on this occasion, on the 1-year anniversary to the Health Care Reform Law.

the people of Connecticut sent me here to fight for their interests and today I rise to amplify their voices and share their concerns in my first remarks from the floor of the United States Senate. I know these voices firsthand from…

I think those suggestions or recommendations are excellent as a starting point, and certainly we may want to consider going beyond them based on what we've heard and what we may find out.

I have strongly opposed any measures to cut Social Security.

I am not satisfied that it is sufficiently strong so far to provide credibility and trust on the part of policymakers and, equally important, the awarders of funds, Federal funds, taxpayer moneys that are very, very valuable in education…

these kinds of opportunities for students who otherwise wouldn't have access to college education is critically important.

preserving and enhancing the use of those Federal dollars is one of the main reasons we are here today.

the extent of the harm and of the wrongdoing and abuse is the reason that we are here today.

I think that you are sensing a strong sense of disquiet, if not dissatisfaction, maybe even stronger emotion of skepticism, about whether the oversight and scrutiny here has been sufficient to eliminate the bad actors and the bad practices…

I want to say about this process that I think that you are entitled to an up-or-down vote by the U.S. Senate.