Well, I am a U.S. Senator. There are 100 of us. We work with 435 Representatives and the President and the Vice President to make the rules for our country. We call them 'laws.'

OK, good. We are going to come back--I will come back to you with some questions in writing.

We can have both, and we have over the years strengthened our economy and, frankly, provided safer places for us to live, work, and breathe.

It is a false choice to say that we cannot do both. We have to do both, and we need to use some common sense.

One of the things we need to do is develop consensus around the legislation that has been introduced

I thank the Democratic whip for yielding time to me and for his extraordinary leadership on this issue and tell him how proud I am of him and my other colleagues, no matter where we come down on this issue. I have a little bit of a…

We are blessed with I think more five star beaches than any State in America.

I would like to listen to you for the rest of the morning, but I only have two more minutes.

I want to thank Senator Booker for encouraging us to hold this important hearing.

States are laboratories for democracy.

The overwhelming majority of people who are incarcerated are going to come out some day.

Somebody, some Governor in some State has dealt with this issue. Figure out how to deal with it and do so successfully.

Let me just close by saying this. Senator Booker and I talked about the moral imperative that we have in this country, to look out for the least of these.

colleagues, I want to hearken back to last November's election. I thought for some time--and the Presiding Officer has heard me say this once or twice--that for this Senator there are three takeaways from that election. No. 1, the American…

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Strengthening Our Economic Recovery

I continue to support the consolidation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters at St. Elizabeth's.

I mentioned Dover Air Force Base earlier. We think it is the best airlift base in the world.

Completing St. Elizabeth's will save, we are told by the General Services Administration (GSA), will save over a billion dollars during the course of the next 30 years.

Actually, seriously, when he first said the number, I thought $80 to $90 million sounded, frankly, for 10 years, a little bit low.

In conclusion, I would just say, colleagues, GAO looks like they may have something for us in a month or so.

I did not want to waste taxpayers' money in Delaware, and I certainly do not want to waste money here today.

Our job is to do oversight and to try to make sure that we are looking out for taxpayers.

I am convinced that this is the right decision in that it provides the proper balance between cost and the taxpayers' dollars and a mission that is critical to our country.

I would certainly be willing to share some best practices that we have learned over time to help reduce cost.

If we are going to invest this type of money, we want to make sure that we have a facility that is good for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.