Madam President, the amendment of the junior Senator from Tennessee would lower the nondefense discretionary cap established in the Budget Control Act by $20 billion in order to offset transfers from the general fund necessary to replenish…

Madam President, last September we rightly rejected a Coburn amendment not much different from this one. Senator Coburn claims that the purpose of this amendment is to reduce duplication, but in reality it would just give a $10 billion…

I strongly suggest to you that, as with the budget, it is always better to start these conversations sooner.

Less than a year after one of the most devastating tsunami's the world has ever seen, the Department of Commerce decided that NOAA's tsunami warning program was, according to standards outlined in your testimony, nonessential, redundant…

Madam Chair, thank you very much for this opportunity to say a few words about the President's fiscal year 2013 budget relating to the Commerce Department.

I sincerely congratulate you and the President on your willingness and desire to think creatively about how we may make Federal activities more efficient.

I want to applaud you and the President for working to find ways to support our small businesses and decrease our trade deficit even in these perilous budget times.

I might suggest that explicitly targeting such programs is not a constructive way to begin a dialog over what I consider to be an agency crucial to our Government's function, our Nation's economic well being, and our safety and security.

I want to thank you for the great work you've done here.

I find this rather strange.

In 1986, the United States entered into Compacts of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.