I rise today to thank two exceptional women who have been strong advocates for social justice and for the advancement of women's business ownership in the State of Illinois, across America, and beyond. Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal have…

I urge other States that have 'stand your ground' laws to revisit them as well.

The debate over 'stand your ground' laws raises fundamental questions about self-defense in the United States of America.

There are many victims when it comes to 'stand your ground' laws.

New concealed-carry laws and 'shoot first' laws are a recipe for more dead sons and daughters.

It is clearly time for 'stand your ground' laws to be carefully reviewed and reconsidered.

I, for one, believe we should stand with the innocent against aggressors.

I want to thank this panel for the testimony and once again thank Ms. Fulton and Ms. McBath.

Mr. Zimmerman's acquittal was made possible because Florida's 'stand your ground' laws and its concealed weapons laws conspired to create the perfect background conditions for his exoneration.

It appears that this law is an invitation for confrontation.

Innocent children--children--killed in the name of self-defense, when in neither instance was there evidence of aggressive or violent conduct by these victims.

We do not live in the Wild, Wild West era any longer. Private law enforcement has a deleterious effect on our country.

I find it hard to understand those who defend 'stand your ground' by arguing that African Americans should celebrate these laws.

By expanding the realm in which violent acts can be committed with the justification of self-defense, 'stand your ground' laws have negatively affected public health and undermined prosecutorial and law enforcement efforts to keep…

This unfortunate outcome sends a twofold message. First, it tells Floridians that they can incorrectly profile young black children, kill them, and be protected by 'stand your ground' laws.

I have deep concerns about the expansion of self-defense laws, the proliferation of guns, the weakening of gun laws, and how this affects public safety.

But the gun lobby pushed to change Florida's law so people could shoot someone who threatened them without first trying to avoid a confrontation.

I am pleased that the Senate has just confirmed Zach Fardon to serve as the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Fardon is going to be an outstanding U.S. Attorney. He has a superb resume. He served for six years…

there has been a lot of debate on the floor of the Senate about ObamaCare, which is also called the Affordable Care Act. It passed about 3\1/2\ years ago. Why did we do this? Why did we enact this law? It wasn't easy and it took months to…

for 2 weeks the government has been shut down. It is hard to imagine. It seems a lot longer if you have been sitting here in the midst of this maelstrom--2 weeks since the junior Senator from Texas took the floor and for 21 hours held the…

through the Chair, since the Senator from Louisiana has raised on the floor many times the issue of the health insurance of Members of Congress, I would volunteer that I am under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, some 8 million…

I hope the Senator will concede that Members of Congress and their staff are going into the insurance exchanges because of an express provision requiring that to happen in the law, offered by Republican Senators Coburn and Grassley…

If the Senator is stating that no one under an insurance exchange, no one, can receive an employer contribution for their health insurance, he is wrong, flat wrong.

I ask the majority leader, through the Chair, one of the key elements in this new proposal from Speaker Boehner is to diminish this President's authority to deal with a default on our national debt. This authority, so-called extraordinary…

I am pleased to have this exchange with my colleague because he comes to the floor repeatedly and says things which aren't altogether accurate. This is why I wanted to speak to him today. He yielded for a question and I thank him. I am…