And if we fail to count it as an additional source of revenue being held by the Federal Government, is it not true that it would be subject to a budget point of order, which would then require 60 votes, and that would allow the oil…

Twenty-one years ago. I might also ask the chairman of the Finance Committee, it is my understanding that the total value of the current Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is somewhere in the range of $1.5 billion?

That is being paid by oil companies into a fund so that if there would be a spill and the oil company responsible couldn't pay for it, they would have at least accumulated enough money to protect the taxpayers----

And the price of a barrel of oil, as of this morning's Wall Street Journal, is $71.99 a barrel?

So all the protests from the other side of the aisle about this 40-cent tax on big oil companies is basically not only to protect the big oil companies but to put the taxpayers on the hook for another bailout----

Forty-one cents. So 41 cents would represent, as I calculate it, one-half of 1 percent of the current cost of a barrel of oil.

So the effort in this bill is to increase that per-barrel tax paid by oil companies for this oilspill liability fund to----

I am not going to go any further or ask you to comment because you have said that this matter is under investigation.

I might also tell you that in the course of having passed this amendment, much to the surprise and chagrin of the credit card companies, there is now a full-court press to try to change it, which is their right.

Well, I understand your limits in speaking about that investigation, and I respect them very much.

For the record, the Visa/MasterCard duopoly controls about 80 percent of the credit card market.

I was concerned that the advocacy is leading to conduct, and specifically my concern is this: Under the amendment, which passed the House of Representatives in financial reform, we provide that the interchange fees that are charged for…

I hope will start to convince some in Congress who believe that we should cap the amount of money.

I happen to believe that if you are engaged in drilling and can create this level of damage, it carries with it a responsibility that you accept liability for the damage. If you cannot accept that liability, stay the hell out of the…

I have never accepted it and have fought it for 12 years.

I know Kellogg's was charged with going too far in claiming their Frosted Mini-Wheats made kids smarter, more attentive.

I'm trying to figure out what you don't look at.

I rise today to introduce legislation designed to improve educational opportunities for struggling students. The All Students Achieving Through Reform Act, or All-STAR Act, would provide Federal resources to the most successful charter…

I am as concerned as he is about the impact of these nominations that still remain on our Executive Calendar here at the Senate. This publication comes out on a daily basis to tell us which nominations have been sent to the floor of the…

I rise to congratulate Joseph Flynn, a constituent and friend, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. It has often been said that our Greatest Generation is comprised of those Americans who pulled the country out of the depths of the Great…

I don't know what the situation is with the New Jersey Guard, but many of the Illinois Guard have been deployed and redeployed in Iraq and Afghanistan at great inconvenience and hardship to their families. The McCain amendment calls for…

If the Senator will further yield for a question, it would seem, since two of these three amendments are emanating from the State of Arizona, there is a free-for-all in Arizona to think of more extreme ways to respond to what they consider…

I ask through the Chair, if the Senator will yield further, do I understand the statement that was sent by the administration, the National Security Adviser, that the McCain amendment would circumvent the power of the President to deploy…

I ask through the Chair, both the McCain amendment and the Cornyn amendment appear to be paid for out of funds that have already been allocated for creating new jobs in America--the stimulus funds we have voted for. If they are successful…

How much should the taxpayers of America pay for the negligence and wrongdoing of British Petroleum, this multibillion-dollar corporation?