But there had to be this moment of truth for you as an attorney when you were asked to represent the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, when you knew that your success in that case would restrict the rights of disabled…

Republicans fail to acknowledge that most of the vacancies that have plagued the Sixth Circuit arose during the Clinton administration.

Are you an officer? Are you not an officer?

And I think they do have a right to raise a constitutional offense.

This is a nomination that deserves serious scrutiny and which ought to be considered has been the practice for decades in this Committee.

I don't know. Someone said this morning the White House said it is baked and he is not going to change a word of it. I cannot say if they are being called in as a focus group to see if there is anything they find objectionable. I think it…

Is there anything you heard about what the President is going to suggest that will lower the cost of health insurance for families and businesses across America, an exploding item in terms of their expenses which is pushing more and more…

this is one of those big days in Washington. It happens every year with the President's State of the Union Address. We look forward to it. It is an opportunity for the entire membership of the Senate and House to gather on the floor of the…

Eli Lilly is a special case. You will remember when we passed the homeland security bill to keep America safe from terrorism, someone stuck in a special provision that helped that drug company, which is based out of Indianapolis, IN. There…

Does she believe, with the offset she has come up with, that we have avoided any budget complaints that this bill is not being paid for?

I will speak briefly to the substance of this amendment. This amendment adds $180 million to the U.S. effort to fight the global AIDS epidemic. I believe future generations will judge our work by many standards. One of the first tests of…

I listened to the arguments yesterday by the Senators from Oklahoma and Iowa and others who suggested this recession is not that bad; we really should not be talking about a million people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits…

I say to the Senator from Oklahoma, I am aware of that fact, but I hope he is also aware of the fact that the recession we are currently in also has some economic indicators that are even more troubling than what we faced in the early…

those who vote no on this amendment have basically asked for the best of both worlds. They want all the positive publicity for reforming education, but they don't want to pay the bill. That is an abdication of responsibility to my State…

If there is competition for this money, the interest rates go up. If the Government is borrowing to cover its own debt, that means interest rates go higher so the businessperson, whether he is in Chicago or she is in Springfield or New…

Mr. President, 78 percent of the benefits in the President's proposal are to people in the top 20 percent of income. If you divide all the wage earners in America into five groups based on how much they make, the top 20 percent get 78…

Mr. President, before Senator Conrad leaves, I say to the Senator, thank you for your presentation. I hope those who are following this debate will reflect for a moment on what Senator Conrad has brought to us this morning. He is the…

So we can be certain that the baby boomers are going to arrive in need of Social Security and Medicare. That is coming. But we have this uncertainty when it comes to war and its cost, which could dramatically increase the deficit, money…

On the question of the continuing deficits and the projections, I recall the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers suggesting a war in Iraq might cost us $100 billion and then it being kind of open ended as to what it…

Every year this is what it comes down to. Frankly, this is the average annual tax cut for millionaires, an annual tax cut of $89,000. What does the President cut to provide these tax cuts? Money for schools. Under his program, the…

When baby boomers are about to retire and counting on Social Security, we are going to have the trust funds even deeper in debt, and the debt we are leaving behind is for our children and grandchildren. This approach betrays two…

I am glad to acknowledge the Senator and allow him to speak on Republican time, but I want to maintain the 10 minutes I was allocated as part of morning business. I do not think that is unfair. What we are suggesting is exactly what we…

I can remember a comment made to me, even as I stand here. The CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation in Chicago, when I visited him and said: Do you believe the President's approach, tax breaks for the highest income categories, is the right…

we came back to Washington to be sworn in and begin a new Congress, and the President traveled to my State of Illinois, to Chicago, to announce his proposal for an economic stimulus. We need it; we need it desperately. For the last 2…

They could face a cutoff of the existing Federal funds they are receiving. You have States that could be penalized, States that already are in trouble because of State deficits. They could be penalized by not complying with the Federal…