I will not use the full 2 minutes. Clearly, I believed very strongly that $500 million was the right number. It was the number Senator Frist and Senator Helms proposed. It was a number I compromised to offer to the Senate, but it was not…

we reduced our contribution to the Global Fund from $300 million a year ago to $200 million in this year. Our total expenditures for HIV and AIDS worldwide are in the range of $850 million.

Frankly, we are fighting a battle that is pretty tough. With more teachers retiring, with the demands on teachers increasing, with the number of teachers who are lured away to other private sector jobs increasing, we find ourselves…

As a result of that battle, they have increased tuition at colleges and universities, meaning that families, particularly working families that already are trying to save so their kids can go to college, are facing even higher indebtedness…

Aren't we also imposing some obligations on school districts across America to have more teachers certified in certain subjects so that they will teach math and science, for example, computer skills, because they also have the skills and…

Children with special needs, with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and other problems are going to have to be given every opportunity to learn and be productive members of society. That is something Congress and the Federal…

I think the Senator has hit an important point when we talk about the future of education and teachers. That chart tells an interesting story. In Illinois, when I went to one of the universities that graduates more teachers than other…

one of the issues that continues to haunt Americans is the whole question of the cost of prescription drugs. I have been troubled, as I have traveled across my State of Illinois, at the number of people I have met who are facing serious…

I disagree with one of the fundamental principles of their bill, and that is why I am offering the amendment. I hope during the course of this debate to engage my colleagues in a discussion about their vision of trade and the difference…

Isn't it also a fact, as we read the newspapers from across the United States, that State after State is facing a cutback in the resources that the States have available for education? In my home State of Illinois, they are currently in…

I could not agree more. There are certain issues the Senate should take up and take up as quickly as possible. We face some serious challenges, not the least of which relate to Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security trust fund…

I have to say to the Senator from California that I am taken aback by the fact that people have not come forward to condemn the violence and terrorism on both sides. When I was in Egypt and faced the press, they looked at me incredulously…

39 percent of college students now graduate with debt loads that are termed unmanageable, meaning their monthly payments are more than 8 percent of their monthly incomes. With this Bush administration change putting more debt on these…

Roughly two out of three college graduates today leave college with a debt. The average debt across the United States for all college students is $16,000. That is a pretty substantial sum of money for somebody starting out to get their…

The idea was to improve the quality of education across America, to make certain, with accountability, that schools were graduating students who had the basic wherewithal to succeed in society. One of the linchpins was to improve teachers…

May I say to the Senator from California--and she knows this very well--I come from the heart of ethanol country. I have been supportive of the ethanol program throughout my congressional career. At times I have been chairman of the…

I ask the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to engage in a colloquy with Senator Feingold and me with respect to oil and gas development on Federal lands, an issue that is very sensitive for Americans right now. There…

We clearly need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly on imported oil. We should focus on sources of energy that are clean, free, and literally limitless. One of those sources is wind. Wind power is now creating…

I am grateful that I have had the chance to work with Senators Baucus and Grassley to provide a small tax incentive for installation of small wind systems in America's farms, ranches, and other places in rural areas that have wind…

You are our last chance, the last hope for the average investor that there is going to be an honest cop on the beat.

If we cannot enforce the law, in other words, pass treaties that protect American businesses and workers, why in the world are we in such a headlong race to increase the number of trading opportunities?

The Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative's Office are on the front lines of the battle to save this industry that is really vital to our economy and our national security.

I believe in them. But Senator Voinovich and I were standing at the same rallies and at the same meetings bemoaning what happened to the steel industry here.

I share his belief that this is an essential part of our responsibility and I am welcoming not only his participation, but his leadership here.

With the continuing expansion of world globalization, can the Commerce Department fulfill its duty to represent our inventors and sustainers of commerce?