Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

Mr. President, the Senate is returning to Washington after the Fourth of July holiday recess. The week before we left town, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, we held a hearing for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. The…

Mr. President, as if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 5 p.m. today, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 815, the nomination of Sharon Johnson Coleman to be a U.S. district judge for the…

Mr. President, if the Senator would yield briefly for a question, 21 years ago, I went up to Prince William Sound to see the Exxon Valdez spill. I say to the Senator, I know he knows, as a native of Alaska, firsthand how terrible these…

The New York Times editorial today reads: ``Who Will Fight for the Unemployed?'' I want to quote a few sentences from it: Without doubt, the two biggest threats to the economy are unemployment and the dire financial condition of the…

In response to the Republican leader's speech, I have three words: Drill, baby, drill. That was the chant we heard across the United States from the Republican side of the aisle during the last Presidential campaign. The notion was that if…

Mr. President, I thank the Senator for bringing this issue and timely discussion to the floor. We had a meeting today of the deficit commission--18 of us who have been charged with finding a way to deal with our Nation's deficit. Speaking…

Mr. President, I want some clarification because I thought I heard the Senator say something. Is the Senator saying that if we offer a separate measure on the floor which reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program--and let's add in…

Thank you very much. Madam President, yesterday I joined Senator Murray and others in giving my tribute to Senator Byrd, and I will not repeat my remarks. But I look forward to other Members coming to the floor with their own memories and…

Then we are still at loggerheads because unemployment compensation has been offered as emergency spending throughout this recession, and now I am not sure where the Senator's pay-fors would come from, but that creates a problem.

Mr. President, one of the greatest assets in my part of the world would be Lake Michigan. If you ask the people of Chicago: What do you think is the greatest thing about the city of Chicago, in a recent survey they overwhelmingly responded…

Mr. President, reserving the right to object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.