today is day 2 of the ongoing government shutdown, and negotiations to find a resolution to our differences remain at a stalemate. Actually, I don't think we can use the word ``negotiations'' because you really can't negotiate if there is…

there has been a great deal of confusion over what has been happening in the Senate this week. I know Hoosiers want a clear explanation, so I wish to take a moment to explain exactly where I stand on the issue before us. Let me start by…

I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for his efforts here. We very much share the same sentiment and the same concerns going forward here. We are going to vote sometime today, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps on Saturday. We have had a…

I want to yield back to my colleague here. I regret that we are not able to take this up. I regret that we are not able to have a debate or a vote on this matter. We are going to do all we can to continue to address, to work for, and to…

I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania for listing those companies. Many of those same companies have facilities in Indiana. In fact, Cook International was founded by Bill Cook in Bloomington, IN, initially working out of his study in his…

I certainly do not think we have been wasting time. We have been talking about an issue that is on the minds of every American as we are careening toward implementation of the ObamaCare health care plan. We have heard from Senator Cruz and…

yesterday the President indicated that we need to pivot back to the fiscal issues facing this country and facing Congress. This comes after a year with little sense of urgency on perhaps the most pressing and challenging domestic issue…

I think there is light at the end of the tunnel if we can just make sure the trend lines are correct in terms of the growth of government versus the growth of the productive sector of the economy.

I appreciate the passion of my colleague, and I know that he spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort trying to pull together bipartisan support for putting together the larger plan which would incorporate a number of factors that…

Entitlement reform is necessary. Tax reform is necessary.

By the time you get to 2017, if you assume things stay as they are now, that means there will not have been a single program that you can identify that needs to be downsized.

I ask unanimous consent to speak to the issues the majority leader just addressed. I don't anticipate speaking for more than 12 to 15 minutes. I know the minority leader is delayed in being able to be here. I would be happy to defer to him…