I thank and recognize the longstanding work of the distinguished Senator from Wyoming. He has fought long and hard from the very beginning for this position during the ObamaCare debate, and he has done so in a very focused and determined…

I am asking you to properly recognize a lot of true implementation problems that make a lot of the implementation not ready for prime time.

I wish to personally thank our distinguished colleague from Nevada for all of his work and partnership on this important measure. He has been an outspoken leader from the very beginning of this debate and has stood hard and fast for the…

The desire for that reform grew from something pretty simple and basic, real frustration over projects stuck in bureaucratic purgatory.

Many of us are willing to offer that help. We need your help as some of the experts involved.

the average delivery time is 14 years from start to finish.

I am not going to encourage that answer, but that is what I heard.

What we are really focused on, I think everybody knows, are major transportation projects.

To this pro-business conservative Republican, that seems absurd.

I think he was asking for the same thing I was asking for, which is leadership.

Does anyone disagree that on major highway projects we should absolutely bring those averages way down?

So as Senator Vitter points out, you can very easily get to these very high numbers if you are in an area of significant risk.

So just to underscore, this is the same pushback we got when we talked about this originally.

Any legislation is only as good as its implementation.

Well, in closing, I would simply encourage you all to finish that work.

as I made clear previously but I will restate, I objected to and I continue to object to laying aside any amendment and making another amendment pending. We made that clear between the floor staff of the minority and majority side. That…

I wish to very briefly thank the Senator. That is a very generous and gentlemanly thing to do. This was the understanding between the floor staff. I know apparently it wasn't properly communicated to the Chair, but that was the clear…

let me offer this truly friendly suggestion. I think we can proceed with this debate. Senator Portman said proceed with the debate. We can proceed with this debate right now. We can bring amendments to the floor, we can talk about them, we…

Unfortunately, I am going to have to sustain my objection. But I am very hopeful this can be worked out in short order, as soon as a vote on my amendment is locked down. In fact, I will go this far. It doesn't even have to be on this bill…

I wish to thank Senators Collins and Udall for coming to the floor with their positive amendment, laying it out, and debating it. I encourage everyone with an interest in this bill-- Democrats and Republicans--to do the same. Come to the…

EPA recently determined, without State input, that it will assess Bay Watershed States' animal feeding operation standards and has indicated that it will take 'appropriate actions' if the State program isn't satisfactory to the agency.

I am concerned, however, that Federal officials and environmental groups are not holding up their end of the bargain.

It is no secret that taking on incredibly complex restoration efforts--whether in the Chesapeake Bay, Louisiana, or elsewhere--requires cooperative and trustworthy relationships between numerous parties, including local, State and Federal…

I stand today to discuss and strongly support my bill, S. 101, the State and Local Government Bailout Prevention Act. I urge all of us to unite to pass this bill expeditiously. Let me briefly explain what it is about. I first introduced…

I appreciate the two Senators from Michigan being the only ones on the floor right now objecting and saying this has nothing to do with Detroit, but, of course, it does. I am very sorry to hear this objection. There is no objection on the…