Ralph Lee Abraham

This bill is not only important to the veterans of my home state of Louisiana but also to millions of veterans nationwide.

You took an already multilayered process that made sense when it ended in the agency and then added another layer of review which has contributed to the churning that we see in the process.

The cosponsors of this amendment and I are not alone in our support for the suspension of the gas tax. A number of taxpayer groups also believe suspending the tax is good policy, and have endorsed such a suspension. Among these groups are…

I am disappointed, after so many efforts on our part to get a vote, that we couldn't. On the other hand, I indicated I was heartened that today at least there seems to be a willingness to begin to give people votes on issues relating to…

I also wish to commend him and his committee for their strong interest in a financial assistance package for Lebanon.

Yes, and as a result, the act would apply to such activities as the execution of a prototype plan adoption agreement by an employer, the execution of an IRA application by an individual, and the waiver of a qualified joint and survivor…

Yes, this act applies to all actions or sets of actions related to the underlying business, consumer, or commercial relationship which is based on the nature of the activity and not the number of persons involved in the activity. The act…

This act is intended to facilitate e-commerce and to provide legal certainty for electronic signatures, contracts and records where such certainty does not exist today. It is not in any way intended to limit the effectiveness of any other…

Yes. An e-mail response from a consumer that confirmed that the consumer can access electronic records in the specified formats would satisfy the ``reasonable demonstration'' requirement.

I don't know how anyone can say that a program proven to work is one that rewards the worst teacher in a school that may, in fact, be producing a decrease in the achievement level of their students. I don't think that could possibly be…

My understanding is States have experimented with merit pay programs since the 1960s. I can recall in the late 1960s when I was an intern working in the education office of the Governor of Michigan, we were looking at various experimental…

I rise to compliment the Senator from Maine for this proposal. I am happy to join as a cosponsor of the legislation, as I have on previous efforts on her part to address the home health care issues. I add my support to the legislation and…

I don't, for the very simple reason that in the House, the House-passed legislation went beyond the scope of what we passed in the Senate to include legislation, or to expand the use of this legislation to transactions that involved…

Obviously, the law sets forth criteria that are to be employed. I don't have those in front of me. I will accept the contention of the Senator from Nevada that those are the criteria. The question is whether a prejudgment as to the outcome…

It seems to me, in the absence of a fuller examination, it would really be a mistake for the Members of the Senate to vote to remove, effectively repeal section 907 unless they know more of the background that the Senator just discussed. I…

As I think I laid out very clearly what the amendment does, I think the Senator from South Carolina would agree with me that when we take the Social Security surplus dollars and spend them on new spending programs or tax cuts or the…

The legislation we are proposing says we either use those dollars to fix Social Security to deal with this long-term insolvency, or until we pass such legislation that we would use it to pay down the national debt. In my State, at least, I…

Our proposal, as the Senator knows, is to make sure that every Social Security surplus dollar is either spent in conjunction with legislation to modernize and guarantee the long-term solvency of Social Security, or used, as I said, to pay…

I have just submitted an amendment here on behalf of myself as well as Senators Domenici, Ashcroft, Lott, Nickles, McCain, Frist, Crapo, Collins, and Grams. The amendment is the Social Security Preservation and Debt Reduction Act. It…

Mr. President, this, to me, should be a pretty clear-cut result. The States entered into this litigation. They did all the work. They made the case persuasively. They were finally able to prevail on the merits, in terms of convincing the…

I thank my colleagues and appreciate their support. I will be working to ensure that such a system never harms our borders and our trade, and will also be working on providing that this issue is properly studied before it is implemented.

I would be happy to elaborate on the legislation. The amendment's purpose is as follows: Each year in our refugee resettlement programs, we have considerable costs associated with that. We appropriate moneys for those. In a typical year…

This program is a very small program. It is a maximum of 1,000 visas a year. It means people who come to this country to create jobs will be given a chance to do so. We have not examined or studied some of the complaints that have been…

I too am committed to seeing to it that there is funding for these programs. As the Ranking Member knows, I believe that as far as the shortage of highly skilled workers is concerned, we have both a short term and a long term problem, and…

These findings make clear, Mr. President, that the government of China has been and continues to intentionally oppress its people. I do not believe that we can stand idly by, without so much as a complaint, as this continues. I firmly…