The State Department will play an increasingly important role in explaining the importance of transparency to foreign governments.

Smart and able diplomacy and development policy can neutralize threats before they become crises.

The stakes are enormous in the coming years. We will have great opportunities to build and redefine our relationships around the world, particularly in the Middle East.

We must not leave any doubt that this country will break its oil dependence on unstable and unfriendly regimes.

I would encourage Secretary Clinton to recommend to the President that it is in our national security interests to immediately approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

The United States would regard such a disruption as a threat to United States national security interests.

Our international affairs budget is, in my judgment, a smart investment that ultimately yields outsized returns and saves us money over the long haul.

We should lift the volume caps on private activity bonds issued for water infrastructure projects.

That is correct. And, again, I thank the Senator for his leadership and I thank him for his comments. We have 30 cosponsors of the Magnitsky legislation and I am going to be encouraging more of our colleagues to join us in cosponsorship. I…

If I might, I thank Senator Shaheen for her comments, but more importantly I thank her for her leadership. The hearing she held on the Sergei Magnitsky bill was very helpful. First, I think in answer to the question of why we should care…

We are going to yield the floor. Let me agree with my colleague, Senator Shaheen. She is absolutely right. It is going to be easier for them to speak out if they know we are going to continue raising these issues. I thank Senators Shaheen…

I thank the Chair, and I thank Senator Wicker for starting us off on the discussion of what is happening in Russia today. I rise today, along with some of my colleagues, to bring attention to the growing issue of human rights violations in…

I ask unanimous consent that there be 30 minutes available for a colloquy controlled by Senator Wicker and myself. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I wish to take the time now to talk about the conference report that has been filed in regard to the extension of the payroll tax holiday, the Medicare physician issues so our seniors can continue to have access to their doctors, and the…

today I am introducing the Water Resources Research Amendments Act. First authorized in 1964, the Water Resources Research Act established 54 Water Resources Research Institutes across the country and set up a grant program for applied…

Education is the ticket for being able to participate in the opportunities of America.

at the end of January, something remarkable happened: Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Rudolf Chmel made a positive statement about Roma. Saying something nice about Europe's largest ethnic minority may not seem newsworthy, but it is and here…

With current law, if we do not change it, the middle class is going to get socked.

If we do not help the middle-class families, the recovery is going to be much longer than we want it to be.

I take this time to urge my colleagues to let us proceed on the reauthorization of the surface transportation act, S. 1813. This is a critically important bill, and I am proud to be on two committees that have had jurisdiction over this…

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. What I will do is I will pose a question to all five that I will ask be answered for the record.

We have now over the first half of this year admitted more SIV cases into the United States than we did all of last year.

I have known Iraqis who have worked with us and lost their lives.

This issue is very important to me and it's a very personal issue to me.

If confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources, I pledge to make the pursuit of good governance and transparency in the energy sector a central theme for the Energy Resources Bureau.