You have certain responsibilities under environmental laws that you are responsible to enforce.

I am a strong supporter of domestic natural gas production, but my support only comes when human health and the environment are protected.

The United States has as much natural gas as Saudi Arabia has oil.

well, we are less than 6 hours away from a potential government shutdown. I take this time to sort of bring people up to date in Maryland as to where we are. I say that because in Maryland we have about 150,000 civilian active Federal…

I rise today to commemorate the lives lost in last year's plane crash near Smolensk that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 others who represented the political, cultural, and religious leadership of Poland…

I take this time because we are now only literally hours away from a potential shutdown of government. I must tell you that my constituents are angry about this, and I join them in saying this should never happen. There is no reason why we…

I thank Senator Landrieu for her extraordinary work and patience. She gives us credit. We give her credit for patience in the manner this legislation has been considered. This bill is very important not just to the small business community…

I wish to spend a moment or two talking about how devastating it would be for our country and for the people of our country if, in fact, we have a government shutdown. I represent Maryland, and there are a lot of Federal workers in…

I will take 30 seconds and yield to my friend Senator Inhofe. For the reasons we already said about public health or the protection of our Clean Air Act, I urge my colleagues to defeat the Rockefeller amendment. Let me add one other point…

this weekend I know that Marylanders will be taking advantage of Passport Day this Saturday, April 9. During these weekend hours at our passport acceptance facilities in Maryland, my constituents will have the ability to renew their…

Is that discretion also important for the type of smart growth that you are talking about in Montgomery County?

In the rural areas, it is about access and jobs.

All of these projects will help not only get people to where they need to be. It will not only help us as far as our energy policy by using less energy for transportation.

While it is important that Congress address the Federal budget, it is also important that we keep sight of how these decisions may affect our counterparts at the State and local level.

It is interesting in Maryland, our three top transportation projects are all transit projects, including for the people of Montgomery County, Maryland, the purple line, which is critically important to get people across county, as well as…

I want to ask a question as it relates to a concern I have that as we go to the surface reauthorization bill, this surface transportation reauthorization, there are some on this committee that would like to narrow the discretion to our…

Rural safety on rural roads is a No. 1 issue.

What we need is to be able to work with our State Highway Department, the flexibility at the Federal level.

I rise in support of the nomination of Jimmie Reyna to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. I had recommended that Mr. Reyna be nominated. Mr. Reyna comes to the Senate with 23 years of…

I join the Senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune, in cosponsoring a bill to modernize the tracking of hazardous waste. The federal waste law requires the tracking of hazardous waste from ``cradle to grave.'' This tracking system is designed…

sometime today we are going to get back to the SBIR bill, the bill that deals with helping our small businesses with innovation and growth so we can create more jobs and continue to lead the world in innovation, so we can win that…

I wish to go back to the SBIR bill itself and compliment Senator Landrieu, the chairman, and Senator Snowe, the ranking Republican member. This bill is an important one. I think it is important we get back to it and that we deal with…

I would encourage you to consult closely with us as these issues unfold.

I think we recognize in these circumstances that, on the one hand, the situation is time-urgent.

I do think that Senator Corker expresses a view of many of us in the Senate and that is whether the mission is clear enough.