I applaud the Chairman and Ranking Member for continually reminding all of us in the Senate about our responsibilities to balance the budget.

I would just like to have your assurance that the privatization initiatives are going to be reviewed very carefully.

I do want to start off by congratulating the Obama administration for presenting an honest budget.

I think some of us question whether there is enough room in the budget outline you have proposed.

I believe if you use current values for President Clinton's health care proposal, it would probably add up to about $1.1 trillion.

Forty-seven million people without health insurance is extremely expensive to our economy.

I think it is desperately needed.

You have said that Congress did the right thing in giving the President the tools to deal with the financial crisis, including the TARP funding.

I would feel more comfortable if I knew that if through this open process banks do not meet reasonable expectations government is prepared to exercise sanctions against them.

Our energy policy needs to achieve two objectives: One, energy independence, so we are not as dependent upon foreign sources of energy; and two, we need to deal with the global climate change and greenhouse gas emission issues.

I hope that our investment includes public transportation, because if we can get people to work quicker and friendlier...