We have a $30 billion program and an urgent employment issue in America, and we predicated putting our eggs in that basket.

I am just telling you those are the facts.

We need the 'now' part of it.

There is no doubt that nothing is more urgent than creating jobs for the American people because our nation has been plagued by a staggering unemployment rate for nearly three years.

That is the point here.

If there is one message I can give to you is that current policies are not working and people are hurting.

Well, why can we not do it in tandem with other committees? Why does the President not work with Congress and get it done?

Now let's just have conversations and get this done. I just do not understand it, frankly.

You could make a fundamental change; the President could, if we work together as a team on the key issues.

And if it is taxes and regulation, let's do it now.

We do not need to be growing our government. We need to be growing the private sector.

the President is calling for comprehensive tax reform, as you are obviously reiterating, in one breath and at the same time he is calling for tax increases.

I rise today with my colleagues Senator Collins and Senator Udall to raise the concern of nutrition guidelines in our schools. This amendment aims to clarify school nutrition standards to ensure that they appropriately reflect the USDA's…

The trial and error era has to be over now because we are in this new norm that we cannot accept.

I rise today to introduce the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2011. This bill would enhance the research programs established in the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998…

I rise to join Senator Sessions in introducing the Honest Budget Act of 2011. At this critical juncture in our Nation's fiscal history, we must no longer allow Washington to rely on an astonishing array of dishonest budget gimmicks to…

I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan legislation we will be considering this week regarding the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011. I am very pleased it received overwhelming support for us to proceed to…

today I wish to pay tribute to three truly remarkable Mainers--Elaine Greene, Carmen Footer and JoAnn Miller, affectionately known as, The Freeport Flag Ladies. It has been said that great things come in threes. That adage applies many…

I rise today to express my strong support for the renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance programs which for decades have served as a critical lifeline for thousands of Mainers whose jobs have been adversely affected by increases in foreign…

it is so crucial when we started this process back in 2004 to insert it in the original legislation when we were overhauling the Intelligence Community.

I rise today in support of the Safeguarding Disaster Funding Act of 2011, which I am introducing along with Senator Brown from Massachusetts. This legislation would amend the Congressional Budget Act and the Budget Control Act to require…

I think that is a requirement we need to change. I think that anybody doing business with the Federal Government should be responsible; and the prime contractor, they are doing business with the Federal Government. They are responsible for…

This common sense approach would alleviate the political haggling and brinksmanship that has become all too common place in Washington.

I was Chair of this Committee during the time of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, so, I certainly understood the magnitude of these events and what was required, which was so much in the way of recovery.

Why are there such delays in payments to businesses?