I rise today to join Senator Kerry in introducing the Protect Our Kids Act, to create a commission with the goal of eliminating child abuse fatalities. The effort to address child abuse transcends ideological and partisan lines. This is…

I rise today to introduce a bill to allow physical and occupational therapists to enroll in the Armed Forces Health Professionals Scholarship Program. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by my colleague, Senator Coons of Delaware. Our…

I rise today, along with my friend and colleague Senator McCaskill, to introduce legislation we believe is essential to restoring growth and creating jobs in our economy. Our bipartisan bill is comprised of proposals in four general…

I rise today to speak on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to be a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. I have carefully considered the background of this nominee and undertaken a full review of her public record…

That had to be really scary, not to know what you were taking or why you were taking it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank you for holding this hearing to examine the potential overuse of psychotropic drugs by children in foster care, who are covered by the Medicaid program.

A valid point, and in the next round or for the record, a question that I want you to be thinking of is whether we should have a law, if we are going to venture into this area, that applies explicitly to the Executive Branch officials as…

Well, they probably will get better and better. That, I am sure of.

Elected office is a place for public service, not private gain.

I think it is very brave of you to tell your story, and it is going to help a lot of other children.

it is imperative that American citizens detained on U.S. soil be entitled to every protection guaranteed by the Constitution. I am concerned, therefore, that not all of the detainee provisions in the bill provide explicit exemptions for…

Thank you, Mr. President, for cosponsoring the amendment. Earlier today the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee came to the Senate floor and asked for Members to come forth with their amendments…

I wish to thank the committee chairman for his extremely generous remarks. It has been a great pleasure to serve with him on the Armed Services Committee, and I very much appreciate his outstanding leadership. Senator Levin and I actually…

I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Coons--the Presiding Officer--be added as a cosponsor of Senate amendment No. 1155 to the pending bill, S. 1867. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I rise today to introduce the Volunteer Emergency Services Recruitment and Retention Act of 2011. This bill fixes a long-standing problem with the tax code that harms the ability of volunteer fire departments to recruit and retain both…

I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside so I could call up to make pending en bloc amendments Nos. 1105, 1155, 1158, and 1180, which are at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The…

I wanted to add to my earlier remarks in support of the FY 2012 conference report which includes language I co- authored along with Senator Leahy allowing the heaviest trucks to travel on the interstate highways in Maine and Vermont rather…

as the ranking member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, I rise in support of this conference report, and I encourage our colleagues to join me in voting for this measure. Let me first thank…

I suspect that your experience is unusual because you personally are so committed and I think we need to look at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), at other agencies that do major grant awards to see whether there really is the kind…

Suspension and debarment are mechanisms by which the Federal Government protects taxpayers by avoiding the award of new contracts or grants to those individuals and businesses who have proven to be bad actors.

It is not fair or ethical to competent government contractors when they lose government business to those who will not perform effectively and honestly.

That is one reason this is so important.

As the ghost author of those words, I was very pleased to hear them recited today.

I do not want to be at that hearing 30 years from now, I do not know about everybody else here, but we need to make progress.

if we have a major department like the Department of Justice refusing to follow GAO's recommendations and adopt more effective means to go after contractors who should be debarred or suspended it raises the question in my mind about…