Al Franken

You would think that these companies, who have the privilege to drill on oil rich lands that belong to the American people, would acknowledge that it is a little absurd to get a $2 billion subsidy from American taxpayers when you are…

This is a pretty awful hearing, frankly. I mean, it is of high quality and thank you for holding it...

Okay. Let us talk about what you were talking about in terms of Brady violations and what to do about this.

The administration has made major improvements in key countries like China and Brazil, and the JOLT Act builds on that progress.

If a tourist wants to come to the U.S., they should not have to wait endlessly for a visa appointment.

I want to thank you, Chairman Schumer, for holding this hearing and Senator Mikulski for her powerful testimony.

I would like to join many of my colleagues who are each talking a little bit about the affordable care act, which celebrates its second anniversary of being signed into law by the President tomorrow. Even though the law will not be fully…

I rise to introduce the Rural Energy for America Program Reauthorization Act, along with my friend Senator Harkin from Iowa. Farmers and rural businesses form the backbone of this country, and rural communities are particularly crucial to…

I would like to discuss the votes that we have taken over the last few days. Tuesday, along with 54 of my colleagues, I voted in support of the INVEST In America Act as a substitute for H.R. 3606. In fact, I was an original cosponsor of…

I would like to associate myself with the words of the Senator from California for the tremendous work she did on the Transportation bill, which is a bipartisan bill that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate. ____________________

I rise today also to pay tribute to my colleague, the senior Senator from Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. As everyone has said, this is a landmark, this is a milestone: the longest serving woman Senator and Member of Congress in the history of…

We have less than five percent of the world's population, but we have nearly a quarter of its prisoners.

When we are done, America will be the first nation on earth to have full-fledged facilities-based telephone competition everywhere. We will achieve the vision of the two-wired world.

I guess one of the reasons--the answer to your question is that we worry about this agreement, this joint venture agreement.

I am worried about what this deal might mean for consumers not just two years from now or five years from now, but 10 or 20 years from now.

Well, let us ask Professor Wu. Have you thought about it?

This is a pretty large increase. That is more than three times the rate of inflation.

We would rather the FCC reject these deals in favor of more competition in the wireless marketplace.

The cost of our correction system is staggering.

I would like to thank Chairman Leahy for his leadership on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.

I fear that will mean consumers will just keep seeing their cable rates rise.

One of my big concerns with this deal is the joint venture that your companies have agreed to create.

I think we need reform, and, you know, to me reform means early childhood education.

I introduced the Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault Act, which would help reduce the backlog of untested rape kits.

But the bottom line is before we entered into this transaction with Verizon Wireless, we talked to virtually everyone in this space.