James M. Talent

I want to say, as I listened when I was in the chair, I appreciated his eloquence on behalf of the bill. ... I heard him give examples of abuses of class actions that have occurred around the country, items such as a class action lawsuit…

I know they have been uniformly, without exception, complimentary to him--not in a typical way we as matter of gesture may compliment public figures, but these were remarks by people who knew and who have known and who have worked with…

I want to say that it is hard for me to understand these attacks which are occurring on a fundamental level against the discount card. Without question, this card is going to provide relief to tens and tens of thousands of people who have…

If a man takes a woman across State lines--let's say she is his girlfriend, and she has gotten pregnant, and he does not like that fact--and he assaults her, hits her in the stomach or something, with the intention of getting rid of the…

It is about $49 billion in extra maintenance costs because the roads are not good.

It is around $65 billion a year in lost productivity because people are trapped in traffic jams. I say to my friend from Oklahoma, it certainly makes sense. We have the workers of the country every morning going to work--and I see it in…

If this committee's proposal goes through, we will have $150 million for Iraqi security forces that will no longer be limited to just the Army.

I think the overall effort on a strategic level is going very well.

So we are still a little behind you, Jim.

There is some vast non-feasance by an agency, it just does not do its job, and then what we end up doing about it after all the complaining that happens on the Hill is we end up providing more money.

I would hope that there is some attempt to initiate management solutions, which ought to involve holding somebody responsible.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

There is no reason why only six percent have been completed nationally.

There is no reason why, after two years, only 14 of 520 claims have been completed in Missouri.

That is lower even than the national average.

I have real concerns regarding the pace at which the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Labor (DOL), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are processing these claims.

In Missouri we have had 520 claims filed, some of them from people who were exposed to radiation of up to 2,400 times what would be considered acceptable today.

I wonder if the Senator's position isn't similar to mine, on the point the Senator from New Hampshire raised, that we at least should not refuse to vote on a bill that could mean millions of jobs for everybody in the country in all…

Nominees deserve a vote. If our Republican colleagues don't like them, vote against them. But don't just sit on them-- that is obstruction of justice. Free and full debate over judicial nominations is healthy. The Constitution is clear…

I will say about my colleagues, that most people who believe out there that people in the Senate don't have convictions are wrong. That is why we are here at 4 in the morning. That is the one thing that unites us. We are here because we…

Are you aware with regard to any of those committee actions or inactions to which you refer, was there ever a case where a majority of the committee expressed a desire to vote up or down on those nominees?

In relevant part, it refers to the three funding initiatives in the bill, and then says each of these three elements of the initiative is critical and each must be retained in the final bill. That is on behalf of the administration. I…

I think this is a good opportunity for us to reflect upon what a nation is and what America is as a nation. We are not just a place where 250 million people happen to live together. We are not like a big apartment complex, where the only…

It is a bill to allow small businesspeople to create association health plans. This bill is not a Government program. In a time of great deficits, it does not require us to spend any money. It is going to take a long step toward solving…

There is not anything more important we can do for small business in a procurement issue than what we are doing with this amendment. Bundling is choking small business. It is hurting the taxpayer. It is hurting quality. This amendment is a…