I wish to say as a starting point that I am very pleased that we have the bill on the floor now, open for debate, open for amendment next week. I hope we keep it on the floor and improve it in areas where it can be improved, make…

For the third time, we had a vote, not on anything relating to the ingredients of a bill dealing with financial reform or Wall Street reform, just on the question of the motion to proceed to debate the bill. Just the motion to proceed, yes…

I'm hoping that quick action can be taken to begin the work to resolve that issue.

You just heard Senator Lautenberg--nobody's been stronger in the Senate than Senator Lautenberg.

I wonder if we shouldn't do a conference call with the CEO of BNSF, Mr. Rose, yourself, the Governor, the congressional delegation; and, in that call, decide who's going to do what, when, and how we're going to get this fixed.

I think Congress just has to do better.

We need to find a way to get enough capital into this rail passenger system so that you can make decisions in the intermediate and longer-term.

This is a hearing on bills to address tribal economic development, a lands claim settlement and an Indian irrigation project.

I think rail passenger service is an important part of the transportation network.

Change is very hard in this country and in this Chamber. Change is always hard. I was thinking, as we have been blocked from proceeding on the Wall Street reform bill, which is a very important issue, about what probably was the case on…

Without having a long discussion about it, those who are working on climate change in the Senate breathlessly announced that cap and trade is dead.

I support some additional nuclear energy in this country, and my hope is that my colleagues and others will support finding ways to get clean, less expensive energy where the sun shines and the wind blows.