Kent Conrad

Can we improve the process? Can we make it better?

I have no interest in restricting the rights of the minority.

I will say very simply, colleagues, this amendment is designed to help address the housing crisis by reallocating money from lesser priority areas to the FDIC mortgage foreclosure mitigation plan. Sheila Bair, the head of the FDIC, has…

I thank Senator Enzi for his support of these principles. Comparative clinical effectiveness research needs to be a permanent part of our health system. It is one of the ways we will improve health care for all Americans. I look forward to…

Consequently, a point of order was raised against the Cornyn amendment, and a motion to waive the point of order failed by a vote of 37 to 60. Upon further review, committee staff concluded that the determination of a pay-go point of order…

We really have very substantial responsibility to the American people on our collective shoulders.

I personally believe the CBO forecast is overly optimistic.

I believe it is essential that we begin the difficult work of putting our budget back on a sound long-term fiscal course.

The combination of the retiring baby-boom generation, rising health care costs, and inadequate revenues are projected to explode Federal debt.

It is clear that getting our economy moving again will require the passage of an economic recovery package.

Our Nation faces really extraordinary short- and long-term fiscal and economic challenges.

I come here today to offer my full backing to President Obama's nomination of Dr. Jamie Morin to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management.

The Federal Government's role has shrunk over the past few years.

Middle-income families are really stressed.

The budget, in my view, speaks to the priorities of our Nation; it speaks to how the Federal Government is going to be a partner in dealing with the problems of our country.

Yes, not only the incoming administration, the whole country because our ability to cope with an economic downturn, the flexibility is substantially limited by what has already been done to dramatically increase the debt, as the Senator…

The debt of the country at the beginning of the last administration was about $5 trillion. They have approximately doubled the debt of the country on their watch, dramatically more than doubled foreign holdings of U.S. debt. So the current…

The reimbursement system has to change.

We should not take that off the table because I think your counsel there is excellent.

You cannot grow the Government at that rate and catch your tail.

We will be judged whether we were responsible or not.

And this represents the best of our democracy, having a serious debate about serious things.

My own view is it will probably be in that 4 percent of GDP range as they do their own rescoring of all of this.

The commitment we made to the Secretary's people was we would get him out of here at 12:15, and we are close to that.

I very much want to see that separate, not because I am not supporting doing something on cap-and-trade, because I am and have very specific ways that I believe that we can work together to get there.