Watson Coleman

today I am proud to submit, along with my good friend and colleague Senator Corzine, a bipartisan resolution dealing with the unfair treatment of Israel at the United Nations. For too long, Israel has been singled out for castigation by…

the people of Guatemala went to the polls on November 9 to elect a new President, Members of the Guatemalan Parliament, local officials, and representatives to the Central American Parliament. These elections attracted attention, in large…

I deeply appreciate my colleague's concern for fair compensation. I note Senator Dorgan has been one of the chief advocates for trade with Cuba. I hope he would take that same philosophy about human rights and workers rights in dealing…

first, we can have a great debate about overtime. I can tell you from talking to folks in Minnesota--I get calls from the building trades and others--that the issue doesn't affect them. The fact is what we are looking to do is make…

before I arrived here, I read many times about the Senate as the ``world's greatest deliberative body.'' Over my first 10 months, I would say that I have not experienced as much deliberating as I'd hoped. And I am glad my colleague…

contrary to specific evidence that shows the economy is growing, Alan Greenspan's positive comment about the 2001 tax cut, and most observers crediting the 2003 tax cut for creating the recent 7.2 percent GDP figure, some of the leading…

the comments of my colleague from North Dakota indicate that they do reject the Dean-Gephardt proposal that will roll back all the tax cuts. Two observations: No. 1, spending. Goodness gracious, the Republican Conference has rejected $1.3…

Again, I thank my Democratic colleagues for participating in this debate. Much of the reasoning I have heard this evening reminds me of the definition of an economist: Someone who sees something beginning to work in reality and tells you…

Thank you, Mr. President. I love that chart. Let's go back to Jimmy Carter: 18 percent inflation, 23 percent interest rates, long lines at the gas pump. You talk about turning a sow's ear into a silk purse, that chart does it. But let's…

Would it be fair to say that our friends on the other side of the aisle have obstructed our efforts to pass malpractice reform?

I ask the chairman, sometimes judges can be graded by peers, folks who served with them, who know firsthand the quality of the work they do. Is it true Judge Kuhl has the support of over 100 California judges across the political spectrum?

I ask one last question. How is it the opponents of these nominees can claim these nominees are extreme or out of the mainstream, or not qualified?

It is clear, in the history of this great Republic, the Senate has not denied a confirmation of a circuit court nominee by filibuster?

If the Senate rules, exploited by an anticonstitutional minority, are allowed to trump the Constitution's test and two centuries of practice, the Senate's power to consent to judicial nominations will have become a Senate right to require…

Sometimes the people can rate judges, when judges are up for election. I ask, is it true Justice Owen was elected to the Texas Supreme Court by 83 percent of the vote in Texas?

I believe about 50,000 double to over 100,000. As the distinguished Senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is aware, that payroll employment increased by 126,000 jobs in October.

I ask the Senator from Pennsylvania, on the issue of malpractice litigation regarding doctors and the impact that has on the cost of health care, and the impact the cost of health care has on small business and growing jobs, does he see a…

Has my colleague from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania talked to small business owners about the impact of accelerated depreciation?

If the Senator will yield the floor--and I would very respectfully disagree with his last assertion that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no plan; they have a plan. The plan is to roll back the President's tax cuts…

Is the distinguished Senator aware that business investment increased in the last quarter about 15 percent? Does that have a relationship to growing jobs?

Even if it was 2 percent, we don't disregard the Constitution. Certainly if you are looking at 30 percent, that is outrageous. That is outrageous. One of the things that troubles me as a new Senator, as is my colleague from Missouri, as is…

Is it true Janice Rogers Brown was retained to serve by 76 percent of California voters?

A concern we have with nominees is they are competent and able to do justice and do the right thing. There are ways to measure that. I ask the chairman, is it true the three nominees we are debating have been rated qualified or well…

Again, I listened to the words of my friend from Louisiana, where she made the comment that the only way a filibuster survives is if it is the truth. I was reflecting on the history of filibusters. I read about it when I was a young man…

I appreciate his effort to humanize the four individuals whose lives have been, in some ways, put on hold, their future put on hold, certainly by the actions of this body. No, they are not lemons and they are not simply numbers. They are…