I wish to speak a little bit about human trafficking and Loretta Lynch. The Republican leader is right. In an hour or so the Senate will vote to end debate on the human trafficking and child pornography legislation. That vote is going to…

I rise today to recognize the life of Sam Smith from Las Vegas, NV. Mr. Smith passed away last month. Mr. Smith was a retired firefighter and the founder of the bookstore and treasured community establishment, Native Son. Native Son…

Confucius said, ``Life is very simple, but we insist on making it complicated.'' That is true. Right now, the Republican Senate leadership is insisting on making a good piece of legislation far more complicated than it should be. This…

the votes are scheduled today at 2 p.m.; is that right? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.

my friend the senior Senator from Texas could write a book on how the Senate has been dysfunctional. That chapter, which would become a huge part of what he would be writing about, would be on what has happened in the last 6 years. Talk…

in the last Congress legislation to combat human trafficking was a bipartisan matter. Senators Klobuchar and Leahy have long been leaders on this issue. But this year--and we could talk about how it got in the bill, many believe it was…

McClatchy News has a story that I think is worth talking about, a part of it at least, this morning. It says: Newspaper editorial pages around the country have not been kind to Senate Republicans this week. A collective ``Seriously?'' has…

around the country we see a number of stories appearing. I will take one of the stories from the New York Times and read just a little bit of it. It is a long article, but everyone gets the drift of it. There are a few paragraphs I am…

if I could, through the Chair, ask my friend one final question. During my last trip to the National Institutes of Health, when I met with Dr. Collins and others, one of the issues they were so in tune with was that they were so close to…

I was stunned a few minutes ago to hear the assistant Republican leader on the floor speaking about trafficking legislation that is now before the Senate. I am glad he is speaking about the legislation. He has done that quite a bit. But as…

I have to leave the floor in a moment, and I would like to direct my question to my friend, the senior Senator from Illinois. I too met with Francis Collins. He is a genius. We are so fortunate that he is there. He told me something I…

an ancient Greek philosopher once said, ``To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task.'' Today the Senate has an opportunity to do a good deed. We have a chance to do something to address human trafficking. It is hard to fathom that…

talking about gimmicks, there have been a number of reports in the press in the last couple of days about how this unprecedented letter to the leaders of the Iranian regime originated. We know 47 Republican Senators signed it. There are…

what is the business before the Senate? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is considering S. 178.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 691 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives…

all over the country today in newspapers and electronic media there is a story. I will just pick one of them out from the front page of the Washington Post today. The headline reads: ``CBO: Health law will cost less than expected.'' It…

the official mission statement for the U.S. Attorney General reads: To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal…

And if anyone should have some ill feelings about Vietnam, John McCain, who came to the House of Representatives with the Senator and me, was in a prison camp for 5 years and 4 of those years were in solitary confinement. John Kerry was…

I say to my friend, I guess my thoughts have been clouded by the people I have worked with here. It was just a few years ago that two outstanding U.S. Senators who will go down in the history books-- Dan Inouye and Ted Stevens. One was a…

I say to my friend, with whom I have served in this Congress for 33 years, I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen anything like it. I disagreed with President Bush so very much on what he was doing to our country, but I…

on human trafficking, I underscore, appreciate, and agree with the statement of the Republican leader. I feel very confident we will clear on our side moving to that. I think it would be a waste of the Senate's time to have a vote on a…

as I speak here today President Obama and his administration are engaged in negotiations to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. These negotiations are unprecedented and very critical to our country and the world. The stakes…

I suggest the absence of a quorum, and I ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided between the minority and the majority. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The…

most of the issues that come before this body are complex and nuanced. Rarely are we faced with simple issues. But today we have a very simple, clear-cut issue before us. It is as straightforward and clear-cut as any one question could be…

I will briefly comment on my friend the Republican leader further trying to come to the floor once again to try to minimize the disastrous attacks on ObamaCare. The House has voted 57 times to repeal that law. Each time, the result is the…