Dear Senators Cornyn, Vitter, Dole, Sessions and DeMint: Thank you for writing to me earlier today about my effort to bring the comprehensive immigration reform bill back to the Senate floor. As you know, the Senate was unable to complete…

I would say this: The labor provisions about which the distinguished Senator talked, we have agreed to take care of those. Everybody knows that. Maybe my friend doesn't, but we certainly have conveyed this to the minority in great detail…

I, of course, am very disappointed my Republican colleague has chosen to object to this request on moving forward on the 9/11 Commission recommendations bill. The minority stated yesterday that they had a problem with the bill. We agreed…

I understand the question. I will respond to it right now. He started it, if you read the Record, he asked me if I understand what his amendment does. I do understand what it does. A brief summary, Madam President. This legislation comes…

So the record is very clear, Harry Reid, the majority leader, did not pick the Republican amendments. The Republican leadership picked those amendments. Senator McConnell and I worked the process so that we would be back on the floor. It…

the people who are talking about the negativity of this legislation I do not think understand how good it is. I have talked about the $4.4 billion. But to think about that: $55 billion to go toward making our country safer--not our…

This legislation will correct that. This legislation will put 4.4 billion real dollars--not authorized--in direct funding. We got a signoff from the President to do this. If we did nothing else, zero-- for those people who have concerns…

This bill was taken up. We spent considerable days on the Senate floor. Prior to doing that, of course, we had a debate last year that encompassed much of what we have talked about this year. In addition to that, though, during the time we…

I have really tried to be fair. I have not tried to take advantage of anyone. I have tried to be as candid with people who support the bill as those who oppose the bill, not trying to take advantage of them. The process here in the Senate…

yesterday the U.S. Conference of Mayors highlighted the toll of the Iraq war, the toll it is taking on our health, safety, and well-being here at home, by voting for a resolution to bring the war to a responsible end. Stanford, CT, Mayor…

here we go again, doing their best--that is, the Republicans--to stop us from going ahead on ethics and lobbying reform. The suggestion of the distinguished Senator from Utah is reasonable, but it should be a different matter. In fact…

I want to visit with everyone present for just a few minutes about S. 1, the ethics and lobbying reform bill. We hope to appoint conferees on this important bill today. By doing this today, we would enact this critical legislation that is…

Despite the fact that we are fast approaching the 6-year anniversary since the terrible terrorist attacks of September 11, it is painfully clear we have much work left to do to protect this Nation from these awful attacks. Osama bin Laden…

in the State of Nevada, one of the things we so appreciate is this great treasure we share with the State of California, Lake Tahoe, which Mark Twain called the fairest place in all the Earth. Some have said he said: The fairest picture…

the last physician we had, Senator Bill Frist, was a great public servant. I worked very closely with him over the years I was Democratic leader. The one thing I learned from Bill Frist is that a physician is always a physician. Everything…

a few weeks ago, on Memorial Day, I spent a good part of the day in Boulder City, NV, where we have a veterans cemetery. It is new but growing fast. There are almost 25,000 graves in that cemetery which started less than 15 years ago. On…

leaving that subject, which is certainly a subject that concerns us all, turning to the subject of this morning, around midnight, when we passed the Energy bill, it was a tremendous accomplishment for this body. As I said yesterday when…

This morning, I talked about the Energy bill and the work of Democrats and Republicans to get it passed. I failed--and I apologize--to mention two of the most important people for getting that passed, two staff members. Chris Miller, who…

a few minutes ago, a record was broken. Senator Frank Lautenberg has passed Senator Clifford Case's record for the most votes cast by a Senator from the State of New Jersey. Senator Lautenberg's career can't possibly be summed up, though…

the man seated behind me, Robert Byrd, just voted for the 18,000th time, more than any other Senator in history. Let me tell a couple of things that are important to me about my relationship with this unusually brilliant man. I had…

Senator Ensign and I hold, every Thursday, in a room right off the Chamber, in the Johnson Room, the LBJ Room, a breakfast where we have Nevadans come and visit with us. Today it was a larger crowd than we usually have because school is…

I would answer the chairman of the Energy Committee, who has done great work in managing this complicated energy bill, that I agree with him as to the importance of this amendment to the Nation, and on the broad support that it enjoys in…

I have worked for all the time I have been in the Senate, for more than a dozen years, on a very close, intimate basis while we were managing the Energy and Water appropriations bill, with the senior Senator from New Mexico, Senator…

Yesterday, a few feet out of this Chamber, I had the opportunity to meet with three young ladies from Nevada. Megan Christensen is 14 years old; Anna Ressel, from Sparks, 13 years old; and Jordan Exber, a 14-year-old from Las Vegas. These…

I will be very brief, but I do want to say that I have been in the Senate now for a number of years, with Republican leaders and Democratic leaders, Democratic majorities and Republican majorities, and never have we had a situation like we…