I, as every Senator who serves here, came to the Senate for the purpose of being a public servant and to try to do things that help our respective States and the country. That is why we are here. People at home, in many instances, are…

I have listened to my friend from Montana and my dear friend from Oklahoma. You cannot change the Senate rules. They can say all they want that they are not filibustering this bill. This is the fourth week we are on the bill. If they want…

One reason is the associations we develop with our fellow Senators. One of the things I haven't had a chance to say publicly, or even privately, to the Senator from Kentucky is how much I enjoy serving with him. As a boy, I used to listen…

Did the Senator hear the statement of the Presidential pollster, and also that of Karl Rove? And did the Senator hear, as I did, the direct quotes that they wanted a strategy for the campaigns that dealt with the war? Did the Senator hear…

The debate over this labor issue is one that we should have, and it has nothing to do with patriotism. Wouldn't you agree a debate on labor-management relations is something we should have, and it has nothing to do with patriotism?

I have to admit I did give a statement on the floor the day before yesterday about another great pitcher who certainly will be a member of the Hall of Fame, Greg Maddux. In my statement, I said Greg Maddux is less than 6 feet tall, weighs…

I would simply say--the majority leader is here, and I don't want to take a lot of time--the majority of the Senators over here want a bill. I am confident a majority of the Senators want a bill. This is the fourth week we have tried to do…

If someone came to the floor and said: The reason we can't pass appropriations bills is because we haven't passed a budget, would it be a fair statement to say that is without basis in fact? I should say, we don't have a budget, but as far…

So all the Senate bills we passed were not budget busters; is that a fair statement?

I say, no matter what you call a filibuster, it is still a filibuster. We are 4 weeks on two bills. Check the history of this body. How often do we spend 4 weeks on a bill? We do not unless there is a filibuster, and that is what we have…

And maybe if the President made a good case in conference, we would come back with less than $9 billion over the OMB; is that right?

But my point is that the process has been going on for 215 years. The House does its work; the Senate does its work. We go to conference. There you work out differences. It is my understanding they are not letting us pass bills because…

The fact is, during this administration the economy has gone downhill every month the President has been in office. To talk about when a problem started, we had problems during the 8 years that Clinton was President, but he was able to…

I ask my friend from Illinois, is it true, when you returned to Illinois, people were asking about things other than Iraq?

Well, Mr. President, we have spent days here. People are blaming Senator Byrd for slowing things down. All anyone has to do, when Senator Byrd sits down, is move to table his amendment, or what is going on at the time. There has been…

I would like to--we do not do this nearly often enough--extend our appreciation, that of the Senate, to the staff. This reading that I have done in the last few minutes has taken hours to accomplish. This is probably the 15th time they…

Nobody is stopping them from having a vote on their amendment. Who says their amendment is not germane?

Patients' Bill of Rights. There are so many issues with which we need to deal in the Congress that the President can help us with if we were not on the one track of Iraq. It seems to me--and one can read about this in the editorial pages…

What the Senator said is we can focus on Iraq and that there are many issues the President can help us on: Getting appropriations bills passed in the House would help us; doing something on election reform--we had another debacle in…

Has the Senator heard coming from the White House during the past 2 months, 3 months, a single word about education?

administration budget requests and congressional appropriations bills are a clear reflection of our priorities as a nation. As was discussed on the floor earlier today, it seems we had, from the administration, a focus on Iraq and nothing…

Las Vegas, Clark County, has the sixth largest school district in America. About 250,000 students go to school in the Las Vegas area in one school district.

I also heard the Senator from North Dakota speak this morning. It appears that I am hearing the fact that we can talk about Iraq and, at the same time, we can deal with some of these economic issues with this staggering economy. Is that…

I am kind of a hawk. I was the first Democrat to support President Bush when he wanted to go into Iraq the first time. I consider myself a hawk rather than a dove. I am looking very closely at Iraq and I think we need to do that. But in…

I didn't mean to say that anybody speaking on the amendment is a waste of time. I meant to say there is no need to be speaking unnecessarily when we can do other things. If the Senator or people who oppose his amendment want to speak, that…