Chuck Schumer

But does the Senator dispute the top rate is only paid by estates worth over $3 million?

Does the Senator know or dispute the fact that the only people who would be hurt by this amendment are those with estates worth over $3 million, where the rate will no longer be 55 percent but 53 percent?

I am not enamored with this process. I respect bipartisan compromise... But I have to tell you I do not respect the process here. It is a rushed process. It is a hurried process. It is a process that does not allow deliberation. It is a…

OK. My question is, Does he think his grand compromise is beyond improvement? Is it perfection itself?

I think it is an excellent amendment. As the Senator knows, I had a similar amendment. There are slight differences, which I hope we work out when the time comes. This amendment is important, and I thank the Senator for his leadership in…

What I want to do--I see the Senator from Texas has come to the floor--is ask a question. Does the Senator from Texas have a second-degree amendment to my amendment which is the pending amendment?

What I would like to do is get a time. I was assured, when I brought this amendment up last time, that we would get a vote on it. The regular order is still our amendment. We departed from it to do many other things. I want to get that…

When it was first enacted in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act signaled a sea change in our approach to the epidemic of violence directed at women. Until the law, by and large it had been a dirty little secret that every night hundreds…

I note in the committee's report that $2 million is being designated for the creation of an International Rule of Law Program in China. The report states that the U.S. Agency for International Development is requested to give serious…

Right above the Presiding Officer's chair it says: E Pluribus Unum, the motto of the United States, Out of Many One. Every hate crime puts a dagger into the heart of America, puts a dagger into our national motto, Out of Many One. We have…

I am for the death penalty myself, but I tend to agree with my colleague on that issue. That is not Professor Lynch's philosophy.

I cannot state how strongly I feel about the inability to have open debate in the Senate. I simply say, with all due respect to the majority leader, a man I respect and admire, the feelings on this side, and our inability to debate issues…

What I was proposing--I think the present statutes are not working. I think they were poorly done. One way to get enforcement, a good way that we have used in this body over and over again, which has not even been tried yet, is to say the…

One thing we obviously do, and we have gotten much better enforcement on a whole lot of Federal statutes, is say that they will lose all Federal crime money if they do not notify the victim.

No question; I agree with the Senator, those are simplistic and they should be enshrined in law. I have spent a good number of years in the other body trying to make that happen. When the Senator asks, why is there such passion against…

We all want to do that. The question is the method. The issue is not whether we want to give victims' rights or not.

It shouldn't be 2\1/5\ pages, it should be 2\1/5\ lines in keeping with the way the Constitution is written.

The $1,000 individual contribution limit... makes it virtually impossible for anyone except the front runner or a remarkably rich person to have enough money to run a serious campaign.

I want to say, as someone of the Jewish faith, that the cardinal has been particularly effective in moving out to the people of the Jewish community and doing a great deal to bridge the gaps--which fortunately now are relatively small and…

I join in the thanks given by my esteemed, wise, senior colleague, Senator Moynihan, to Senators Lott, Hatch, and Leahy. This is an outstanding jurist who will make us all proud. I thank the Senate for confirming him.

In fact, we are doing the opposite, by paying down the debt. However, it is also balanced in terms of the needs of the American people. The No. 1 priority we have is to save Social Security by buying down the debt; second, target tax cuts…

I say to the Senator from North Dakota, he is right on the money, literally and figuratively--literally because, as I understand it, this proposal says they are going to use $1.2 billion, the amount we need to continue the program of…

We need to help improve our educational system. Instead of moving forward, this bill is a step backward on teachers and smaller class size, on school construction, afterschool programs. I urge all of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat…

What you are doing on this amendment is imposing your will on how a Federal employee can spend their money, despite the fact they have a right to choose. It is no different, I argue, from me imposing my will on the right of a Federal…

What I say again, it is a specious difference to argue that when you go out with your own dollars is any different from with a health plan.