The big gorilla in the room is sequestration.

I know that on March 23rd you're going to discuss the matter internally with Pentagon officials. Is that accurate?

I rise to talk about a new record that has been set. It has nothing to do with the number of votes the highway bill garnered last week in the Senate, and it has nothing to do with length of service of Senator Mikulski. For the first time…

It is unacceptable, it is costly, it is costly for the taxpayer.

some time ago, I was reading a book about the beginnings of the interstate highway system in our country. I came across a paragraph when the highway builders and the Federal Government were going to run the interstate highway through some…

Taxpayers cannot afford for Washington to continue business as usual.

The current process is broken.

The GPX case, I think, shows the Commerce Department, and the President, and the country that the Congress will move quickly and bipartisanally on enforcement of trade laws.

Thank you for your candor.

For 12 years, from 1997 to 2009, we had a decline every year in my State and nationally in manufacturing jobs.

I agree with you, and there are many sheriffs in Massachusetts who also agree with you and the President.

The Urban Areas Security Initiative program has worked very well in Boston and the surrounding areas to improve emergency response.

I am hearing from Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston and other mayors that they are deeply concerned about this fact.

I do not understand how these various departments do not know what programs they are controlling.

President Obama made the very wise decision to curtail the wasteful production of dollar coins.

The States keep a little of the juice on top, 20 percent sometimes, and it is obviously very frustrating.

Because as I have said, people are dying, and this is another tool in the toolbox for law enforcement.

Well, that is unacceptable.

our amendment requires DOT to report annually on waivers, including analysis of taxpayer dollars that are spent on foreign materials and infrastructure. It closes a loophole that currently exists that allows the project to be split into…

What that shows me is a lack of consistency. We obviously have to make sure that we have more like Ms. Curry's story.

According to a recent GAO report, the number of homeless women veterans has more than doubled from 2006 to 2010.

I encourage my party and Members of the opposite party to do the same thing.

So, it is a community-based effort. Everyone kind of gives a little bit and ultimately, at the end of the day, you are squared away.

I appreciate the work that the VA has done especially Chillicothe and southern Ohio.

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To close a loophole in current law which has allowed public…