I wish to respond to my chairman's comments. First of all, what we have proposed came out of the Judiciary Committee in the House 32 to 3. In other words, only three people on the Judiciary Committee in the House objected to this. The…

today, I rise to discuss section 18 of H.R. 1249, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Consistent with the statement in the Record by Chairman Lamar Smith on June 23, 2011, I understand that section 18 will not make all business method…

this is a straightforward amendment that says if you pay into the Patent Trademark Office to have a patent evaluated, that money ought to be spent on the process. We have now stolen almost $900 million from the Patent Office. We have…

First-Class Mail is going away. And unless the business model adapts to that, it does not matter what we do.

I actually voted against the postal reform bill because we did not fix what we knew were the problems.

The absolute stupidity of Congress and what we have done to the Postal Service is just totally amazing to me.

The revenue estimates we have for 2020 are absolutely an exaggeration.

I would make note there is nothing we can do now new because the House has adjourned. So even if we were to pass this, nothing would happen with it. I have been assured that from the majority leader's office. I agree with the Senator from…

Yes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes. Objection was heard. The Senator from California.

reserving the right to object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.

I don't disagree that those negotiations are going on as we speak. I am not a party to them. I don't know if the Senator from Massachusetts is. I suspect the Presiding Officer is. We are not going to decide that. That will come to us for a…

Let me finish, if I may. I will yield to the Senator in a moment. The fact is, we will not tell the truth to the American people. The first truth is, if we will be honest with them, they will understand the necessities that will have to be…

Let me reclaim my time. There are absolutely no cuts in what either Senator Reid or Speaker Boehner proposed in discretionary spending. The spending will rise $832 billion over the next 10 years in the discretionary accounts. Only in…

I have been listening in my office for the last several hours to the debate. I think there is one thing that has not been brought out in the debate. When Washington says it is going to cut spending, it is untruthful with the American…

I ask to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

we have a lot in front of us as a nation. Our perception is that our country is anxious, and I think it has good reason to be anxious, but it doesn't have anything to do with the debt ceiling debate. It should be anxious because we are not…

July 28, 2011 Letter to Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner, Social Security Administration from Senator Tom A. Coburn, M.D. and Senator Carl Levin.

Let me end with this. It costs us, to educate a student on our military bases, an average of $51,000 a student. If we look at the locations where all those are located, the cost outside is one- fourth of that. We could easily do that and…

I ask unanimous consent for 3 additional minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

Thank you, again, Madam Chairman, for calling this important hearing.

I am troubled by cases where we are spending billions of dollars on ERPs that accomplish little more than lining the pockets of contractors.

I wanted to spend some time talking about what is coming forth Saturday morning. As a member of the Gang of 6, I am wanting us to solve our problem. But the best way to solve that problem would be the bill that is going to be voted on…

This is a commonsense amendment that will secure this for veterans and make sure we are not paying for disabilities for those who are not truly service connected, that are not based on science or causation. I know it is a tough vote, but…

I thank the Senator from Arizona. We want to make sure any veteran who has a positive causation factor from any aspect that would lead to any disability, that we meet that need. That is not what this is about. This has been looked at two…

I wish to make one point. The Institute of Medicine did not recommend this. As a matter of fact, their recommendation was that causality ought to be the only way in which we would do this. I would ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.