I am very disturbed by that.

Those ports and jetties are just absolutely essential to those communities.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that you have that personal understanding of the situation and a sense that we should honor these obligations that we made when we undertook these big projects.

I ask unanimous consent that my intern, Scott La Rochelle, be granted privileges of the floor for the remainder of the day. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

I am rising to engage in the conversation about getting the Dream Act passed. I thank my good friend and colleague from Illinois, Senator Durbin, for his passion and for his unrelenting commitment to protecting our American Dreamers. He…

I always find it fascinating, the word trust fund, and then it is raided for other things.

I think about how the number of deaths are now way over the number of deaths from car accidents.

Isn't that something we can make happen as part of the medical protocols in this country?

Well, I just want to encourage continuing to take a look at that because I think a number of folks have noted it's a more powerful way to approach this.

I think that's worth certainly the Congress looking at given that it's a dramatic difference, 25 percent between the two States.

Is this Hillsdale College the same one that was sued for discrimination in the 1980s?

I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll. The result was announced--yeas…

It is outrageous and unacceptable. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.

this amendment strikes a tax earmark that singles out one college in America from the university endowment tax set forth in the underlying bill. To be sure, I don't like the endowment tax in this bill. It diminishes the ability of colleges…

I call up amendment No. 1856. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Oregon [Mr. Merkley] proposes an amendment numbered 1856 to amendment No. 1618. On page…

I thank my colleague from Oregon. I would like him to know that I will only take about 5 minutes because I want to make sure my colleagues can speak during this period. I am rising now to ask the senior Senator from Texas to come and…

I thank my senior colleague from Oregon for his leadership in this debate on these important tax provisions. There is so much at stake here for the future of our society as we have been debating what we see as one provision after another…

You said you introduced this provision, and so I assumed you probably researched this. Isn't the reason this college has not taken Federal funds is because it was sued for discrimination?

You make the point that your colleagues on the left don't have a fond opinion of this particular college, but my point is, we don't have a fond opinion of discrimination and of giving a tax provision for just one college that happens to be…

Would my colleague provide a list of all the colleges that qualify, because our understanding is that only one--this was written for one to qualify. And that is why this shouldn't be done at the last minute and just stuffed into a tax bill.

In fact, that is indeed one of the big lumps of coal Americans are getting. One in three American taxpayers utilizes this deduction, as should anyone who pays State and local taxes. How fair is it that on the money people have already paid…

I have three motions to commit that I believe the Senate should consider during our debate of H.R. 1, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I ask unanimous consent that my motions to commit be printed in the Record. Motion to Commit With Instructions…

not only do we have the dynasty loophole, we also have a sweetheart deal for very well-off LLCs--the type of LLCs President Trump has. He is rumored to have hundreds. I keep hearing the number 500. We don't actually have a document that…

yet another terrible provision in this bill is the dynasty loophole. Now, in a bill that the Republicans are saying is targeted at the middle class, why would you give $269 billion to the richest 0.2 percent of Americans? Envision a room…

we have seen a number of battles here recently that involve the question of, is our country going to make laws by and for the powerful or by and for the people? We saw a healthcare debate where my colleagues across the aisle wanted to rip…