We have been working on an important piece of legislation called the RNR bill, the Recreation Not Red-Tape Act.

I continue to be concerned about establishing a sweeping new policy that could raise serious questions about the protection for special places.

I am going to pull out all the stops until these fragile landscapes get the protection that they deserve.

before he leaves the floor, I want to commend my colleague from Connecticut for a very thoughtful speech. I think he has made the case that the challenge ahead is really a two- part drill--first, to stop something that is especially ill…

It might be a good way to create tax windfalls for the fortunate few, but it is not a good way to grow our economy.

I very much share Senator McCaskill's view on the importance of it being bipartisan.

I think Congress makes its best decisions when both parties work together.

If tax reform becomes a partisan exercise in slashing rates for the wealthy and the biggest corporations, the American people will see right through it.

I think that is the clear reality. I do not know of any other place that you can go to drive the kind of growth that we want without zeroing in on the middle class.

the reality is that you can probably find some opportunities to bully your way to a 51-vote strategy with reconciliation.

It's hard to look at that evidence and find any proof that the majority party wants real Democratic involvement in tax reform.

I have a lot of concern about this.

it has to be bipartisan, and it has to focus on the middle class and ending this tale of two tax codes.

When you were director of national tax at Ernst and Young, you were responsible for tracking the amount of money employees in your department made for selling tax shelters that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

Do. Or do not. There is no 'try.'

What's needed is bipartisan tax reform that focuses on progressivity, helping the middle class, cleaning out flagrant tax loopholes, fiscal responsibility, and giving everybody in America the chance to get ahead.

The paramount mission for policymakers should be to develop a business tax code that is seen as fair and equitable.

I have spent hundreds of hours, literally, to produce what are still the only two bipartisan comprehensive Federal tax reform bills since 1986.

I hope after it has become clear that the partisan approach, trying to just ram a bill through that raises premiums, hurts those with preexisting conditions, slashes Medicaid--it has now failed twice.

It is unsustainable for much of our tax code to exist on a temporary basis.

It is a prescription for gridlock.

It's the tale of two systems; one strict, compulsory system for the hard-working people... and another system for the lucky few.

It is a prescription that will make it harder to solve the problems that the American people sent us here for.

Now anybody can write a bill that slashes tax rates for the fortunate few and the biggest corporations.

using a partisan approach for the major issues of our time, health care and tax reform, is a prescription for trouble.