The lack of clarity here is just causing turmoil.

Eliminating the estate tax and opening a new, mile-wide loophole for the wealthy to exploit passthrough status is a prescription for more inequality in America.

God save the Queen, and God save Great Britain.

This is not a question of the chairman's intent, but the fact is, as the chairman himself noted, reconciliation is inherently a partisan process.

We believe that this bill would be a worthy complement of measures to expand and improve LIHTC.

The focus has to be on writing an economically responsible proposal that will create good-paying red, white, and blue jobs without heaping a new burden on the middle class.

I ask unanimous consent that Olivia Rockwell, Brian Larkin, Elizabeth Isbey, Benjamin Willis, and Elizabeth Jurinka, legislative fellows in my office, be given floor privileges for the remainder of this Congress. The PRESIDING OFFICER…

the Senate will shortly consider the nomination of Courtney Elwood to be the CIA's General Counsel. I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to discuss the nomination and put it in the context of the extraordinary national security…

I share the administration's concerns about our debt, which ballooned by nearly doubling under the previous administration.

It is almost like gasoline is being poured on the fires of uncertainty in the health-care marketplace.

nothing shows tax unfairness more clearly than your proposal to let the fortunate few convert their ordinary income into business income without strings attached, pay the lowest 15-percent tax rate, and also avoid Social Security and…

The math behind this tax plan would make Bernie Madoff blush.

I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

We thank Finance Committee Senators Wyden, Bennet, Heller and Portman for their cosponsorship.

I thank my friend from Massachusetts. In fact, I have to leave the floor right now to wrap up business for a very important Finance Committee meeting tomorrow. It is a markup where we are going to be looking at ways as part of the…

I thank my friend from Massachusetts for not just today but all of the years in which he has led this battle. He is right. We have served together now in both Chambers and, in fact, when I was here and he was in the other body, we talked…

I think sometimes, as I have talked to people, people have said, excuse me, Ron, you are going to pass a major Medicare bill in this kind of climate?

I have looked forward to today for many years. That is because the Finance Committee is now beginning to tackle the premier challenge of American health policy.

I think that this is the Finance Committee at its best. I mean, this is tackling a big----

What I am struck by, and, again, I am just trying to reflect on the days when I ran the legal aid office for the elderly.

It's past time to update this promise so as to deliver to patients with chronic conditions the best possible care in the most efficient manner.

Because Medicare is a guarantee, a promise of defined benefits, it is past time to update this promise so as to deliver to patients with chronic conditions the best possible care in the most efficient manner.

In this instance, the doors were open, not closed. There has been bipartisan cooperation, not partisan reconciliation.

I want somebody to be the point person, the point person for coordinating care for the people who are now essentially out there trying to make their way through this byzantine system on their own.

We have put a lot of work into this. We have a good cross-section of the Senate represented on this committee.