I am determined to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle on a bipartisan basis to get this right.

We are going to see if we can put in place a very different set of policies so that young people like yourself... would not be looking at this Himalayas of debt.

Families in America should not face going hungry or foregoing necessary medical care in order to help build that ethic of lifetime saving.

Last night the Senate passed the Intelligence authorization bill, and it contains some very important provisions relating to whistleblowers. While Senator Collins is on the floor, I wish to commend her for her extraordinary work on this…

I come to the floor today as we get ready to vote on the veterans bill to make several points and would like to begin by commending Senators Sanders and McCain. They have obviously acted quickly. They have acted responsibly. They are…

I have said as part of a bipartisan effort to get the funding we need, both for the short term and the long term, we are going to try to find ways to streamline the permitting process for transportation.

Ron, do not let them take those helicopters away from us. We very much need that for us to carry out the mission of the Guard.

To close for our side, I would like to strongly urge my colleagues in a few minutes to support the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. I want to start with a simple…

after months and months of polarizing and divisive debate in the Senate about the Affordable Care Act, I rise today to strongly support the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell because I firmly believe she will help the Senate come…

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was introduced at the Finance Committee by the Senator from Oklahoma Tom Coburn and the senior Senator from West Virginia Jay Rockefeller. She has extraordinary bipartisan support because she can bring people…

For the last year, I facilitated the Klamath Basin Task Force, which was convened by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.

Now we can move forward in the days ahead to pass legislation built around their fine work.

the thank yous are really owed to you with dignity and passion and always doing your homework.

It would be legislative malpractice to not follow this up every step of the way to get this passed and then to ensure its implementation.

We need Richard Whitman. We need his future involvement.

You took heart. You saw people suffer. You did something about it.

You did it by cutting the cost.

This is a very, very, important day.

I've been glad to join you as a co-sponsor in many of those proposals.

We also commit to delivering the protections to the environment that is asked of us in a way that, I believe, few river basins in this country are prepared to do.

We ask the Senate to pass this legislation so that our businesses can thrive while we comply with laws that this country has required of us.

It's exciting in that respect.

These agreements truly are a model that could provide a template for other basins for long lasting, stable, foundations for sharing of water resources.

I have personally visited with them a number of times. I've been out to their tribal headquarters.

How does this legislation help the wildlife refuges in the Basin that are so often literally starved for water?