I have focused on it is that I just returned from seven town hall meetings at home in Oregon.

on Monday, the Finance Committee reported S. 2260, the Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act of 2014, and S. 2261, the Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2014. At the time that the bills and accompanying reports…

I just want it understood that we are going to be working closely in partnership with you.

For decades, American trade policy has been a story of adaptation and change.

If you look at the issues that came up on matters like Medicare Advantage, the critical access hospitals, value purchasing, and children's health care, these are all areas where Democrats and Republicans can work together.

First, with the passage of the law, health care in America finally is no longer just for the healthy and the wealthy.

I believe transparency works, and with transparency you get accountability.

the tax code is so byzantine and so complicated, and so overgrown.

I can tell you, I have been on the Finance Committee now since 2005, and I have not had anybody who is a practitioner come and say, 'Oh, my goodness, Ron, it is going to be bureaucratic water torture if we have the kind of thing that you…

When the Finance Committee passed the EXPIRE Act last week, practically every Senator here on the dais agreed it is time to end stop-and-go policies and give Americans more certainty about their taxes.

Senator Cardin has also fought very hard for taxpayer rights.

I strongly believe that comprehensive tax reform must simplify the tax code and make filing easier.

it is time to rewrite the tax code and make filing your taxes easier in America.

most of those paid tax return preparers do not have to meet any standards--any standards--for competence.

Senator Nelson of the committee has led our charge to protect taxpayers from identity theft.

the most vulnerable people in America are going to bear the brunt of the effects of this decision.

before my friend from Alabama leaves the floor--just to highlight where we are--I think he knows how strongly I feel about always trying to tackle these issues in a bipartisan fashion. I would just assure the Senator from Alabama, the…

I ask unanimous consent that Senator Cardin be yielded 5 minutes at this time to address the SGR. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Maryland.

Before he leaves the floor, I want to say to the Senator from Oklahoma, who says--and always with a smile--that he and I certainly don't agree on everything in this debate, that the concept of what he is talking about--that physicians…

I object, Mr. President. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The Senator from Alabama.

This is taking an enormous toll, in effect putting students and young people in shackles.

Every time we try to address those, it is the very same people who like to give these ardent statements on the debt, then defend all of those loopholes.

I am something of a privacy hawk around here.

It is important for us, I think, to stand up against that in order to have this run more fairly.

I want to pick up on another aspect of what both the Senator from Virginia and the Senator from Oklahoma have talked about, and that is that at this rate we have to be concerned that after patch 17 there will be patch 18, and after 18…