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…

as the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee--16 working days on the job--it is humbling to be parachuted late into the issue of reimbursing doctors for Medicare services, and I intend to be brief here at the outset of this debate…

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…

before he yields the floor, through the Chair, I would pose a question to the distinguished Senator from Virginia. The Senator from Virginia has, as usual, gotten right to the heart of the long-term challenge with respect to entitlements…

pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending…

I ask unanimous consent that Anne Dwyer, a staff member on the Finance Committee, have floor privileges for the 113th Congress. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

before he leaves the floor, I thank my partner from Utah for his exceptional work in terms of putting together a repeal and replace program and say, as I have in the course of the afternoon, that essentially the proposal I have talked…

I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order with respect to H.R. 4302, following disposition of the Owens nomination, when the Senate resumes legislative session, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No…

I now ask unanimous consent to make a unanimous consent request. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Hearing none, it is so ordered.

I think we understand that our students are just getting smothered with these costs and these bills.

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

I wish to call for new aid to Eastern Europe to strengthen our allies in the face of Russia's annexation of Crimea. Some of my colleagues have suggested that we can do this by immediately increasing our export of domestically produced and…

the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on the Tenth Circuit's overly expansive decision to allow a secular, for-profit corporation's owners or shareholders to impose their religious beliefs on employees by denying female employees…

The real median earnings... have stayed virtually flat over the last 35 years.

If working families fall further behind now, fewer will be able to climb America's ladder of economic mobility.

The middle class is under siege.

The middle class deserves better.

The market is not really rewarding work for people at the middle of the distribution the way it used to.

Senator Wyden and Senator Hatch, you have both been my heroes, because you have spent so much of your careers trying to work on a bipartisan basis.

President Obama has proposed for the last 2 years to encourage community colleges to collaborate with local employers to train workers.

President Reagan said it was the best pro-family, anti-poverty thing the Federal Government can do.

Your bipartisan efforts to make higher education more transparent and to actually produce real value for people is extremely important.

The President has proposed and Marco Rubio has talked about this as bipartisan support for the idea of increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for people without children.

I rise this afternoon to talk about the Medicare Program, which of course, is a lifeline--a guarantee for 50 million older Americans. In particular what the Senate wants to do is make sure that those older people have access to primary…

I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 20 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.