I am a huge fan of an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

I want to tell the Chairman that as we get an opportunity once in awhile to brag about our states, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in many ways has really been at the forefront of robotics' automation for years.

I think it dramatically reduces the incentive effect, and that, I think, should be of concern to this committee.

The concern you have in today's political environment is, we are going to have a hard enough time making this proposal revenue-neutral.

It is critical that we dedicate this kind of time on consequential and complicated issues that involve tax reform.

I know my colleagues on the committee would be disappointed if I did not raise the obvious issue, and that is, why are we having this debate in America where we, among the industrial nations, rely less on government?

You can design it to deal with the concerns. The problem is, in the current political environment, working solely within the C corporate integration issue, you have limited options.

Dodd-Frank is a huge thing for us right now and I think our topic here today is a really big concern for me locally and for all the community banks having the unlevel competition from the Farm Credit System.

Well, I hope if, when you encounter those, that you bring them to our attention and ask for resources where appropriate.

It's good that we have this win, that we codified an important policy and made it law.

I think the Neg Reg process put up some important guardrails to make sure that States and teams are asking the right questions.

In terms of a broader, more particular concern about access to retirement vehicles and savings rates, what would you conclude about those two issues?

And in particular, can you walk through for us--and I know you have been through this a little bit already--the type of taxpayers who might be subject to withholding tax under corporate integration?

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar No. 307, Calendar No. 357, Calendar No. 358, Calendar No. 359, Calendar No. 362, Calendar No. 363, Calendar No. 364…

the last thing we need now is to undo one of the most successful safety nets in the history of the world, which is Social Security.

I rise to talk today about judges, specifically district court judges across our country. We have a number of judges in Pennsylvania who have not moved forward, and I want to speak to that today. I think it is a case of or a story about…

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. Unanimous Consent Requests--Executive Calendar

It is unfair, illegal competition from countries like China.

I would hope we could have a coalition of Democrats and Republicans to improve funding for education, for infrastructure, for NIH, and for things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and health care.

Social Security is too precious, is too needed.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I think it is critical. We know that in a State like Pennsylvania... just like I have continued to challenge folks like you on homeland security and shutting off financing, we ask you as well to be determined and vigilant on this issue of…

the greatest problem America faces economically is that median income is declining.

This bill, which I sponsored in the Senate, authorizes the President to restrict the import of cultural artifacts illicitly smuggled out of Syria since the beginning of the conflict.

We took a good step in the right direction recently when the President signed into law a bill that I introduced in the Senate, the so-called 'Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act.'