the tax on capital gains and dividends is far too low.

even if we have substantial tax reform, we are not going to get anywhere close to solving this wage problem.

I rise to speak about the same topic Senator Brown just spoke to. I appreciate what my colleague from Ohio brought to this Senate floor today when talking about trade. I especially commend him for not just his advocacy and his passion for…

Thank you very much.

One of the best things that the Congress did over the years was to not only authorize but fund the Hospital Preparedness Program.

I complain loudly and frequently and will continue to complain when you have an authorization level for hospital preparedness, your program under your jurisdiction, when there's a huge gap in the tens of millions of dollars between…

I certainly want to commend and salute the work of Senator Burr on these issues over many years in our working together.

The urgency that Senator Burr is talking about is essential and not just in the heat of the challenge or the crisis.

I rise to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Tribute to JoAnne A. Epps

The biggest and most successful of the Federal Government's antipoverty programs next to Social Security, reducing the 2012 poverty rate by 3 percentage points and the poverty rate for children by 6.

as I have every year since 2007, I rise today to commemorate Black History Month. This year we are privileged to recognize Dean JoAnne A. Epps, the dean of Temple University's Beasley School of Law. Dean Epps is a woman who has made…

I would agree, but thank you for highlighting that.

Total deaths as of February 21 are 9,556, a huge number, and we are mindful of that today.

I've heard a number of words over and over again. I've heard the title of the hearing.

The rule forces a union election before an employer has a chance to figure out what's going on.

What I haven't heard a lot about here is voting. This Act is supposed to lead to a process where employees vote.

One of the concerns I have is that there seems to be a real hostility to modern forms of communication--email, telephone numbers, information like that that you would think that both sides would want to have the benefit of.

I hope we can continue to debate this and have legitimate disagreement. What I can't understand is the basic hostility to getting more information in front of people.

Vaccination requirements are within the purview of State authority.

It is not only morally desirable, but economically good policy, because about two-thirds of our economy is fueled by consumer spending.

I think we all agree we need to simplify the tax code and make it more economically efficient.

I know that in the debate about how to respond to the Ebola crisis, among the best pieces of advice we all got here was that local validators are a lot better than validators outside of a local area.

We must all recognize our personal and collective responsibility to get vaccinated, and to vaccinate our children, in the name of protecting those who are too young or medically unable to be vaccinated.

I am deeply concerned that so many parents in the United States are failing to vaccinate their children.

I urge you to have a strong, unified, bi-partisan voice supporting the scientific evidence that vaccines are safe and they save lives.