Sheldon Whitehouse

Yes, particularly if you consider a woman with a couple of children who has been in a minimum wage job...

I do not think that the solution is to eliminate it.

Before I join the colloquy with Senators Blumenthal and Schumer, I have two bits of housekeeping.

I thank the distinguished Senator from South Dakota. I noticed he was on the floor during the remarks of the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Maine, a few moments ago. Having heard those remarks, I ask the Senator from South Dakota if…

My question was not whether the House voted on some, not all. I think the fact is that the House voted on nothing the Senate passed; they have done nothing but tee up political votes to send over to us.

Through the Chair, I inquire whether, in evaluating the relative activity of the Senate and the House in trying to bring this shutdown to a conclusion, the Senator would not concede that the Senate has repeatedly voted on House-passed…

I share his worry that if we go back to just a gas tax, we are putting ourselves on a glide slope that ends back in a bad place all over again.

While the panels are changing, I just wanted to emphasize the point that Mike Lewis was making very well to Senator Baucus' question.

So they are really serious about cleaning this up, and black carbon is a good place to work together internationally as well.

Thank you, Senator Carper and Senator Sessions, for hosting this hearing and for the terrific way that you are working together on this issue.

It is a metric that has no accountability to it.

There's $700 billion or $800 billion a year to be saved by delivering better healthcare.

I would urge you to be more energetic about looking for ways to support these local initiatives.

I have to agree with Senator Murphy.

How do we make our existing system innovate? How do we make it more efficient?

The experience that I have in Rhode Island is not that NEPA is a barrier to getting infrastructure projects done, it is the Congress that is a barrier to getting infrastructure projects done

I think that what I will do--I believe that Senator Cardin is here to speak for Mr. Wilkins.

There will be two rollcall votes at noon tomorrow: confirmation of the Chen nomination and cloture on the THUD bill. Additionally, there will be a vote in the afternoon on confirmation of the Power nomination. ____________________

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 8:17 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, August 1, 2013, at 9:30 a.m…

I think it is very valuable and important, and I know that as the Attorney General of Connecticut for a very, very long time, you were deeply, deeply involved in consumer issues.

It is good to see you in action in this way.

I think there is an executive branch reaction toward classification.

But it does have that effect.

But I also hope that the executive branch takes a lesson from this experience about the value of classification or what I would consider overclassification.

My point is that the American public is an important part of this debate.