I appreciate Senator Feingold's statement, and that will be added to the record without objection.

It is, thus, a vast and vital consequence that regulatory agencies retain their integrity.

The situation at MMS, as Senator Whitehouse has pointed out, is a good example of this form of capture.

The fundamental principle is that the administrative agencies must further the policies crafted by Congress.

I would also suggest that there is a floor below which that executive policymaking discretion cannot go.

I rise today to speak on behalf of Rhode Islanders who are fed up with our inaction to address climate change and to reform our Nation's energy policy. In the media and in this very Chamber, we have all seen the tactics of deception and…

The hearing of the Subcommittee will come to order.

I will conclude by saying it is obviously not going to be easy to address real climate legislation, real clean energy jobs legislation here in this body. The big special interests have their way here far too often. They have spent years…

I think there are at least four areas where every child in America should have the opportunity to have the full measure of our attention and our action. Certainly, health care--I will talk a little bit about health care tonight--and…

This problem of agency capture deserves a great deal more attention than it is presently getting.

I rise to join Rhode Island's senior Senator Jack Reed and other colleagues to call attention to the recurring Republican roadblock of qualified nominees to circuit and district courts. On the circuit courts, I spoke some time ago about…

before I go to the closing script, I just want to take a moment to express my sorrow and dismay that we appear to have walked away from doing anything serious about our energy posture and the hazard that carbon pollution is creating in our…

almost every family in America has experienced the pain of a loved one who has been diagnosed with cancer. Today, I want to tell the story of the Grimes family from West Greenwich, RI. According to the Rhode Island Department of Health…

I wanted to first commend the Senator from Louisiana for her tenacity on the subject... I wish her success and pledge her my complete support.

I will speak about a topic that is central to our national security and economic prosperity and which gets far too little notice and attention; that is, the vulnerability of America's network information systems, and the economic danger…

It is not unheard of in litigation, for instance, against big corporations and entities with enormous amounts of money for them to go out and basically try to lock up all the best experts.

Doesn't it make sense to give them a break during the hour to cool off?

If we are going to approach this, as the President himself has said, as a war, we need to fight it 24/7.

I rise to discuss bipartisan legislation coauthored by my friend and fellow New Englander, Olympia Snowe, to establish a national endowment for the preservation, conservation, and restoration of our Nation's oceans, our coasts, and our…

I thank Senator Landrieu and also Senators Merkley and Cantwell, who spoke before me, for the extraordinarily hard work they have put in to bring us to this moment. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work against what was for a long…

first of all, let me compliment the work of my senior Senator, Jack Reed, on this issue. When I first came to the Senate 3 years ago, Senator Reed had already established his reputation as somebody who fought passionately for unemployment…

There are neighborhoods where one in four 18 to 35-year-olds on the street are under the supervision of the Department of Corrections.

Whether or not you particularly like the individual, you are better off if they are working and paying taxes than if they are incarcerated at the ACI and absorbing your tax dollars.

For the sake of the people who are in those neighborhoods and who are law abiding, it is important that there be the social services so that they can continue to have a safe and orderly life.

I think it is a wise investment and we look forward to trying to make that investment as smart as we can make it.