it's difficult in a democracy to legislate in an area where the public is not adequately aware of the threat.

there's a real advantage to getting this information out to the public.

They will respect precedent, like it or not; and, finally, that they will limit themselves to the issues that the court is called upon to decide.

I think that it is an important step when people move from their private lives to wear the robes and as we wear the robes and assume the responsibilities, the lifetime responsibilities of a United States district court judge.

They will decide cases based on the law and the facts; third, that they will not prejudge any case, but listen to every part that comes before them.

I usually ask of judges to assure me that they will, first, respect the role of Congress as the representative branch of government of the American public policy.

We are delighted to have Senator Bayh with us and back in this chamber again and we will be very sad when his son, Evan, goes on to other accomplishments and leaves us at the end of this term.

I come to the floor this evening to say a few words about a problem I believe we need to address in the context of this catastrophe. That problem is the problem of regulatory capture of the captive regulator. Although it comes up in the…

I came to the Senate floor earlier today to speak about the nomination of Don Berwick to run the CMS and talked a little bit this morning about the area in which he specializes, which is how to lower the cost of the American health care…

I think this body is making a mistake and is taking a very wrong path by attacking and criticizing this particular nominee. To provide just a moment of context to his appointment, when I was here yesterday I had a graph that showed that in…

I rise to discuss the appointment by President Obama of Dr. Donald Berwick as Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I disagree, respectfully, with my distinguished colleague from Arizona. I guess I agree that it…

I am hoping that the process that we undertake through this task force will ultimately lead to having some confidence to add a savings number into the budget.

I think this is exactly the sort of hearing that we envisioned when I asked Chairman Conrad to set up this Task Force on Government Performance for the purpose of trying to better evaluate Government performance, efficiency savings…

we are well over half a trillion dollars a year going down this pipe, so it is worth making sure we can track it to the end.

There is always the danger in the contracting oversight world of what I call and what economists have for a long time called regulatory capture.

Thank you, Senator Warner, and thank you both for your testimony.

The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan report identified in particular KBR, which collected nearly $32 billion since 2001...

Clearly, Government contracting is an important area because, as you have pointed out, the extent of it and the hundreds of billions of dollars that flow through it just gets bigger every day.

Heller changed the law, creating for the first time in 220 years a private right to bear arms.

Your nomination to the Supreme Court has to be among the least surprising ever made.

I think the window onto Elena Kagan that America is getting in these hearings is one of a very bright, very good-humored, very well-intentioned, and very able future Supreme Court justice.

But for those of us who have been witness here to lengthy discussions about the importance of precedent and the danger of judicial activism...

And in that particular case, the institution of the jury lost, and the predictability for corporations won.

independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.

So it concerns me that it is there, and I would hope that if you get to the Court you are more restrained in terms of making findings of fact at the Supreme Court level.