Sheldon Whitehouse

When we looked back, we very often found, as you have said, that truancy was the first really strong signal of bad things to come

We are going to work very hard to make sure that there is a reauthorization and try very hard to make it a bipartisan reauthorization.

I am working on recovery legislation, recovery and rehab legislation in Washington right now.

Take a look at the HOPE program in Hawaii that was run by Judge--I want to say--I have got Almey on the brain, but that is Steve Almey who drives me.

It is terrific to be here with everyone. I want to particularly thank Brother Michael Reis and the staff at Tides Family Services for hosting us here today and for the extraordinary work they do with young people here in Rhode Island.

I should say as a matter of record, while we have a senior Department of Justice official here, how pleased we are with our United States Attorney and what an excellent job he is doing here in Rhode Island.

This hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee will come to order, which is easy for me to do since I am the only Member present, so I bring myself to order.

It is an important balance to maintain, and I look forward to working with you.

The role of the Federal Government in JJDPA is in some respects secondary to the primary role of State officials.

Quick, small sanctions seem to work better than a lot of process, and then a big sanction.

We are way past a debate on whether this is real. This is happening in people's lives now in ways that are unprecedented.

We are seeing dramatic changes in our oceans.

The idea that I am supposed to overlook this is preposterous, and the idea that my side of the ledger doesn't count is equally preposterous.

I appreciate that planting trees helps reduce carbon, but it hardly offsets the coal plant next door that is putting out tens of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.

The idea that Citizens United did not change anything runs contrary to everybody's experience who is involved in politics.

I see what we are trying to do as to repair an erroneous decision by the Supreme Court, a decision that is likely to end up in the category of Lochner and Plessy as really embarrassing moments in the history of a Court.

So what we are facing is the complete wipeout of campaign finance law if they have got the courage of their convictions.

If a corporation is allowed to spend unlimited money, particularly if it is allowed to do it anonymously, guess what? It is allowed by them to threaten and to promise to spend unlimited money.

Five conservative activists sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time decided that unlimited spending in elections was A-OK.

If Senator Cruz is right, which is that money is just speech, then you have got to let it flow entirely.

By 9:1--Americans believe that this Supreme Court will favor corporations over individuals.

Recent polling shows the Court in unprecedented bad odor with the American people as a result of that.

I think that is an important and commendable step.

I will be very brief. I just first wanted to note how fortunate we are that that Vermont criminal those years ago was a terrible shot.

Chairman Leahy has for years and at times virtually singlehandedly made sure that this program continued.