The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota. ____________________

Thank you, Chairman Pryor and Ranking Member Toomey, for holding this important hearing today on highway and vehicle safety.

I am happy to cosponsor the legislation of the Senator from Texas. She is absolutely right, there is no more deserving group of people in this country than our military and we need to make sure under no circumstance they are not paid, and…

Interlocks are effective, but in my home, State of South Dakota, our response to impaired driving has been a 24/7 monitoring program.

I would say--I will direct this to Ms. Fleming again.

I also believe that flexibility is what states want.

Did any of you think that there were other programs in the draft bill that could benefit from increased flexibility?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important hearing and taking a look at these important issues of highway and vehicle safety.

If we need more time, then why are we doing an interlock grant specific now?

Mr. Chairman, I have a question I'd like to submit for the record for the first panel if that's OK.

I echo the comments of my colleagues from Nebraska and Indiana who have expressed their support for the cut, cap, and balance approach to dealing with our debt crisis. It had 234 votes in the House, and it is the only plan out there. As my…

I rise today to speak to the issue the Senate is going to be considering for the next couple of days and ultimately voting on, it sounds like, possibly sometime on Saturday; that is, the cut, cap, and balance proposal that has been put…

Let me repeat that, a terrific opportunity for European countries at the expense of our country.

Should end users who are hedging financial risk be given an exemption?

I ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with the Senator from New Hampshire. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

I appreciate the good words of my colleague from Kansas. He comes from a State where they understand that the role of the government should be limited. They understand the importance of living within your means, of not spending money you…

I sincerely hope it was not the intent of Dodd-Frank and those who wrote the law to create a mass exodus of capital from the United States.

Do you think it is fair for states, many who are faced with serious budget shortfalls, to take the financial hit for a mistake that FMCSA made?

What is remarkable about that is when I first got here, there was a vote in the Senate in 1997. We didn't have the opportunity to vote on it in the House of Representatives, although I think we could have passed it with a two-thirds…

I am, in particular, concerned about the limited definition the CFTC is looking to instate for the de minimis exception when defining swap dealers.

I think our colleagues in the House have shown us the way. They passed this last night. They have given us an opportunity now to have this vote, and it is long overdue. In my view--and I think the numbers bear this out--this is not a…

To the point the Senator from Kansas was making, he talks about higher interest rates and the impact of not dealing with the fiscal circumstances in which the country finds itself. Look at what is happening in Europe. Three-year government…

I have been coming to the floor for several weeks to talk about the need to restrain spending and cut our deficit. As we look at the next few days, we are going to have an opportunity to debate something that does that. We are going to be…

I hope that you will take time to understand these issues and the implications that they have for agriculture.

Absolutely. I say to my colleague from New Hampshire that the cut, cap, and balance approach is the correct way to approach this problem, because it makes cuts to spending today--real cuts--this year, to this year's budget. It caps…