The Public Record
Every December first since 1988, World AIDS Day has been a day dedicated to sending messages of compassion, hope, solidarity, and understanding. Commemorating this day is a small but important gesture, and it is the least we can do in the…
I have noted on several occasions my intention to move to the farm bill just as soon as we complete our work on the railroad retirement bill. It can be next Monday or Tuesday. It can be whenever we finish. But we will move to that bill…
Our priority, first and foremost, is to help the 7.5, now almost 8 million workers who are unemployed. In the last recession, we extended employment benefits four times. We have to consider the fact that those weeks are running out now…
I am disappointed that somebody would suggest we are wasting time when it is, of course, the fact that our Republican colleagues have chosen to filibuster the railroad retirement bill. We could have had a vote on it with amendments related…
last week, as I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, I was reminded of the history of the holiday. We often forget that Thanksgiving was not always a feast of abundance. The Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving, in 1621, didn't begin with…
The identical point of order could have been made against the House Republican bill. We chose not to do that. Our view is if we are going to try to create a bipartisan resolution here, we don't need a partisan conflict about the way we…
It is not only a contradiction, it is a sad irony that somehow in the name of economic security we can, according to their approach, pay a company $1 billion-plus, but we can't find a way to pay for $1 billion in bioterrorism and food…
I know there are a lot of Senators who wish to speak, but the Republican position is that so long as Democrats hold a view that in addition to tax cuts and whatever can be generated legislatively from the Finance Committee, that there is a…
The answer is yes. I guess I would ask my Republican colleagues, which part of the homeland security bill do you oppose: The bioterrorism and food safety bill that allows for $3.3 billion to ensure that we can recognize the pathogens and…
The distinguished Senator is absolutely correct. This is a critical piece of legislation. We have been waiting for the House to produce a bill on which we can begin working. They have had some difficulty in arriving at a consensus. As I…
We intend to bring up for purposes of debate and amendments and consideration a bill we will introduce next week. It will be rule XIV'd. It will be brought to the floor. As the Senator knows, not just the Energy Committee, but the Finance…
The railroad retirement bill has 74 cosponsors. It is overwhelmingly supported on both sides of the aisle. I do not recall the exact vote in the House, but it passed overwhelmingly in the House. I know well over 300 House Members voted for…
This bill passed with an overwhelming 384 votes in the House. There is very, very strong bipartisan support in the Senate; 74 of our colleagues have cosponsored the bill, including a majority in both the Democratic and Republican caucuses…
5 months ago, America had a projected budget surplus of $2.7 trillion over the next 10 years. The stock market was soaring. The question before us was one that most leaders could only dream of: ``What should we do with our prosperity?'' At…
Five months ago, when we last considered a huge tax cut that mostly benefitted the wealthiest Americans, the money to pay for it was to come from the non-Social Security surplus. Today those surpluses are gone. So whatever is spent on this…
let me just pick up where my colleagues from Oklahoma left off. We have been ready for weeks to work in a bipartisan fashion. No one has worked harder at reaching out to our Republican colleagues than the man sitting at my right, Senator…
I want to update the Senate on a situation that is of interest to many people and of acute interest to many of us: the remediation of the Hart Senate Office Building. It was 3 weeks ago yesterday that an envelope containing anthrax was…
Preserving the prerogative of the majority, I want to close out this debate. Let me respond in a couple of ways. First of all, this amendment does not federalize state labor laws. This amendment says if a state has a right-to-work law, we…
Every day firefighters, police officers, and emergency workers literally risk their lives to protect our safety. In 18 States, public safety workers do not currently have the legal right--the legal right--to sit down with their employers…
I come to the floor to offer this amendment in part because I believe this provides perhaps the only vehicle we will have to consider legislation that I believe ought to have the opportunity to be considered before the end of this year. I…
I will use this time for just a couple of minutes to provide a brief update on our circumstances involving the buildings here in the Capitol complex and the situation involving the anthrax experience we have all been attempting to work…
I say to both my colleagues from Oregon how much we appreciate their extraordinary efforts. I do not know of many pieces of legislation that pass unanimously not once but twice, and not only twice but within a matter of weeks. But that is…
The importance of getting these bills cannot be overemphasized. The importance of recognizing this particular bill could not be overemphasized. We are fighting a war. This is helping fund that war. The longer we delay the funding of that…
I am thankful for the outpouring of concern and support we have received, especially from the family of Senators. I am very grateful for their friendship, for their words of encouragement, for the strength they have given me and my staff…
one year ago today, America awoke to the terrible news that we had lost three extraordinary public servants: Governor Mel Carnahan, his son Roger, and their friend and aide Chris Sifford. Mel Carnahan was a remarkable man--the kind whose…
Politicians like Thomas Daschle
