what we are being told by the majority is that we have to vote for everything in order to fund anything. Moments ago, I proposed a unanimous consent request that if approved would provide for the immediate availability of mandatory funds…

yesterday when the President of the United States addressed the American people, he was very clear about what a shutdown would mean. He said: Office buildings would close. Paychecks would be delayed. Vital services that seniors and…

everyone knows that the vote we are about to take--cloture on the House-passed continuing resolution--is essentially a vote to allow the Democrats to gut the House bill. That is why the Senate majority leader, the Senator from Nevada Mr…

we have been willing to compromise. The offer that was made by my colleague, the junior Senator from Texas yesterday, from the floor represented a significant compromise. Significantly, I believe it was the Senator from Nevada, the…

reserving the right to object, if we were to vote tomorrow, if we were to have these votes tomorrow, that would represent the product of waiving two separate 30-hour periods--one in connection with the motion to proceed, the other in…

reserving the right to object, I requested to modify the request made by the majority leader and he turned that down. In light of the fact that he turned it down, I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The assistant majority…

I believe it is $1.70 generated in economic activity for every $1 in SNAP benefits.

There is certainly no rationale for throwing hungry children, families, and seniors off of SNAP.

Many of us believe this is morally wrong and deeply troubling, especially considering nearly one in five children in America suffer from food insecurity.

I say to Senator Cruz I have come with some updates from the outside world, updates based on what I am hearing from my constituents at home. You may be interested in learning, I say to Senator Cruz, that just today in the last 12 hours or…

I wish to ask the Senator from Texas whether he has received comments similar to those I have received from my constituents and from other concerned citizens from around the country in recent months. I wish to highlight a few and ask…

I would ask my distinguished colleague, the Senator from Texas, a series of questions with regard to this concept to make DC listen. It is interesting that we are having this discussion right now at a time in our history when never has it…

From day 1, there have been those in the Washington establishment who have been working against this, and it was the American people who stood up in strong support of us. It was the American people who served as the heroes of this story…

There is a chain of islands off the coast of Spain, a chain of islands known as the Canary Islands. Can the Senator tell me after what animal were these islands named?

The device known as a camel's hair brush, does the Senator know what it is made of?

As the Senator was mentioning, the fact that it is time for people to stand for their own rights and it is time for the people's elected representatives in Washington to stand for them reminds me of the fact that sometimes people do take…

My question relates to the nature of our government and the nature of our system which is a system of laws. One of the reasons America has been attractive to so many people over the last few centuries and one of the reasons people have…

First, by way of clarification, it was not a Buick but an Oldsmobile. Those were not rocks I was purchasing in my hypothetical; it was instead a half ton of iron ore. I am not sure it is critical to the merits of the story, but I did think…

It certainly is important that we call something by an appropriate name. It was important back then that the Congress properly name what it was doing. It was appropriate back then for the Congress to say: We are enforcing the individual…

It occurs to me, as I think of this question that I am about to ask the Senator, that, inevitably, one constitutional violation facilitates another. It cannot be that you violate one aspect of the Constitution, in this circumstance…

Hearing the Senator from Texas, I started humming the theme to ``Jeopardy,'' while stating lots of these things in the form of a question. It does occur to me it is absolutely certain there was a reason why this was not called a tax when…

But the question is, Would any of them be willing to listen to it or interested in it or would most of them consider it a form of torture?

I have two sons and a daughter. My two sons are twins. They are teenagers. They are good boys. They are both 4.0 students, and I couldn't be more pleased with them. They work hard. I had an experience with them about 1\1/2\ years ago that…

I wish to ask the Senator from Texas his reaction to a couple of stories that I think relate well to what the Senator from Texas is saying to us about the fact that Congress has adopted a law that has brought about a series of nightmares…

As I listened to the Senator's remarks, I am reminded of many events throughout our Nation's history. It is a storied history involving a lot of comebacks. There were a lot of instances in which the American people were up against a brick…