Indeed, we each have an obligation to utilize our own voice and to make our own judgments with regard to the best course of action to take in any debate and in any discussion. The problems in this country are significant. There is not one…

I would suspect that in most circumstances a lawyer giving up that procedural right would be committing malpractice. Perhaps a lawyer in that circumstance could say to the client: I am going to do this because opposing counsel has asked it…

I ask my colleague from Texas--who has on occasion expressed similar concerns to those I have just expressed with this kind of posture--so I ask my friend from Texas, is it in fact his interest, his objective to be obstructionist? Is he…

reserving the right to object, I would like to explain briefly the overall situation. We are not objecting to budget. We are not objecting to conference. We just want the debt limit left out. It is a separate issue that warrants its own…

to respond to my distinguished colleague and friend from Virginia, in the first place it is important for us to remember, yes, we are a bicameral Congress. Yes, in order to pass legislation you have to have something pass in the House and…

If I might ask, Madam President, of my friend from Texas, why wouldn't one want the usual rules of the Senate to apply? That is, why would one want to block or prevent the 60-vote threshold from applying with a debt ceiling increase, just…

The Senator from Texas is a seasoned constitutional scholar, a graduate of Princeton University and of Harvard Law School. He went on to clerk for Judge Michael Ludick on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, now general…

our current immigration system is a travesty. It is inefficient, uncompassionate, and dangerous. It doesn't serve America's economic or social interests, and it undermines respect for the rule of law and for our Democratic institutions…

As surely as past is prologue, this will happen again if we do it in the wrong sequence. Sequencing matters. When I was 6 or 7 years old, my mother pointed out to me that you don't try to butter the toast before you toast it. You toast it…

today I rise in favor of immigration reform. The current immigration system is a travesty. It is inefficient, it is uncompassionate, and it is dangerous. It doesn't serve America's economic or social interests, and it undermines respect…

I certainly would. I would be happy to. In the Judiciary Committee, on which the Senator from Alabama and I both sit, during the markup session on this bill we were able to propose a number of amendments. One of the amendments I…

Yes, that is exactly why I introduced Lee amendment No. 4 in the committee and why I think it should have been passed. Because the whole reason we entrust the legislative power only to people who are elected at regular intervals and stand…

I certainly do. I think that would make a big difference. If we had to vote on it, it would have a couple of effects. First of all, the fact that we would have to vote on it would have an impact on the executive branch of government whose…

Yes, it certainly could be and it certainly would be if at the end of the day you have literally hundreds of instances of Secretarial discretion built into the bill. If every one of these important decisions that have to be made along the…

The American people are a compassionate people. They are a people who welcome immigrants because we are a nation of immigrants and we always have been. I think most of us hope we always will be. We want people to continue to come to this…

it is with a heavy heart that I address the Senate today, as I rise to honor a recently fallen soldier. PFC Cody J. Towse, one of Utah's finest, was killed last month when his patrol was hit by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar…

My friend and my distinguished colleague from Missouri is absolutely correct in citing the Constitution and pointing out the fact the two Houses do have to agree before something becomes law. It is also important to point out that under…

for 62 days several of my colleagues and I have objected to the majority's request for unanimous consent to circumvent regular order to go to conference with the House on the budget. They want permission to skip a few steps in the process…

reserving the right to object. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah.

reserving the right to object, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator modify her request so that it not be in order for the Senate to consider a conference report that includes reconciliation instructions to raise the debt limit. The…

the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has primary responsibility to review administrative actions taken by countless Federal departments and agencies. The court's decisions--including its recent invalidation of President Obama's…

Compared to the way we do things on the floor, this is a closed-door deal. Compared to the way we do things on the floor, this is not subject to the same kind of scrutiny. The fact is that we have rules in the Senate--rules--on something…

I would like to finish what I am saying--legislation which would itself raise the debt limit and voted on a 51-vote margin rather than a 60-vote margin. So this is different. Regardless of how open they make that conference meeting, it is…

I thank my friend and my colleague, the Senator from Texas, for his remarks and I speak briefly to respond to a couple of points that have come up today. First of all, it is important for us to remember that although the rules of our body…

as to the suggestion that this produces a budget resolution that at the end of day does not go to the President, and therefore it isn't law, technically, on its own face, is accurate. What we are concerned about are the instructions which…