I think all of us know that whatever passes out of the committee this week is not going to become law.

I think it is harmful to our Nation to begin the process of an authorization and not see it through to the end.

So I will say there are some members of this committee that believe otherwise, and believe that the best way we can be effective in making ourselves relevant is just to pass legislation that makes what you are doing legal, and somehow that…

I think that is a step forward, and I appreciate you doing that.

I plan to conduct myself in a way, again, that we do not harden ourselves against each other prior to the first of the year.

I really appreciate the way the two staffs worked so hard together to master housing finance and produce a product that had a lot of bipartisan support.

What is the biggest risk that you see into the future if Congress does not take action on housing finance?

I thank the Senator. I want to thank the Senator from South Carolina for his distinguished leadership on so many national security issues. I understand his frustration with our inability to actually take a vote on something that is such a…

I want to thank the leader for coming down and thank him for agreeing to a time when we both can be here. I do want to say that we could deal with it exactly in the way that I laid out and keep the government from shutting down because we…

It is my understanding the leader is on his way down. I have a unanimous consent request that I would like to offer. I know that he wants to say a word. I will preliminary make some comments. When he gets here, out of respect for his time…

I just want to say, as I have said to you personally, we have three Senators--the President, Vice President, Secretary of State--that are exercising terrible judgment right now.

Saying 'if Congress wants to play a constructive role we would welcome that' to me is a political game.

It seems like a political answer to the United States as they cry out about this uncivilized activity, but it does not seem real to me.

you are not going to ask for buy-in by the United States Senate or House of Representatives on behalf of the American people in a conflict that you say is going to be multiyear, some people say a decade

I appreciate the full and broad opening comments that you made and the way you have expressed many of our concerns regarding ISIL and their capacity over time to harm Americans.

I do not know whether they are being trained for offensive or defensive--I would like you to clarify that--activities.

What Arab Sunni nation is going to have a ground force in Syria?

we never supported them like we said we would.

Well I assure you that will not be the case. I will speak for possibly 10 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized. ISIS

how much time am I allocated? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has up to 1 hour postcloture.

tonight the President is going to address an issue on which I know almost every American has been focused; that is, the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the beginning of that in many other places around the world. This is obviously a big…

I actually think it was some of the strongest pieces of the Dodd-Frank bill.

I will close by saying that I think it is perfectly fair for the chairman to say that if we can't have a bill like this discharged on the floor, then other resolutions which sometimes do come to the floor without going through committee…

I want to say that everything the chairman has said is absolutely correct. Of course, the committee can meet with the consent of everyone willing to do so. I appreciate him and his willingness to do that. I will say one of the members--I…

let me say one more time, I have no amendments to offer to this bill. I was in no way going to load down this bill with any amendments. I just asked that it go through a committee process. By the way, if amendments should not be added to a…