This bill, as it's presently headed toward passage, is a colossal mistake.

I hope the Administration will be flexible with us.

This is a time when we need to be restraining growth on spending.

Well, what is wrong with that? I mean, a cent on the gas tax in Tennessee is a cent on the gas tax in Tennessee whether the Federal Government raises it or whether the State government raises it.

I think it would be a constructive idea to say this is how much money we have over the next 6 years based upon our revenue sources.

We do not want to just give the impression to cities and counties and States around the country there is big grab bag of money here for any project that you can compete for.

Let us not lose it because we are tied to one particular way to, you know, accelerate the funding or generate the funding.

I hope we can continue that conversation because that idea, the idea of a 2-year budget, has bipartisan roots.

Would you think in this time of what I think is overspending, with an alarming deficit, it would be a good idea to not have new entitlement spending?

What happened between 1992 and 2002? Did it pretty well dry up the practice of incentive compensation?

if you have somebody singing out of tune on the Grand Ole Opry, you don't cancel the Opry. You cancel the act.

Did I understand you to say that if the information that the GAO discovered was brought to your attention, that that might result in a investigation of that institution, which could lead to a variety of things, including a withdrawal of…

We've got 6,000 higher education institutions in the country. Together, they're the best system in the world.

I think as almost every Senator has said, we want to make sure when we do something about this, that we separate those who are doing the job of helping achieve the President's goal of increasing the college graduation rate.

if the things that you saw that the GAO presented were brought to you about a specific institution, you said that that might result in anything from censure to expulsion, is that correct?

When local, State and Federal agencies work together for the good of the community the citizens are better served.

The EPA's efforts to improve air quality by reducing power plant emissions of SO2 and NOx are a positive step, but they are too regional, too complicated, and too weak to be a permanent solution for public health and for the certainty and…

I see no reason why we cannot continue to improve on the significant reductions in harmful pollutant emissions from our coal-fired power plants.

I think my questions that I'll ask following the hearing, in writing, and the answers we expect to get, and careful study of the after-action report, and the Corps' own self-examination, will answer those questions.

I think what the jury is not out on is that we have an inferior system of reporting timely, accurate information about rising water and flooding.

This is the largest natural disaster in this country since President Obama took office.

I think Nashville was ready.

Self-examination isn't always easy. Members of Congress know that we're not perfect, but it's very helpful to all of us to hear you say 'These are the things we did well, and, in some cases, heroically, and these are the things that didn't…

FEMA tells me that it's been 2008 since any disaster in this country has required as much money or attention as this one has.

You mean to spew more sulfur, nitrogen, and mercury and less carbon? That's not my idea of progress.