John Cornyn

But I thought that the Democrats were congratulating themselves for the hard choices they had to make in order to comply with pay-go.

What about budget enforcement mechanisms? For example, Democrats have claimed their pay-go will ensure fiscal discipline, and I have heard Budget Chairman Conrad say that it is working. Is that true?

Well, as a member of the Budget Committee, I have heard a lot from Chairman Conrad on the state of the gross Federal debt. I have heard lots of press-friendly sound bites from him like ``the debt is the threat.'' Surely Democrats took some…

I do remember Chairman Conrad insisting that closing a portion of the tax gap--in other words, collecting unpaid taxes that are owed--would give us about $300 billion in revenues to pay for all this new spending. How much was recovered?

I say to the Senator, I remember when you were Budget chairman, Senator Gregg, we worked under the reconciliation process in fiscal year 2006 to reduce spending by nearly $40 billion over 5 years. Didn't the Democrats use reconciliation…

I ask the Senator, in addition to raising taxes and failing to control spending, surely the budget last year dealt with the growing entitlement spending crisis, which has $66 trillion in unfunded liabilities that will be paid by our…

I ask the Senator from New Hampshire, there was talk about a surplus, and then there ended up being a promise to extend middle-class tax cuts. I believe Senator Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, proposed an extension of…

I remember the Budget Committee chairman saying on ``60 Minutes'' last March that ``We need to be tough on spending.'' Surely, as the architect of the fiscal year 2008 budget, he was able to do that; correct?

Isn't the crisis in logic that the telecommunications carriers, whose cooperation is absolutely essential to the continuation of our ability to listen in on communications between terrorists, isn't that what is at risk here, by merely…

It does strike me that is a strange use of time, when we are 2 days from the expiration of arguably the most important piece of legislation we have passed since 9/11 to protect us here at home. It is no accident that we haven't been…

I ask the distinguished Republican leader whether the voluntary cooperation of the telecommunications companies that have cooperated at the request of the Government and upon certification by the chief law enforcement agent of the country…

I think Senator McConnell most recently pointed out that we have had elections in this country every 2 years since 1788. So if we are going to use that as an excuse for not getting things done, we will never get anything done. We have a…

I am proud of the work that is being done by the State comptroller of Texas, Susan Combs, who has created a Web site wherethemoneygoes.gov. We need to use greater transparency and the accountability that goes with it to restore public…

I am not going to go away when it comes to urging greater efficiency and elimination of wasteful Washington spending. We have a tremendous responsibility, those of us who have been sent to Congress to represent our States and our…

I hope we are not saying that it is a prerequisite for confirmation to the job of an appellate judge that one actually has to have served as an appellate judge. Of course, rarely do any of us have experience in the jobs to which we are…

It is true, when I became attorney general of my State, I created an Office of Solicitor General, recognizing the increasingly specialized nature of appellate practice. Again, I believe Judge Elrod, by virtue of her extensive trial…

When General Petraeus was confirmed, the majority leader called him a great man. My colleague from California referred to him as an amazing man, saying: Of course I listen to General Petraeus. The Senator from Delaware said: I do not know…

My amendment mandates that the Department of Transportation can inspect Mexican trucks, Canadian trucks, and American trucks by exactly the same high public safety standards. If, in fact, under this pilot program those requirements are not…

I wish to suggest to my colleagues here that in reality, the current state of affairs in the Senate is not nearly as rosy as the majority leader would have us believe. We spent nearly 2 weeks trying to craft an energy bill that would…

I disagree with the characterization of the Senator from Illinois. As this hypothetical individual is married to a U.S. citizen, she could get a waiver on that ground because she is married to a U.S. citizen. She would not, under existing…

Under this amendment, people who entered the country illegally and who are guilty of illegal entry, or who come in legally and overstay, would not be rendered ineligible, not under the Cornyn amendment. Those who are repeat offenders--in…

To me, the goal is simply to restore law and order to our immigration system. It is important to our national security because we have to know who is coming into our country and why people are here in a post-9/11 world. It is important to…

I am simply at a loss to understand why, on the single most important domestic issue facing our country today--our broken borders and our immigration system. This is designed to fail because of these barriers of information sharing that…

I want to make clear that I think it sends a bad signal in terms of where this bill is headed in the long run because, all along, while I applaud the majority leader and the minority leader for their willingness to give us an additional…

I express my profound regret that an amendment that reflects the will of 63 Senators, that is bipartisan, and one that is so important to maintaining the prosperity of this Nation and relieving the burden on hard-working American taxpayers…