I thank my friend from Illinois for all the work he has done on this issue and so many other issues. He knows I disagree with him on this and do not intend to vote for this bipartisan agreement. He makes a good point in saying we don't…

I am concerned, as you said, Madam Chair, that the Koch Brothers, ExxonMobil and others are pouring well over $100 million into organizations, including both of their organizations, trying to do what the tobacco industry did many, many…

I predict that our grandchildren and our great grandchildren will look back on this period and they will not be appreciative of the fact that members of the U.S. Senate have refused not only not to go forward in combating global warming…

What about the costs of inaction? What will more droughts mean to agriculture in this Country? What will more floods mean in terms of property destruction? What will climate change mean for national security?

To save the planet will be expensive.

Is it also correct that currently the warmest year on record is 2010?

There is now overwhelming agreement based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change is real, it is happening right now and it will have broad impact on society.

let me begin by concurring with the remarks of Senator Cardin. Tom Perez will make an excellent Secretary of Labor, and I strongly support his nomination.

I do find that interesting as we debate how we go forward in addressing the planetary crisis of global warming that neither of the Republican representatives here are talking about global warming.

I am glad an agreement has been reached in which President Obama will finally get Senate confirmation votes on his appointees to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the head of the Environmental…

over the July 4th recess I had the opportunity to talk with a number of young families about the crisis of student debt. Without exception, this is what they said: Please do not double the interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans from…

We need to have the best-educated workforce in the world. It is absolutely counter-productive to the best interests of our country that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college.

we have a major crisis in our country today in terms of the high cost of a college education, and in addition to that the incredible debt burden college students and their families are facing. This is a major problem in Vermont, and it is…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. College Education Cost

Food stamps is an expensive, old-style program that rewards idleness.

They're getting 20 hours a week. They're getting 30 hours a week. They are desperately trying to bring themselves out of poverty.

Either you're for one or the other.

We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth, somewhere around 22 percent.

I have really not heard almost anybody suggest that raising the minimum wage to the level that we have in Vermont has been an impediment to our economy.

If your minimum wage goes up, you're going to lose food stamps, you may lose part of the earned income tax credit.

We have almost as many people living in poverty, somewhere around 46 million, than at any time in the last 60 years.

If somebody is going to work, that person has got to receive at least a wage that they can go out and live with dignity on.

We have more income and wealth inequality than any major country on earth.

With all due respect, Mr. Sherk, I think you--whether or not you're here representing the Heritage Foundation--are really not making a whole lot of sense, to my mind.

So we remove the incentive to work by having adequate social programs, so you're opposed to that.