for a very long time, in a bipartisan way, a number of people have come together to save the U.S. Postal Service. Senator Lieberman and Senator Carper and Senator Collins and Senator Brown have worked very hard, as have many others…

I think the bigger issue, Senator Reed, is that, as I said, 14 programs plus the Administration is pushing for principal write-downs.

I agree with you 100 percent. That is, in fact, what I was saying.

If I might, because I think this is an important letter, I wish to report a significant part of it. I hope people appreciate what the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service is saying. This is a guy who knows something about the…

let me begin by once again thanking Senator Lieberman and Senator Carper and Senators Collins and Brown for their long and hard work on this issue, which is of enormous consequence to the American people. Sometimes what people inside the…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Postal Service Reform

Postal Clerk, can you make 10 copies of this letter? Nope; it is against the law for me to do that. Rural Postal Clerk, I would like a fishing license or a hunting license. Can you help me with that? I cannot do that. It is against the…

I do apologize to my friend from Tennessee. Postal Service Reform I want to just continue and talk about what the managers' amendment does. I went over a number of criteria by which it strengthens our ability to protect rural post offices…

I apologize to the Senator from Tennessee. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request of the Senator from Vermont?

Thank you, Mr. President. The Senator from Tennessee has requested 2 or 3 minutes to make a point, and I am happy to yield some of my time, after which I would get the floor back. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

the issue we are debating right now is an issue of enormous consequence for the American people, for our economy, for rural America, and for the hundreds of thousands of workers in the U.S. Postal Service. I thank Senators Lieberman…

I rise in strong support of the Paying a Fair Share Act. I commend Senator Whitehouse for introducing this important legislation. It is absurd that at a time when our country has a $15 trillion national debt and enormous unmet needs, the…

the skyrocketing price of gasoline is clearly causing tremendous hardship to American families all across this country, to small businesses to truckers to airlines and, in fact, to the entire economy. We are trying to claw our way out of…

in 1977, Jimmy Carter became our Nation's President, Elvis Presley died, and ``Rocky'' won the Oscar as best picture. It was also the year my colleague, Barbara Mikulski, came to Congress. She has served since then, for 10 years in the…

later this afternoon--actually, in a fairly short while--we are going to be voting on whether to proceed with the Postal Service reform bill, and I hope we vote yes. I hope we have a strong bipartisan vote to go forward. I will tell you…

This is way too small. You are trying to put out a fire with a glass of water.

The reason we are doing an energy hearing with the military is you guys are the largest consumers of energy in the United States of America and I think the largest single entity in the world.

I would assume that for the mission of the United States military of defending our country, it would be preferable to be producing these biofuels on farms in the United States of America rather than importing from Saudi Arabia or other…

I come from a cold weather State, or it used to be a cold weather State.

Some will say that is all very well and good, but it is more expensive.

We believe that global warming is causing very significant problems to our planet today and is costing us huge amounts of money in terms of dealing with extreme weather disturbances.

Do you have any concerns about the safety of this fuel?

We have talked to people in the geothermal industry who think there is huge potential in geothermal. Do you agree with that?

I think what we are seeing in California with the cost of power, in addition to the production tax credits which do have an impact on that, we are seeing solar being competitive in those markets.

There are some who believe that global warming is not real; there are some who believe that global warming is not significantly caused by human activity; and there are some of us who very strongly disagree.