Patrick Leahy

Senator Roberts, talk to YRC in Overland Park, Kansas. They almost went bankrupt because the holders of credit default swaps did not want them to work out a bankruptcy.

Chairwoman Stabenow, you remember July 2008 when we met and had a debate in front of the Democratic leadership about whether supply-demand or speculation and swaps caused $4-a-gallon gasoline.

You have got in my assessment the most important job of any Committee in this Congress.

The reason the American taxpayer is furious about the budget crisis is trillions of dollars have been spent to put Wall Street back in the saddle again.

Yes, it is. The courts have been making good progress in developing the law in this area, and I do not believe patent reform legislation should interfere with this progress. Should the House propose or pass some language on damages, I will…

So is the Senator saying we set the right example by passing a bill which, on the face of it, violates the Constitution, but it is okay unless somebody challenges it?

But we have some responsibility in this body to actually pass laws that are constitutional. It would, if there were a shutdown, and if upon a per-diem basis his salary was decreased, why isn't that de facto a violation of the Constitution?

But you are saying that even though it goes directly against the Constitution, which says his compensation shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall be elected, that unless he objected--well, by the…

How do you, by statute, change, even for a matter of days, a Presidential salary? Doesn't it violate article 2 of the Constitution?

We could, actually, by saying either return it to the Treasury or give an equal amount to charity and file with the Secretary of the Senate to which charity they gave it.

Can we not have an alternative in the bill that we give the money to charity so somebody would actually see it? This would be one one-hundred thousandth of 1 percent, according to the Treasury. The last time we had a shutdown, I just…

We run the risk of countries in Asia and Europe out-innovating the United States, and the patent systems in other countries are well ahead of us. If we want to compete, as I know the Senator from Arizona does, and I know I do, we want to…

When we adopt this managers' amendment, I believe we will move very close to a consensus bill the Senate can and should pass to help create good jobs, encourage innovation, and strengthen our recovery and economy.

Budgets are about values. They're about priorities.

I think that your budget request is a far more responsible approach to the national security challenges we face than what we've seen in the other body's fiscal year 2011 proposal.

The implementation--that's not a one-size-fits-all thing.

I think you're going to find wars being fought over water within a decade, just as they now fight over oil.

Now, here's your chance to give a very straightforward question--or, very straightforward answer. It may get you fired, but go ahead. Let loose.

And they were a huge export market for much of that part of the world. But the transmission lines aren't there. I mean, is it going to continue, that the water can be shut off if bribes aren't paid? It worries me that----

I'm for helping Afghanistan, but the government's not a reliable partner.

Everybody wants to help out in a tragedy.

I complimented you earlier on one that did that will have a real impact. You worked with the Smithsonian to save some treasured murals, which they thought were lost when one of the cathedrals collapsed in Haiti.

Yes, but it's been 2 years. It's time to get it done.

I was just down in Haiti a couple weeks ago and visited one of the areas where they give prosthetics to amputees.

I must admit that I'm virtually at the end of being willing to support activities in Afghanistan when we're not getting the support we should from the Afghan Government.