Patrick Leahy

It is the mission of your agency, to safeguard our Nation's precious lands, air, water, protect the health of our citizens, especially our children.

I ask again, through the Chair, to my friend from California, is it not a fact that the chairman then, notwithstanding the fact that there has not been a proper vote to cut off debate, went ahead and held the vote just the same?

I strongly compliment her for what she has been saying. Is it not a fact, Mr. President, I ask my friend from California, that simply because a Senator wishes more time to debate a particular nominee that does not mean that Senator is…

I am sorry that my good friend from Tennessee--whom I admire greatly; we worked together when he was in the President's Cabinet; we worked on many different things--I am sorry it happens to be a speech where he and I are on different…

In fact, I think in mid-July we finally got an agreement to organize the committee. Ten minutes after we got that agreement, I noticed the first hearing and set the first hearing on President Bush's judges. The Republicans had been in…

The letter that was sent to me was so toxic that two people who touched it died. Died. We had not canceled a single hearing. In fact, on one day when the Senate was being evacuated because we had scheduled a time to vote out some of…

I commend especially the staff who in some instances were working out of their cars, working out of my hideaway or in the hallways, just because even our committee rooms were closed. I had people working out of the family room in my house…

USAID could provide additional funding to USTTI, if it is justified. Moreover, members of the House and Senate subcommittee give great weight to the views of the senior Senator from Hawaii, and I have little doubt that additional…

I want to speak about the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI). The statement of the managers accompanying the fiscal year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act, H.J. Res. 2, recommends $500,000 for USTTI compared to…

I appreciate you moving down here to accommodate especially the disabled people earlier.

You don't need to register it or anything else. You need no permit to own or carry a weapon, concealed or otherwise.

We also have the lowest crime rate in the country. Maybe it is because they figure that everybody is armed.

We federalize carjacking. We federalize so many things. We don't really need to.

I will take some credit for that, for having established the toughest drunk-driving program in the State when I was a prosecutor.

Actually, I tend to agree, and I will look at your legislation.

At some point we have got to look at a basic overhaul.

I have no question that the disparity between crack and powder cocaine is unjustified.

I am very concerned, having three nominees of this nature, that is, controversial, however defined, all at once.

And I have heard of absolutely no objection on our side of the aisle to these three.

I would have been able to finish the book today if you had not kept us here so long, Mr. Chairman.

This deification never happens to the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, you understand.

Well, we are written into the Constitution, the U.S. Constitution.

I think they should be very reluctant to overturn a jury verdict.

So now he could only recover a quarter of a million?

Good lawyers make for a better trial judge, absolutely.