The impact of those cuts on the operations of our Embassies... would be dramatic.

I don't want to go beyond my time, but you recently gave a speech at George Washington University. You talked about the importance of protecting access to an open and free Internet.

I want that work to show. I mean, I don't want it to get consumed in this.

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

It's not a question of whether your mission is integral to our national security--everyone from President Reagan to General Petraeus has recognized it is.

The United States should be a strong voice for people living under repressive, corrupt regimes who are demanding the freedoms we often take for granted.

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.

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.

While we are waiting for my friend, the distinguished Senator from Iowa, I will note that what we are talking about is bipartisan legislation; it is supported by both business and labor. People ask whether Congress can work together and…

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 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.

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?

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

I thank all of those with the administration who worked on the matter, and particularly Secretary Locke, Director Kappos of the Patent and Trademark Office, and former Secretary Daley, now Chief of Staff at the White House. The statement…

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?

Yes, the Senator is correct. I thank her for her hard work in putting together the gatekeeper damages language with Senator Specter and myself in committee last Congress. It was instrumental in helping to move this bill forward. However…

I don't disagree with anything the Senator is saying, but how do you get--it would be like reducing a judge's salary. The Constitution specifically prohibits that. You say it is not reducing, but of course it is. If you say we are shut…

I want to thank all Senators for supporting adoption of the Leahy-Grassley-Kyl managers' amendment. This consensus amendment is a compromise that resolves a number of the key outstanding issues in the bill, including fee diversion…

There are issues like human rights, transparent, accountable government, and the rule of law which is why I wrote the Leahy amendment a decade-and-a-half ago, and it was passed with bipartisan support.

Cholera season is coming.

In Libya, the issue is not whether Muammar Gaddafi's regime will end, but when and how it ends and how many people are going to die needlessly before then.

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…

Our priorities also must include promoting human rights and tolerance, transparent and accountable government, and the rule of law.

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…