I am particularly concerned by the close relationships that have developed between powerful oil interests and Government agencies such as the Minerals Management Service (MMS) at the expense of environmental safety and public well being.

the Department of State and Foreign Operations chapter of this supplemental totals $6.17 billion, which is the same as the President's request. The bulk of these funds are for emergency operations and programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan…

I strongly support the reform bill before us, S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. I commend Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Majority Leader Harry Reid for shepherding this significant piece of…

I am proud to join Senator Franken in sponsoring the Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2010, SNDA, an important step in our march toward a more inclusive Nation. This bill continues the civil rights work we began earlier this Congress when…

last week, I filed two important amendments to the pending Wall Street reform legislation to protect the identity of whistleblowers and to ensure transparency and accountability to the American public when the government investigates…

A response would be nice.

earlier today I announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its confirmation hearing on the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court beginning June 28. I have reached out to…

I want to thank Secretary Shinseki for not only making this goal a priority, but for putting this goal within our reach.

There are areas that I see it as being especially helpful in rural areas.

I have often felt, Madam Chair, that if terrorists could learn how to make it snow, they could cripple Washington for the year.

Trust me, we could use more.

I will have questions. Especially on the question of homeless veterans, Madam Chair, Vermont now has on a per capita basis the largest number of troops overseas...

I think the VA could make a very strong statement on their homeless program by moving into a Housing First model.

Thank you very much.

Elimination of HUD-VASH Program

That is music to my ears. Thank you.

But it happened there were homeless veterans that would come to the VA hospital, which is nearby, to get care, but had no place to live.

Through this partnership, HUD and VA will provide permanent housing and services for 30,000 homeless veterans and their families.

I will let Senator Sessions speak for himself.

I introduced the Refugee Protection Act of 2010, S. 3113. It brings the United States into compliance with the Refugee Convention.

I think that repealing that 1-year filing deadline--as I said, the reasons why the 1-year filing deadline was enacted were really resolved years ago by 1996.

I think your bill actually does that. I recognize the complexity of the balancing of interests here to ensure that we do not open the door to people who would want to do great harm to our country.

I think that every one of us has to take that responsibility seriously, standing in lieu of 300 million of our fellow Americans.

We can correct the law and protect refugees without diluting the bars to admission for dangerous terrorists and criminals.

I wholeheartedly agree with Justice Stevens; it is in the best of the Court and, of course, of the country.