The election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the President-elect's selection of Eric Holder Jr. to be Attorney General of the United States provide a historic opportunity for the country to move past the partisanship of the past decades.

I probably have been critical of a number of different Presidents' use of that constitutional right.

We need the Justice Department to be at its best.

I believe Eric is competent, capable, and a fair-minded lawyer who will not hesitate to uphold and defend the laws and the Constitution of the United States.

I think there is no better person than Eric Holder to restore integrity and honor to the entire Department of Justice.

Will you make enforcement of this a priority, including enforcement in Indian country?

Behind me sits Eric Holder, and the President-elect has exercised his judgment that this is the individual whom he deems best qualified--from the hundreds of thousands of lawyers serving in the United States, the best qualified to become…

I do want to help President-elect Obama. It is very important. There are enormous problems facing this country.

Separation of powers is the rock bed of our republic, and independence is very important.

I have joined this morning out of friendship, but also I weigh very heavily coming before the Senate again so soon after my retirement, but I felt that I wanted to be among those all across this Nation who are working for a bipartisan…

the newly reelected and senior Senator from South Carolina, Senator Graham.

I hope to work with you in a productive way on legitimate concerns that I and others in the Senate have about the extent of Government's surveillance powers.

We need an Attorney General, as Robert Jackson said 68 years ago, 'who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.'

I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to appear this morning and participate in what I regard, and I think you regard, as one of the most solemn responsibilities of the United States Senate: fulfilling our constitutional responsibility…

I think all of us, Republicans and Democrats, wish we were inheriting the economic situation that President Clinton left to his successor rather than the one that is being left to President Obama.

January 15, 2009 Opening statement

I hope I have your commitment that you would make sure the Department pays attention to the Organic Standards Act.

I was pleased when the President-elect announced that he was going to nominate you.

We can't have parts of the country without broadband. We can create a lot of jobs in my State of Vermont.

I learned how difficult farming is and how difficult it is to make a living.

I think the thing that will keep it working is if the standards are kept strict.

Today we received a report from the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility about their investigation of allegations of politicized hiring and other improper personnel actions in…

I wish to draw the attention of the Senate to a group of selfless volunteers at St. Michael's College in Colchester, VT, who sacrificed time with their families and friends this past holiday season to ensure that Vermonters in need of…

I couldn't help thinking today, as we were sitting in our weekly caucus--that the senior member of our party here in the Senate and the most senior Member of the Senate, and the senior Senator from West Virginia, the distinguished Robert…

I think that we've done that at great expense to, what I would call, 'hometown security'.