Robert C. Byrd

I implore my colleagues, let this be the year that we take ourselves and our responsibilities seriously. We are the problem, and only we can craft the solution.

Mr. President, I know what it is to lose a grandson, and I know that there are many fathers and mothers and grandparents and wives and brothers and sisters who pray each night that their sons and daughters, their relatives, will come back…

When it comes to a matter that is so grave and so vital as the one before us, we ought to tell the people the truth and not just what the polls may say is popular. The widely reported disgust with politicians in the electorate, I believe…

This package will not be popular. It asks for sacrifice, and sacrifice has fallen into disfavor. But there are times when sacrifices must be made for the public good.

The world is changing. No more does America dominate. The question has now become: Can America continue to compete?

It is folly to cut the deficit in a way that lacerates this Nation's ability to compete and to grow within a global economy. It is wrong to sacrifice our children's future on the altar of political expediency.

I congratulate President Bush for having the courage to say that taxes are needed. Only a fool or a knave would adhere to a campaign pledge while his country foundered. President Bush is neither, and he has done the right thing.

Defense spending is Government spending. Entitlement spending is Government spending. Foreign aid spending is Government spending.

We cannot be so generous that we stretch our own resources to the breaking point. It is time for us to think of the people of America and their children and grandchildren, and not let the generosity of our hearts rule our heads on this…

I do not oppose immigration, per se. I do oppose increasing our immigration to the level that this legislation provides.

We need to tell the American people the truth and stop this running with every wind that blows.

I think the Senate has lost its soul. I wish there was some way we could appropriate money for spine, spine and guts. I would be willing to stand up and vote for that.

I have come to believe that the foreign aid programs of the United States are crippled by the anchors of special clients whose needs have not been examined and in relationship to the overall size of a limited foreign aid pie, and by our…

Mr. Bush had the courage at least to say that he was wrong in the campaign when he had said no taxes. He saw the real world when he took the oath and he changed his mind. That takes some courage.

Senior citizens of this country are patriots. They have worked in the fields, in the mines, in the harbors; they fought for their country. They are patriots.

What about the voices of the voiceless-our grandchildren, our children, our great-grandchildren? Are they represented here? They are voiceless.

We are passing on this tremendous debt and these deficits to the children and grandchildren who are not even knocking yet, knocking at the gates. They are being unheard of and unthought of.

We talk about what is good for us politically or what would please the special interest groups. We are governed, we are owned, we are controlled; we are little men, controlled by special interest groups in this country.

It is time to stop posturing and pretending. It is time to stop all of the glib talk. It is time to do our duty.

To those who wish to further cut domestic discretionary spending, I say we have had enough and it is time we invested in our country. Any company that does not invest in its plant, equipment, and its people is going to fail.

A country that does not invest in its people, that does not train them, that does not educate them, that does not invest in its plant and equipment, its roads, its bridges, its railways, its waterways, is going to fail. It is not going to…

Mr. President, I may be crying my message in the wilderness, but I believe that we in this Chamber have a responsibility to call attention to those matters in our country that need attention, and I hope that someone will heed my outrage…

We in the Senate cannot close the window on the special interests in campaigns while we leave the back door open once we are elected. To do so would be a hypocritical act.

I know that it requires, on the average, about $12,500 a week, 52 weeks a year, 6 years in a senatorial term, for a Member of the Senate to prepare himself for reelection if he wishes to continue this public service.

I know how frustrating it is to the leaders of this body when they have to be concerned about the problems facing their colleagues, and the need for their colleagues to get out and chase money all over this country, hold their hats in…