It’s brute power. Much of this is about who’s the last in the room, and it reflects badly on the Congress.

His answer was, ‘I am concerned with judicial independence. Congress can prescribe standards, but when Congress starts to act like a court and prescribe particular remedies in particular cases, Congress has overstepped its bounds.’

The testimony I have read makes it clear that additional resources are needed and needed now, … There is neither the time, nor a need, to wait for a torturous legislative process to begin equipping...

Authorities this broad give the national security bureaucracy the power to scrutinize the personal lives of every law-abiding American. Allowing that to continue is a grave error that demonstrates a willful ignorance of human nature....

It is imperative that the federal government fully comply with the reporting requirements. The National Practitioner Data Bank is only as good as the information it contains.

I asked whether it was constitutional for Congress to intervene in an end-of-life case with a specific remedy,

We’re not mandating fluffier pillows or creating a legal right to a bigger bag of peanuts, … What we’re troubled by is that unlike other retail establishments, the airline industry basically keeps you in the...

They just have great cards. They’ve got all three branches of government. They’ve got the bully pulpit.

It seems to me the shareholders came first.

For those who believe executive branch officials will voluntarily interpret their surveillance authorities with restraint, I believe it is more likely that I will achieve my life-long dream of playing in the NBA.

The United States Senate is not here to just staple the paperwork on this deal and then salute it. We’ve got to go in there with an editing pencil, not a rubber stamp.

Today’s modest action starts the long march to start to reform the tax breaks as they relate to the oil industry, and limits these incentives to the smaller oil companies that actually need the help...

I believe very strongly that no jurisdiction in this country has shown that they have been hurt by their inability to impose discriminatory taxes against the Internet, … State and local governments have a right...

This is indeed a concern, … We will tackle it.

[But her declarations weren’t strong enough to convince some senators.] Gale Norton is no James Watt, but that distinction alone is not enough to justify this nomination, … I will vote ‘no.’

I’ll tell you, gentlemen, it’s this kind of case that makes many of us in Congress skeptical that it’s actually a new day,

I intend ? to fight with all of my strength to keep the companies from exporting problems that we have here overseas,

It strikes me you’re trying to have it both ways, … I find it troubling, in terms of credibility.

Now, the supposed justifications for restart have completely evaporated and the funds that are being wasted will go where they have long belonged: into cleaning up the environment that adjoins our lifeblood, the Columbia River,...

We’re looking for the right vehicle to get this important provision into law and get some cost containment into the Medicare benefit.

until we get all the facts on the table.

Many health care providers, particularly physicians in rural and urban areas, are leaving the Government programs because of inadequate reimbursement rates.

If he’s accurately quoted, I must say, it’s outrageous, … You all have indicated to us that you do not target children.

In today’s world, it is shortsighted to think that infectious diseases cannot cross borders. By allowing developing countries access to generic drugs, we not only help improve health in those nations, we also help ourselves...

There is no assurance that even one drop of Alaskan oil will get to hurting Americans,

I’m telling you, the votes are there in the Unites States Senate, … This is not a question of whether it is going to happen, but when it’s going to happen.

This voluntary program consists mostly of stuff they’re already required to do,

at least puts a band-aid on a flawed policy.

I want to get this done, … I want a strong bill to go to the president’s desk, and, based on this hearing, I think we have a lot of work to do.

My sense is that, when you look at what people such as former Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein have said over the years, you don’t go with a story unless you have two...

We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional] hearing,

My intention to vote for Judge Roberts tomorrow should in no way be construed as a weather vane for how I might vote on the next nominee, … In the past I have not hesitated...

Secrecy will not stand,

I think it just looks absurd for us constantly to shovel out tax breaks when executives go on television and say they aren’t needed, … They don’t need tax incentives.

the government isn’t in the consumer protection business anymore.

It’s time to look beyond the budget ax to assure access to health care for all. It’s time to look for bipartisan solutions to the problems we can tackle today, and to work together for...

Democrats don’t say what we’re for instead.

It is hard to see Judge Roberts as a judicial activist who would place ideological purity or a particular agenda above or ahead the need for thoughtful legal reasoning.

And the single hardest thing, … is to get people beyond those points.

We cannot abandon them, and this legislation finds a fiscally responsible way of extending this successful law.

That’s an astounding theory of consumer protection,

There is an old saying that all roads lead to Rome. It seems the administration so often clearly believes that no matter what the evidence was at any particular time, essentially everything led to Saddam...

It’s time to force these objections out of the shadows and into the sunshine.

They got the right people involved to stop the activity.

Everybody comes to a hearing, and they could be giving the same position paper from 10 years ago. All they need to do is change the dates, … If you look at the tapestry of...

[But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said that last week’s breakthroughs were less the result of shrewd parliamentary maneuvering than of simple arithmetic: GOP majorities in the House and the Senate, combined with a...

We have a bit more direction today than before, but . . . there is still a long way to go.

If we are going to have a health care program that works for all Americans, we are going to have to get beyond the blame game.

Oregon’s fishing industry is a critical part of our state’s economy, and it will benefit in many ways from this Federal support approved today, … The dollars included in this bill will also go toward...

She will face some very significant questioning, I believe, in the hearings, but she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt.