Reducing the budget for Amtrak makes no sense unless the Administration is prepared to implement a reform strategy which can be supported by the budget request.
We need to end permanently the tax that punishes American values of savings and investment and of building small businesses and family farms and ranches.
At a time when the insurgents are saying that time is working against them, my Democratic colleagues are introducing a measure to set a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq that will undercut the momentum that the insurgents themselves say we have built in Iraq.
I don’t think anyone who has followed the progress of the Islamofascist terrorists who have threatened us believe we are going to be safe if we try a fortress mentality, to step back and say no one is going to hit us, they don’t care about the United States. They do.
One of the most widespread myths about the deal is that the Administration is outsourcing the security of our ports to a company from the United Arab Emirates.
Similarly, today, we do not know what will happen as we wage the War on Terror. We do know that we can count on the strong support from our closest ally and friend in the world in winning this war to secure our freedoms and the freedoms for all peoples throughout the world.
Change is tough, people don’t like it, but it is necessary. Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.
America has survived and grown stronger through September 11th and subsequent wars with Afghanistan and Iraq and those who seek to do us harm. We have faced – and met – tremendous challenges ramping up a public health and safety system to protect Americans from future threats.
History’s lesson is to make the most of reform opportunities when they arise because they do not arise often and they do not last long.
More time on paperwork means less time spent with students or preparing lessons for students. It is as simple as that. The numerous reforms in the bill will go a long way to free our time of special educators.
Abroad, our most important policy is to support our troops and continue forward-thinking foreign policy in the war on terror – keeping our enemies on the run and hitting them before they hit us.
The death tax is one of the leading causes of the dissolution of small businesses.
No one who knows my personal situation would think I am not sympathetic to the needs of the active forces.
Remember, we know the end of the story of World War II and the Cold War. But day by day, living in fear of the Nazis and then in fear of the Soviets, the outcome was by no means certain.
America demands invention and innovation to succeed.
As the Senator from Vermont was kind enough to note, I did have the experience of being commander in chief of our National Guard in Missouri for 8 years.
A number of the major terrorist captures we have made, the terrorist operations designed for the United States that we have interrupted, were enabled by the terrorist tracking program.
If we don’t act now, the death tax will come back in just a few years. Under current law the death tax is phased out in 2010 but comes back in full force in 2011. That is a ridiculous and untenable policy.
Our National Guard, as I think everybody knows, has provided about 40 percent of the boots on the ground in Iraq and in the conflict against Islamofascism. They went into that battle, being called up for their national security service, short of equipment.
The death tax punishes the American dream – making it virtually impossible for the average American family to build wealth across generations.
America’s workers face a battle for their jobs. They are the finest workers in the world. American workers grow, harvest, and mine some of the world’s highest quality and most plentiful raw materials.