The for-profit college industry is clearly the single-heaviest subsidized business in America. More than any defense contractor or any farm operation... So many of them are a horrible waste of students' time and of taxpayer dollars.
— Dick Durbin
It is a challenge to all of us, and it's a challenge we need to meet, to make sure the Quincy Veterans' Home is, in fact, giving the best care and the safest care in the state.
Across the VA's system in our state, the wait times are entirely too long on average.
Osama bin Laden is gone. The war in Iraq is over. Afghanistan is coming to a close.
Town meetings are not bean bag. I've had hundreds of them, and sometimes folks get upset. And that's part of America, part of our process.
It is tough to run for public office and face an opponent, to decide on issues what is the best thing, then face the criticism from colleagues, voters, the press and defend yourself.
Where would Monsanto be without the U.S. farm program and world-class research labs?
I've been there; I've been in the minority before. It humbles the exalted. But that's all right.
I'm confident ITT will get what it deserves.
We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.
When Senator McCain reaches across the aisle to find Democrats to support efforts to make America stronger, he finds plenty of us standing, willing to help him and many other Republican leaders.
We ought to deal with Social Security in a separate conversation that is not part of deficit reduction.
More people working and paying taxes reduces government expenditures and helps us move a little closer to balance.
DACA, to me personally, and the DREAM Act are very personal and mean an awful lot.
I've known Al Franken for over 20 years. He is my friend. He was on the floor of the Senate announcing his resignation. I sat just a few feet away from him. He said it was the worst day in his political life. It was a somber feeling. It was a reality.
When you're talking about long-term deficit reduction, $4 trillion worth, entitlement reform needs to be part of it.
We all make mistakes. But I'm lucky. Being from Illinois and from the Midwest, we believe in pretty basic fairness. Once you've made a mistake, get up, dust yourself off, and go to work.
I certainly want to be the whip, and that's an election every two years in the Senate Democratic caucus.
If we can get back to where I can earmark money to bring it home to Illinois... to make us a stronger economy, I'm going to continue to do it.
I've been impressed with Rick Guzman and his commitment to the residents of Aurora since I first met him many years ago.
I have always been critical and skeptical of fast-tracking. It is a take-it-or-leave-it approach to trade agreements which really deals members of Congress and their concerns out of the picture.
It is absolutely unacceptable to single out any political group - right, left, or center - and say we're going to target them. That is unthinkable.
I'm disappointed in Burger King's decision to renounce their American citizenship. I call on companies currently mulling this tax dodge to reconsider and on Congress to protect U.S. taxpayers from more of these schemes.
Like so many large companies in the U.S., Monsanto has prospered in large part due to U.S. taxpayer-funded programs and services.
This city of East St. Louis needs a tomorrow.
I want to continue to serve as whip of the caucus.
I don't disagree with Senator McCain when he talks about the earmark process.
You would think that, at this point, with records being kept and the vast amount of knowledge on these drugs, the pharmacists could wave off prescriptions that are dangerous to customers.
My wish is to bring the troops home as quickly as possible.
We borrow 40 cents out of every dollar that we spend. We borrow most of it from countries like China. They have become major creditors of the United States and have more power over our economy than we want them to. So dealing with this is not only the right thing economically, it's certainly right from a moral viewpoint.
We want to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to solve our problems.
Flint is to the lead issue what Three Mile Island was to nuclear power. People are stepping back and thinking, 'There still is lead in my home?'
Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, but those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff.
Our soldiers deserve better. They need a plan for success. They need an administration that is honest about the costs of war, human and otherwise, and they need full accountability and oversight on Capitol Hill.
I really believe in the people of this country.
The notion that a company would give up on this nation to get a tax break isn't going to sit well with the American people.
I'm going to do what is best for the caucus.
We need to respect free speech, but we need to respect one another's rights to free speech, too.
Personally, I would counsel any woman who asked, in my family, to do her best to carry the child full term, and I'd try to help. But I do believe the government should not prohibit a woman from making that decision.
With every new corporate inversion, the tax burden increases on the rest of us to pay what these corporations don't.
You'll never get progress in Washington until you have a majority, bipartisan majority, that really wants to solve problems.
I think for all of us who call East St. Louis part of our heritage, we want to make a better day for the city.
I enjoy my job, and I will help my state all I can.
Until we make campaigns affordable, then we're going to have too many members of Congress out rattling the cup with special interest groups.
We believe that there are aspects of border security that Democrats and Republicans can agree on.
If we're going to have tax cuts, let's focus on those in lower and middle income groups. Make sure that they get the breaks they need to continue to try to provide for their families.
Our party feels that we need to have fair compensation, living wage, good benefits, and decent treatment of workers, and that we can do that and still be competitive on a global basis.
We don't want to see the government shut down.
Any reports of animal cruelty should be thoroughly investigated and those operators held accountable.
I prefer Raisin Bran. But I like the Mini-Wheats.
