For three decades, Democrats and Republicans worked together to make our environment better.

I don't have a right to pick the president's cabinet on substance.

Our seniors have worked long and hard to better the economy, raise families and serve their communities. They deserve to live independent and active lives in their golden years.

By strengthening the economy, providing job opportunity and meeting the needs of working families, we can ensure the continued prosperity of our nation.

I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia [Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former Ku Klux Klan recruiter] that he would have been a great senator at any moment. . . . He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this nation.

When the public's right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered.

Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.