If Obamacare is allowed to stand - and Congress is allowed to make the purchase of government-endorsed health insurance compulsory - there will be no meaningful limit on Washington's reach into the lives of the American people. That is certainly not what the Founders intended.

Sometimes, it might be called conservative; sometimes it might be called liberal. But the point is that the meaning of the Constitution and other laws should not change unless we the people change them.

I am pleased to report that Texas is known for having one of the strongest set of open government laws in our Nation. And ever since that experience, I have long believed that our federal government could use 'a little Texas sunshine.'

But I do think its unwise, and it - to build a mosque at the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of a terrorist attack. And I think to me it demonstrates that the - that Washington, the White House, the administration, the President himself seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of America.

Today 25 million Texans can celebrate our liberty, and honor the founding generation of Texans who secured it for us. Happy Texas Independence Day, and God Bless Texas.

I think we ought to talk about what the American people want, and that is jobs and get the economy on track.

One of the dangers of being here [the Senate] a while is you may have been on record directly and diametrically opposed to what one is saying today.