The Democratic substitute bill would have raised taxes on upper-income earners, the very people who are helping to create jobs through their small- and mid-sized businesses.

American workers like those at Boeing and its supplier companies aren't asking for a handout, or a leg up. They are asking for a chance at fair competition.

The same can be said of partial birth abortion, which is a horribly violent procedure which kills a baby moments before birth. This decision is contemptuous to Congress, which overwhelmingly passed the ban.

The real discrimination here is by activist judges who are trying to deny children the advantages of a simple family.

In today's meeting, we see further vindication for the policies of President Bush, which have ended a vicious dictatorship and brought freedom and hope to millions.

We have never embraced a system in which it requires 60 votes to confirm a judge, and we should not be doing that now.