We tried to pass information-sharing legislation, as you know, in the House and the Senate.

People want us to work together and the spirit that Senators Boxer and Inhofe bring to these proceedings is, I think, what the folks are looking for across the Country.

Thank you Chairman Weber for holding this hearing, and I also want to thank this excellent panel of witnesses for their testimony and for being here today.

I would hope that nobody here is going to be supportive of the 19-percent cut for some of the most vulnerable people in this country.

So please do not paint me into the corner of being an obstructionist or partisan about doing something about the debt when you have taken the biggest part of the problem and ruled it off limits.

Am I correct that you also understand that in an economy where 70 percent of our GDP is based on consumer demand, that when we have millions and millions of people who have literally no disposable income, it is going to be hard to grow the…

Medicare today is about cancer, it is about diabetes, it is about heart disease, it is about stroke.

I have a problem with some of the wealthiest people in this country, who have more money than people can dream of, coming here and lecturing us about how we have to lower Social Security benefits for disabled vets and working people.

These are enormously profitable corporations that in some recent years have paid zero in Federal income taxes.

the truth is when we speak about discretionary spending, the money is in the Defense Department.

14 years later, the Pentagon still cannot pass an audit.

What I would say to my colleagues... when folks want more and more money... we do not even know how they are spending their money right now.

We must also consider the population that is under 65, because there will be a greater focus on prevention.

Maybe, if we are serious about deficit reduction, rather than cutting Social Security or Medicare, we might want to examine that reality.

Hedge fund managers get a tax benefit that the witnesses have already condemned through the carried interest exception, and as a result, in the recent years they have had tax rates that are lower than the tax rates for Rhode Islanders who…

But the other thing, what we know is when you invest in the IRS--and they can do the audits--we bring in significant amounts of money for every dollar we spend in funding the IRS.

the Pentagon could not account for some $2.3 trillion in transactions.

I will be introducing legislation that will strengthen Social Security. It will make it solvent until the year 2060 by lifting the cap on taxable income, which is now at $118,500.