Ben Nelson

If there is any silver lining here, it is that while the animal cruelty situation was so severe, it does not appear that the food safety situation was--that there was any contamination.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to preside here rather shortly.

I want to thank the Chairman for holding this important hearing today; providing us with an opportunity to hopefully sort out the myriad problems and disturbing actions that have led to this unprecedented recall.

First of all, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate so much your calling this hearing.

Certainly animal cruelty is something to be avoided.

We've been alarmed, like the rest of the Country, at the rising rates of suicide by military servicemembers.

If there's any more evidence that any of our state's families need for having a NOAA weather radio or all hazards radio, this is another example of having that device to warn you in the middle of the night when you aren't necessarily…

I agree with you in not setting an end date to how long our troops will be there, not to send the message to our enemies and adversaries as to what date we plan to withdraw or what our plans are.

If the President said 95 times our threat in Iraq is al Qaeda, why wouldn't we be repositioning and transitioning as soon as possible?

We understand the problem that any democracy or attempted democracy has with militias involved in their military or in their government.

I guess I'm still of the opinion that if we have them on the run, we ought to take them out and put whatever forces it takes to do that, because that's going to have a more enduring impact than trying to keep the temporary peace in Iraq…

As a former governor, I am a big supporter of our National Guard Forces.