I could not agree more that we should take our existing resources and channel them to programs that work.

I asked him specifically on Medicaid, does he show any significant work disincentive as a result of Medicaid? And his answer was 'No.'

It was a very stark example of misplaced priorities.

It's time to do the hard work needed to put in place a fiscally responsible budget that adopts the balanced approach recommended by bipartisan groups.

Why are Republicans making such deep cuts to programs that help so many? Because their lopsided approach to the budget plan refuses to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay one penny more for the purpose of deficit reduction.

But in Parliamentary systems where they can engage all these programs at once, they look at these problems and they say, 'Collectively, we are spending a great deal of money. We need to fix the way we collectively spend the money.'

if you look at the Republican budget, it dramatically cuts, not reforms, it dramatically cuts a lot of those important supports that have helped that poverty level come down

I have not heard any testimony today that actually goes out to propose specific changes.

the number I was giving you was for able-bodied adults. Did not include the elderly and kids.

It simply adds insult to injury to pretend that deep cuts to food and nutrition programs... will somehow, quote, 'strengthen,' unquote, that safety net.

That budget, the Republican budget, cuts $810 billion from the base funding from Medicaid, $810 billion.

It is a budget that showers large new tax breaks on the wealthiest in this country while hurting the middle class.

the proposal that our Republican colleagues in the House have made is that we would, relative to today's sequester, we would increase our spending on defense, and we would make up for that increase by dramatically cutting programs in…

the Republican budget turns it into a block ramp, and cuts it to a level where it is one-third below the Congressional Budget projected levels.

I could cite many examples of concerns that we have, and we could talk about BPA in plastics and baby bottles that has been brought to national attention.

I think now it is agreed by every member of this Committee that the TSCA law today doesn't work. It is broken. It is not protecting the public. And we have a responsibility to act.

Let's make sure we get it right this time, because it may be 37 years before we get back to it again.

We need to deal with asbestos, for goodness sake. We need to ban asbestos.