Ninety-eight percent of our Republican colleagues have signed a pledge saying they won't close one special interest tax loophole for the purpose of deficit reduction.

It seems perfectly reasonable, and I think an ordinary American watching this proceeding would agree that you should be able to count the effort we made already toward the $4 trillion.

this is a responsible budget that begins to turn the corner in terms of the deficits and is very important in terms of job creation.

the question is not whether to reduce the deficits, the question has been how do we reduce the deficit

I dare say that Republicans and Democrats alike agree that the sequester is not the best way to achieve that deficit reduction.

Closing the door on that slush fund, I believe, will achieve real savings as we move into the out years.

I applaud you and the President for focusing in on these issues of safety.

We need to--a commitment from the Department of the Interior that there is going to be program integrity, that there will be no attempts to pick winners and losers.

If the ball is hidden and nobody knows, then that is not going to fulfill the objective.

I am from Maryland, as you know, and very focused on the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay watershed.

Our objective here is to have a rule where there is disclosure that brings about the confidence of the American public.

I do not believe that the way to reform government is to attack millions of hard working middle class workers.

We should not try to solve our budget problems on the backs of middle class Federal workers while we refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans.

If we do not help the middle-class families, the recovery is going to be much longer than we want it to be.

With current law, if we do not change it, the middle class is going to get socked.

Education is the ticket for being able to participate in the opportunities of America.

I am not objective with respect to this nominee. What you are going to hear from me is totally subjective.

Erin Conaton stands out from this group as a proven leader who has been especially adept at helping bring the Pentagon and Congress together on important issues.