We are here today to try to make sure that the GI Bill that we passed can continue in the form that we passed it and still address some of these issues that are now challenging the program.

We've spent well over $1 trillion. At the same time, as I and others were predicting, we have seen the empowerment of Iran in the process.

I would like to commend you and Senator Harkin for your focus on that issue and look forward to the outcome of this hearing.

I think you and I both, as military veterans, got a good bit of our own education taken care of by Uncle Sam and we know how valuable that can be in terms of building the rest of somebody's professional life.

These problems highlight a key flaw in our higher education system.

That is where Jim Webb, newly elected Senator, came in and that is why we passed the Post-9/11 GI Bill that he authored.

I think we have inherited certain responsibilities as a result of what in my view was a great strategic blunder.

The World War II GI Bill, history shows, had a similar problem...

No one is holding any money hostage. I also think we can do so responsibly.

We are big boys and girls, and we understand that our words can have consequences nonetheless.

Thus, we call upon the administration to work with Congress to formulate a coherent, common sense approach to ending China's monopoly on rare earths.

I cosponsored legislation authored by Representative Mike Coffman of Colorado to streamline the process for domestic rare earth production.

It is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. It is an American issue that requires bipartisan leadership.

I would like to express my thanks to the Commission members, particularly the Co-Chairs Michael Thibault and Former Congressman Chris Shays.

We talk in the Senate and in the Congress about presidential commissions, and sometimes with a great deal of skepticism, but I think this Commission demonstrates the way that these commissions should work.

It was very clear to me that something was fundamentally wrong with the way that contracts for infrastructure reconstruction, wartime support, and security programs were being put into place in Iraq and Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.

The ultimate determination as to whether this merger impermissibly restrains competition or otherwise violates the antitrust laws lies with the FTC and not with the House of Representatives or the Judiciary Committee on which we sit today.

My colleague Mr. Marino of Pennsylvania has led efforts to even bargaining power between PBMs and pharmacies.