This is a hearing designed to discuss the working conditions that nurses at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital are facing and why they have been on strike for almost 3 months.

They tell me that they are stressed out. They are burnt out and are leaving the profession they love in droves because they are overworked, undervalued, and are forced each and every day to do more work with less resources.

For working class people, lower income people, the gap in their life expectancy with the rich is about 10 years in America.

The idea that you are willing to go without paychecks to deal with--to walk on picket lines, to deal with all of the stuff out there in order to protect your patients is rather extraordinary.

We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

The function of a humane and civilized health care system is to provide quality care to all, not to make huge profits for the insurance companies, the drug companies.

Thank you, Chairman Sanders, for calling this hearing and giving me the chance to provide my testimony.

They tell me that they are stressed out. They are burnt out and are leaving the profession they love in droves because they are overworked, undervalued, and are forced each and every day to do more work with less resources.

Safe staffing is not just some abstract concept. It literally improves patient care, keeps more nurses in the profession, and most importantly, saves lives.

I want to thank all of the nurses who are in this room, the nurses who are watching this event on livestream, and the many, many nurses all over this country who put their lives on the line during COVID.

I have been on the Senate Health, Education and Labor Pension Committee for 18 years, and you know what, we have never had a larger meeting than this.

What the nurses have told me, and I have had the opportunity on several occasions to sit down and talk with these nurses, is that what this strike has everything to do with is the safety of their patients.

Thank you, Chairman Sanders, for calling this hearing and giving me the chance to provide my testimony.

In the United States of America, we spend almost twice as much per capita as any other major country.

Today, I rise to remember a fallen officer from Tennessee, Sergeant William Cherry of the Macon County Sheriff's Department. Sergeant Cherry passed away following a head-on collision that occurred while he was conducting a routine patrol…

For working class people, lower income people, the gap in their life expectancy with the rich is about 10 years in America.

The function of a humane and civilized health care system is to provide quality care to all, not to make huge profits for the insurance companies, the drug companies.

I wanted to take a few minutes to share my thoughts regarding the horrific situation in Israel and Gaza. On October 7, Hamas terrorists waged a barbarous attack against Israel, killing over 1,400 innocent men, women, and children. Young…