I thank the gentlewoman from the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I appreciate, again, her work as a coanchor tonight and bringing not only the increasing issues of wages for American workers, but tying and connecting the point around housing and…

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania and again thank him for his dedication and commitment on behalf of his constituents in Philadelphia, in bringing their voice to this process. General Leave

I thank the chairman from the Education and Labor Committee. It makes a big difference when he has the gavel and the priorities that he has set as the chairman of that committee and the fact that, as we have done from the beginning of this…

I know the affected workers that I hear from in my district, they want this raise. This raise would provide on the order of about $3,000 a year. That is enough money to make a tremendous difference in the life of a preschool teacher, a…

They tried messing in the election in Greece and in Macedonia over the name change to try to prevent Macedonia from moving forward with the NATO accession.

In addition to this committee, I serve on the House Democracy Partnership where we partner with legislatures in other countries with budding democracies.

I think most young folks make mistakes. Some are illegal, some are not.

The vision of your congresswoman to bring these congressional hearings is very significant.

Anytime someone has an incentive to fill their house, it doesn't make sense to me.

to increase access to programs and services so that folks who are young have access to maybe more non-punitive interventions.

They are now banned in our state.

I think what we are seeing is that we get what we pay for, so I believe that we need to dramatically increase what we are spending on social services.

We can't just cut those budgets. We have to make sure the money gets shifted to the resources where they can produce the best results.

What could we have done with that $3 million for these three individuals rather than incarcerating them?

We passed the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons so that they have the ability to change the circumstances.

I want to ask the witnesses what specifically, Ms. Edmond, what investments could be made on the front end to help strengthen our communities by supporting our programs around children, around families----

We passed a bill to compensate those who were wrongfully convicted and to restore some justice there.

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I am honored to stand to propose an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is an opportunity to improve the security of the American people and modernize defense policy to meet the…