if we are going to go back to privatizing that as was tried a few years ago, hand that over to Wall Street

Under the Republican budget, seniors would lose the new benefits provided by the healthcare reform law.

We will protect our promises to our seniors.

So the role of States and particularly of State officials like Lieutenant Governor Roberts and Director Taylor and Commissioner Koller in working together to have a coordinated strategy on this is really central to the success of this…

the Affordable Care Act provided very significant tools to States to improve the quality of care and to save money.

The House of Representatives recently passed a Republican budget which proposes privatizing Medicare and requiring seniors to pay the majority of their health expenses with their own money.

Let me be very clear. Social Security has paid out every dime owed to all eligible Americans without contributing a thing to the Federal deficit or debt.

I commend you for your leadership as a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

It is a little bit out of the traditional order for an official Senate hearing. But this is Rhode Island.

My goal in buying health insurance for my employees is never to pay for an MRI twice in one day.

One of the solutions that we have proposed in Rhode Island is to put tolls on I-95 to generate some of our own funding since the Federal funding is insufficient for these purposes.

Unfortunately for the Ranking Member, Oklahoma is one of the three States that has a higher percentage than Rhode Island of structurally deficient bridges.

I will just thank both of you for your interest in improving regulation for the American people and how best to regulate.

I complimented you on the intensity of the effort you put into getting the Recovery Act funding out into Rhode Island.

I have introduced the Regulatory Capture Prevention Act to create an office within the Office of Management and Budget that would investigate and report on regulatory capture wherever it may appear.

Are you looking in any way to try to improve the efficiency of these programs, their acceptance, and their legitimacy in the eyes of the fishing community?

I would ask if you would work with NOAA to start thinking in terms of more creative management of the species, working with the industry.

Rhode Island lands more fish than any other State except New Jersey, and we don't have representation on there.