I care very much about hearing about that today.

the No. 1 thing the Prime Minister there raised was climate change because they are on the ocean.

I am honored to join the Indian Affairs Committee which plays such an important role for our tribal communities all across the Country.

Back in Minnesota and all across the Country, young native women are also falling victim to sexual crimes and increased trafficking.

the assessment explores how climate change could threaten U.S. security in the next 20 years.

Opening Statement of Senator Al Franken

I'm proud that my State of Minnesota was the first State to enact legislation, in 1993, requiring public reporting of drug-company marketing payments to doctors.

So, when the healthcare reform debate takes place, and there are some Senators, like myself, who think that the money to pay for this is actually there in the system, that if we do this right, we can save enough money to cover everybody…

As lawmakers, I believe it is our job to remove barriers that create unnecessary costs and unethical influence in the healthcare system.

It's counterproductive to be discussing reforming the healthcare system while allowing industry to maintain its hold on physicians' decisions.

Even under Minnesota's progressive State law, the influence of industry on healthcare is rampant.

While transparency is a necessary first step, it is not sufficient.

the synergy, Senator Franken, is huge.

How long are they allowed to be on probation before they have to stop doing what they're doing?

It drives me crazy to hear all this talk about, 'We can't pay for healthcare reform.' We can pay for healthcare reform, but we've got to get on top of the overuse of expensive therapies in place of therapies that actually may work better…

But, the conclusion of all of you is that this practice, of industry-funded and specific industry-funded CME drives up the cost of medicine in this country?

Medicine is a lot better now than it was when we were kids. That doesn't mean that industry should fund CME.

Thank you, Ranking Member Sessions.