I have been in the field for a decade, and I just went through this program, and it is a night-and-day difference of how qualified I am now to do this work.

I have just seen it firsthand in Minnesota and am so proud of the work that Mr. Vieth does.

Thank you very much, Senator Grassley.

I want to also thank our staff who have worked on this, Craig Kalkut and Sammy Clark, as well as Maria Laverdiere.

I am proud that the National Child Protection Training Center is in Winona, Minnesota, a beautiful town, not too far from Iowa.

How have the cuts affected your ability to train child protection professionals?

I would urge Congress to continue the momentum.

I will tell you my own experience, luckily, not a violent case.

Sometimes people are very bureaucratic in their testimony, and this was very personal, which I truly appreciated.

Senator Sessions, who could not be here today, but is my Ranking Member, and Senator Grassley, as well.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Iowa for his very nice remarks about Katie Beckett. I come to the floor for the same reason--to celebrate the life of Katie Beckett. Never has the word ``inspiration'' been used more appropriately…

Senator Grassley and I have introduced legislation to open up the Medicare database so that people could really see what the data was.

Research has shown, and as our experts here today will echo, that preventing and intervening in child abuse is a key to improving the world in which we live and maintaining strong and healthy families.

We have to make a concerted effort to have frontline professionals working with researchers in determining research projects funded by the government.

Thank you.

The effects of child abuse are profound. They have far-reaching consequences.

A good example would be the Zero-to-Three courts that I think, Senator Grassley, you assisted in obtaining discretionary funding for in Polk County, Iowa.

I appreciate that opportunity.