Until the people of Puerto Rico take responsibility for their votes, for the officials they have elected, and then set things right, how can they make a case for statehood?

Instead, they are fleeing from them. And that is not because of any act of God, that is because of acts of government.

In California, I find these hearings most reassuring. I find some comfort in knowing there is a government as badly managed as my own.

That is another way of saying let's invite corruption into the process.

We have been at this now for 50 years, debating these issues, and over the years, we do have experience with a lot of policies that have worked and a lot of policies that haven't worked.

And it may be something that is simply endemic to grants, and maybe we ought to be just doing a lot less of that.

Well, we all have to do better. And as I watch these massive grants going out with very little direction and virtually no oversight, it concerns me greatly.

And you would think that if the gun control laws were a solution to the problem, the problem would at least be getting better by now, not getting worse. But it is clearly getting much worse.

I have seen people who couldn't pay their smugglers and got stabbed in the face 22 times.

It may be something that is simply endemic to grants, and maybe we ought to be just doing a lot less of that.

We all have to do better. And as I watch these massive grants going out with very little direction and virtually no oversight, it concerns me greatly.