the vast bulk of that 22 million are losing healthcare because they simply cannot afford it because the costs, under the Republican healthcare bill, will spiral.

state economies will be at risk

Insurance is really important to people. They prefer jobs that have insurance. Do you think that the purpose of healthcare reform should be to insure more people or less people?

I think one of the reasons that the healthcare bill that is about to be pending before the Senate is so stunningly unpopular is that the President, your boss, talked consistently during the campaign and after the campaign about a…

CBO does not come to the conclusion that 23 million people, 22 million people are going to lose coverage because they are exercising their right to decline coverage.

This bill made a clear statement from the Congress about mental health is both important and bipartisan.

It would have very serious, negative consequences on us to be in a flat-funding scenario.

What happens to you in a flat-funded budget?

I just think that you are being used by the Republican majority for political purposes, and I think it compromises your independence.

I will just express my deep concern about the actions of the majority party in the House and the Senate with respect to the continued relevance and independence of the Congressional Budget Office.

The House healthcare bill, which was rammed through with almost no public debate, with no time for any legislator to read that piece of legislation, was done so without a CBO score.

I share the chairman's interest. I will just note that GAO has been an indispensable partner to those of us who think it is our mission to be very careful with the dollars that our taxpayers send to Washington.

For those of us who believe in CBO, I think there is a deliberate campaign to try to reduce its relevance.

In a flat-funding scenario, we would lose about 200 people by the end of the year.

Republicans are not going through the committee process. There is no bill being produced by committee.

My fear is that the way in which Congress is interacting with CBO is changing radically.

I think it is important to understand what the law says. The law says there is only one healthcare provider that by law has to treat every single person who comes in the door; they can't turn away individuals based upon their ability to…

I thank my friend from Hawaii for convening us here tonight. This isn't theoretical. This isn't about numbers. This is about real people. We know them. They exist throughout our States. I have told this story a few times before on the…

I think we all got a gut punch earlier today. We received news that the young man who just returned from North Korea, after being abused and tortured there, had passed. If you read the statement from his family, it was hard to read. You…

I wanted to turn back to this question of the President's Article II authority in the context of a fairly extraordinary set of events that is playing out as we speak inside Syria.

There is, right outside this Chamber, a picture of the authors of the Connecticut Compromise, two of the Connecticut delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

I appreciate that shout out to Connecticut. You are right. The idea of the House is that it is supposed to respond, perhaps, more quickly to the temporary passions of the public, which is ironic, given that the passion of the public today…

During your confirmation process, we spoke about the importance of the mental health section of the 21st Century Cures Act and you committed to work together to ensure the law's implementation.

There is a total disconnect between the case you are making and the array of challenges that need increased resources in the budget that has been submitted.

This is a region that deserves much more of our attention from both sides of the aisle.