Chris Murphy

We encourage policymakers to broaden the use of health savings accounts and other flexible spending arrangements.

I thank Senator Merkley for his remarks this week, as this body has been rightly focused on the firing of James Comey and the imagined rationale that the President gave.

It seems as if sometimes we are willing to speak out for democracy when authoritarian regimes are weak or when authoritarian regimes are operating contrary to our interests.

I think this focus we're having today on democracy assistance is really important because, you know, a lot of our constituents are hyper confused about how we approach democracy assistance abroad.

This looks pretty purposeful at this point, the failure to staff the State Department at high levels.

But 2,300 cuts by attrition in the State Department would be absolutely crippling to the State Department and USAID's mission overseas.

I think what you are hearing from this side is a real worry about what is happening in this administration.

Real economic assistance, and then, as we have talked a lot about in Congress, real efforts to build up objective media to fight back against the Russia propaganda which is real and present throughout all of the eastern edge of the…

I do not think that Russia wants to militarily own Ukraine. I think they want to create confusion and clouded title around a significant enough portion of the country.

I have worried from the beginning that a European Reassurance Initiative anchored almost wholly in military support misunderstands the nature of the Russian threat.

I thank the leader for his remarks, especially with respect to the new addition of the healthcare bill. It is a disaster for Americans. It is immoral. It doesn't work. It doesn't address any of the problems that remain in the underlying…

I would argue that there's no reason to limit the care to those who are in emergency situations, nor to limit it to 90 days.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank all of you for your testimony and the VA and all of the staff you represent.

If confirmed, I am committed to implementing all congressional laws, including Section 1112 of FDASIA.

I commit to working with my colleagues at CMS and you on this issue.

I hope that you will see that it is your role to depoliticize that process to the extent that you think it is politicized rather than to elevate the politicized process.

These parents want their children to be safe, and they also want their children to get the education they were promised.

This is a place in which diversity of opinion should not be acceptable.

Diversity of views is healthy on campuses, not with respect to sexual assaults, not with respect to a recognition that the problem exists.

That is an absolute gift to the Russians. They project their power not just through military means but through propaganda and energy bullying, through outright graft and intimidation.

I worry that sometimes when we are talking about this administration's policy on Russia, we selectively read comments and actions from the administration to create a policy that we want to be true but is not really true yet.

I think you agree that that is, ultimately, an important question but not necessarily one that should cost hundreds or thousands of U.S. lives.

So our hearings that month were U.S. strategy regarding Iran, prospects for engagement with Russia, more effective strategy for counterterrorism, return and resettlement of displaced Iraqis.

I think we need to put behind us the tendency we have had, I think over the last couple of decades, to sort of rule in or out this or that policy tool as a starting point.

I would agree with Senator Cardin that we need to invest in our own diplomatic capacity, which I think is vital for wielding all those tools.