Chris Dodd

Your work on behalf of children and families, as in so many other areas, has left an indelible mark on our Nation.

I have a lot of confidence in Senator Bennet leading that effort here.

You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

I frankly don't understand the thinking here.

Few Senators in the history of this body can claim such a record of accomplishment.

We'll miss you terribly.

I would remind everybody of something that you did during the Clinton administration.

We need to make sure that they are ready for school; and in those early years, we need to make sure that every school is ready and expects every child to learn.

Congress should be very proud of the efforts it has made over the decades to improve the access to and the quality of public education in this Nation.

Helen, once again thank you immensely; and so articulate; wonderful to hear that story about that woman from Maine.

Senator Dodd, you have been a leader in proposing legislation to reconstitute the poverty line to a level that is more realistic.

Understanding this framework is vital to understanding why we have not made more progress in reducing poverty over the past 40 years.

The question we never could get anyone to do was to tell us, now what would be the cost saved if someone uses it and actually loses weight, becomes healthier and all the other aspects of it.

I too want to echo what Bernie Sanders said, and that is--and for me, of course, over the last 30 years...

I'm just as curious as to why, because I suspect there are people who are involved in that who would also want to be associated and think of themselves.

If you really probe an audience, what they really care about more than themselves, is what happens to their kids and their grandchildren.

Only a mother of a 1-year-old would call them a 'blob'.

I'm kind of sick of it. Where we've got these dueling statements--and we've got one side saying, which I think is correct, and I don't know why everybody doesn't agree--that we don't attack both what's going on in the schools and have…

You never failed children; you never faltered in being their advocate.

We strengthened Head Start, I believe, and included within the new authorization Centers of Excellence.

It is hard to believe that additional thinking and investment in this issue... would not pay enormous dividends for the Nation.

We need to focus on it.

I'm counting on you to get it done as I leave.

The more we knew about that, the more we could do about it.

I presume you consider other sources of income that may be coming in--family support, others that could be supporting that conclusion.