Joe Courtney

Prior to the 2012 election, real, meaningful reform of our nation's immigration policy seemed completely out of the political realm of the possible.

I particularly want to compliment you for organizing this hearing early in this Congress because there is no question that since the election last November this issue has suddenly gotten a lot more political momentum.

We are still spending $2 billion a week in Afghanistan.

If your request for BRAC does materialize and it moves at mach speed through the Congress, we are still hitting 2021.

I feel like we are kind of shadow boxing here because we are trying to get our arms around obviously critical issues.

But I think again, we have got to sort of step back and recognize there is a social value here about making higher education affordable.

We have, I think, a duty to make sure that we are helping people make that choice and loan forgiveness...

We all benefit from it and it is a social benefit that we shouldn't allow arbitrary budget rules to necessarily interfere with.

But again, it is a challenge because of that 2002 budget baseline that everything costs money when you are trying to sort of fix this thing and--but I think again, we have got to sort of step back and recognize there is a social value here…

Hopefully we can find that sweet spot to try and adjust the system.

I think frankly that was the power of the President's message when he was on the road which is that people were seeing home mortgage rates at 3 percent and kids were going to see their rates go up to 6.8 percent.

We are trying to look after the public good, not just the return on investment for a particular bank.

It seems offensive that the government might be pursuing an interest that the private lenders were not willing to pursue.

Nothing in the proposal could cut benefits for veterans, members of the Armed Forces, or for seniors.

I feel a special responsibility to help meet the needs of that community and to the parents who have suffered such unimaginable horror.

We must fund home energy assistance programs like LIHEAP for families across the country who are struggling to stay warm.

The bipartisan bill moves forward on recommendations the Government Accountability Office (GAO) made.

We need to focus on common sense solutions that would reduce the deficit while preserving the important programs.

I have been against sequestration from the very beginning.

I think this is the wrong approach.

This is a committee which last year and apparently this year again seems to be the place where the strongest effort is being made, in my opinion, to butcher a program which has done so much in terms of raising life expectancy for seniors…

It's a national crisis.

We need to make LIHEAP funding a priority in 2014.

I urge you to reject proposals that would end Medicare as we know it.

But in terms of real savings, I mean, that is where I think, you know, holding off repair work is kind of like not getting your oil change in your car.