Richard Blumenthal

I stand corrected. In fact, I misspoke.

I want to thank Senator Murray for her work to avoid another shutdown because in another case the shutdown itself aggravated the timing issue.

I would like you to tell me why the percentage of backlog claims in the Hartford office has increased from 57 to 58.6 percent?

Why does VA have no time measure for appeals?

Increasingly prevalent among our veteran community is the invisible wounds of Post Traumatic Stress often linked to suicide, unfortunately though not always.

Nothing we say here is to imply that this backlog is the result of any sort of malevolence or personal animus on the part of anybody at VA.

Accuracy is important. We do not want to sacrifice accuracy for the sake of eliminating the backlog because accuracy is itself a source of problems if it is ignored.

I want to call attention to the effort that has been made with respect to veterans of previous wars...

I know the Chairman has expressed his concern and other Members of the Committee are committed as well.

Isn't the problem that this relationship of trust has actually undermined trust in the American public and really threatens to completely eviscerate confidence in a system that operates in secret, makes secret law, and in the end the…

Do you think, though, that we ought to have a constitutional advocate?

Well, it would operate in secret, but it could be combined with other reforms that would provide for some greater measure of transparency to the FISA Court's opinions when it makes new law that affects Americans around the world or at…

In other words, the FISA Court should not be making law.

I believe strongly and I have written and used the oversight hearings of the Judiciary Committee, where I serve, to encourage the Department of Justice to continue policies and to encourage the FCC to adopt policies that ensure that…

I don't like the word restrictions as much as directives. I understand they should be neutral and fair, but they have to adopt policy approaches that really encourage the public interest.

I think more and more the spectrum is that blood supply, and the American public ought to understand how important it is.

Do you see that program continuing?

We are a nation of immigrants. And we should be welcoming and embracing a form of energy and initiative and talent which are exemplified by all three of you.

I would join my colleague, Senator Booker, in his remarks about immigration, which I have fought to reform and been proud to work on very actively in the two and a half years.

I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Senator Blumenthal pertaining to the introduction of S. 1714 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

I think the system can benefit from the kind of review that Chairman Begich is providing here.

I think everybody involved, anybody with the slightest exposure to this system, would agree that the current system is not ideal.

I think we heard Senator Blumenthal ask a good question about, you know, whether perhaps--or at least raise a concern whether the emphasis and the focus has shifted.

We are troubled by the blackout policies of professional sports leagues and broadcast and cable networks that all too often leave sports fans in the dark

I certainly join you in that general view and hope that you will perhaps join me in advocating that this exemption should be narrowed or eliminated if the leagues continue these blackout policies that are essentially anti-consumer and take…