Bill Nelson

I hope that we can pursue the most economically prudent model.

I'm very proud, Mr. Chairman, of what the Committee did on that.

The Justice Department has been utterly lax over the last 8 years.

That's one of the most important things that we can be discussing right now, because there's a lot of anticompetition in the healthcare marketplace.

The practices going on in America today among health insurance are the most anticompetitive that we have.

Government is here for a reason. And if you let insurance companies self-regulate, God help us all.

For too long, too many healthcare decisions have been made behind closed doors, with industry profits--not the patient's best interests--in mind.

The purpose of this hearing is to see if the U.S. Government is protecting the consumer in these down times.

Sounds like we've got a lot of work on this to do, Mr. Chairman, to protect consumers from scams.

So, is the FTC impotent to attack these scams?

Well, Mr. Chairman, if--any other questions from me would be superfluous. I think we've seen there's an inability of the system to react to a circumstance to try to head it off in the first place.

Well, obviously, it isn't working.

Charlie allowed as how, what he wanted to do was, he wanted to go to Annapolis as a Marine Colonel.

Charlie is that. Charlie could not get an appointment to Annapolis in South Carolina in 1964 because of the politics of segregation.

Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver come as a team, Mr. Chairman.

I have learned more about leadership from Charlie Bolden than any other person in my life; and he says that includes my 20 years in the Air Force and my 12 years at NASA.

Lori has been in aerospace and space activities all of her adult life.

As Senator Nelson indicated today, invasions pose a significant challenge for resource management and undermine restoration efforts.

I filed a bill in February which amends the Lacey Act and declares pythons as an injurious animal.

When is the time for action? We already have one tragedy on our hands.

We have been warning about the dangers that these lethal snakes present.

Now, let me tell you how bad this has become in the Florida Everglades.

It needs to address what I am going to show you in law as well.

This mussel, this zebra mussel, is really a problem.

Mr. Chairman, while Senator Levin is still here, I just want to say that I am a sponsor of that bill in the Commerce Committee.