Johnny Isakson

I applaud Senator Orrin Hatch for introducing a series of reforms for American workers and employers.

We should certainly not be limiting individuals' investment education and advice as the Department of Labor is proposing.

I would continue to urge the Secretary of Labor to revisit the Department's approach to this issue.

Creating an environment for sound retirement is not only good for participants, it is good for America.

If our goal is to increase the number of Americans saving for retirement, we should be expanding the options available to employers.

You used one phrase that ought to be a sign over the door of every Department of Labor Office in the United States of America.

No, it's parental deficit disorder.

The guy that beat me for Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller, who is now one of my closest personal friends, did our State a great service when he passed the Georgia lottery and constitutionally dedicated the money to 4-year-old…

I want to associate myself with Senator Hatch's remarks about your service and my appreciation for what you have done for me.

In 1983, when Reagan and O'Neill, Tip O'Neill, changed the Social Security rules, I was 39 years old.

I just want to thank the chairman for calling this hearing. There is probably no more important subject for us to be talking about.

I think there are challenges with raising the age, and I think one of the challenges is, clearly, it is going to become very difficult to ask a coal miner to go down in that mine when he is 68 or 69 or 70.

The solutions are not easy, but Senator Toomey's comments about preserving the tax benefits and incentives of government policy to direct people toward more private savings are absolutely essential.

We had a hearing in Atlanta in August 2012 on the veteran suicide problem at the Atlanta VA but also focused nationwide on the problem--that 22 veterans a day, 8000 a year are taking their own life.

Is there a particular medical problem that causes your adjudicators the biggest problems? Is there a particular medical condition?

To start with, nearly 700,000 veterans and their families do not yet have an answer to their requests for benefits.

I want to thank VA for the attention they have been paying most recently to the veteran suicide issue but please remind them that until we get our arms around this we are going to continue to focus like a laser beam on that problem because…

Although any true progress is welcome, I think there are still many reasons for concern.

Today, more than a quarter of a million appeals are waiting to be resolved.

In fact, The American Legion recently testified that it found errors in over half of the decisions that it reviewed last year.

I thank the chairman, and I look forward to working with him.<bullet> Access to Compounded Drugs

We have got to tread very carefully on going from where we are with a clear definition to a narrowing of that definition which might, by intent or the unintentional consequences of depriving a lot of people of work that is legitimate that…

Because there are an awful lot of small--the National Association of Home Builders said 75 percent of homebuilders, or was it 75, 85 percent of homebuilders built 25 or fewer homes and 75 percent built 10 or fewer homes.

What you want to make sure is that the master contractor that performs the services you provide, which is the main structural service in terms of construction, is competing with you on a level playing field.

I ran a company for 22 years that had 800 independent contractors and 200 employees.