I am very much looking forward to working with all of you this Congress on these issues that are so close to my heart and so important to all of the families that we represent.

I think it is important for us, as Members of Congress, to remember that we all have a role to play in making sure that our communities are healthy and strong.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And, Mr. Ambassador, thank you. I thank you for the work you have done.

I thank you for the work you have done and the work you are doing, and for the candor in responding to inquiries and questions.

Much of my focus is on children, because children are such an important part of our population and represent so much of the future.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing, and I also want to thank all of our witnesses for coming to share with us.

Under the ACA, even though children cannot be denied coverage, they are charged higher premiums due to a preexisting condition.

Starting October 1, 2018, the Federal Government will provide a dollar-for-dollar match for State expenditures for the Kinship Navigator Program.

Child welfare is a deeply important issue to me and to the people of Illinois.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with her and as we implement the law.

We should not be cutting off food, housing, and healthcare for people who aren't working. We should be knocking down the barriers that are keeping them from getting good jobs and supporting them, just as people supported us in achieving…

We need ample feedback from the people who are successfully lifting up families in our communities to ensure that any policy changes we consider will help more Americans get good jobs and not bring added hardship on struggling families.

there is room for TANF to provide support that is currently not providing to some of the agencies that are doing the work.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I, too, thank the witnesses for being here.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you for holding this hearing about the continuing decline in working-age men in the labor force.

I said this is un-American.

I see every day the structure barriers to work that face low-income men in Chicago, especially African American men.

In 2014, nearly half of African American men between the age of 20 and 24 in Chicago were disconnected from both school and work.

My heart breaks for the people in Texas and Louisiana struggling to recover from Hurricane Harvey, and I look forward to working with you on ways our subcommittee can help in the recovery as well.

In Chicago, the unemployment rate for African American men was 21.7 percent in 2015, more than triple the national average.

The U.S. agriculture sector, including food manufacturers, is deeply concerned about the potential erosion of benefits under NAFTA.

I certainly agree that globalization is a fact of life. And we must be strategically prepared to market successfully whatever products, whatever businesses that we have to other countries.

I agree that NAFTA has been good to agriculture.

I live in Chicago, Illinois, and my hometown has the largest concentration of companies that process sugar-contained products made in our country.

Any time we continue to lose jobs that we can't replace, that becomes for me a trade issue.