Dick Durbin

If I can ask you, Mr. Secretary, you've stated the obvious. And that is you're faced with budgetary challenges.

the problem is actually significantly worse than was previously reported.

If we're going to have a first-class Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, we've got to pay for it.

The Subcommittee has been concerned about the health of the combat vehicle industrial base for several years.

I've raised in previous hearings the for-profit colleges and universities that are offering educational opportunities to not only the men and women in uniform but their families.

A lack of funding for the Reserve, the Guard, the regular forces, you name it.

I respond through the Chair to the Senator from Alaska. There was a time when there wasn't that much controversy associated with this. We knew that we waited too long. People had fallen behind in their earning potential. We had to pick the…

I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Pryor) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Pryor) are necessarily absent.

But let me ask the next question to either or both. In a recent report, we've seen a steady increase in the cost of remanufactured Apache.

We cannot repeat this mistake again.

It basically does for some, but what I found though is if you are a family with two kids, for example, you have to make almost $15 an hour to get beyond the poverty level. We are talking about $10.10 phased in, and many of those people…

I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Begich), the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), the Senator from Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu), and the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Pryor) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Begich), the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Coons), the Senator from Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu), and the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Pryor) are necessarily absent.

we are going to be holding that hearing on April 29.

Rather than put the addict in jail with little or no treatment, we find ways to put them in programs that start to turn their lives around.

What a great testimony you gave us.

Why not use that money for something that works?

I have introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act, supported by the administration, on a bipartisan basis in Congress, to reduce the rates of incarceration.

I think it is one of the most important things we can do as a Nation to pay the respect to our veterans.

We are spending $30,000--in Miami, $35,000 a year to keep those frequent flyers going back and forth.

People suffering from these disabilities are no more likely to be violent than the population at large and more likely to be victims of violence.

We have tried veterans courts, we have tried drug courts, and basically what we are saying is that certain criminal defendants should not be pushed right into the criminal justice system.

We need to be able to interact with those folks as soon as we can.

Wrap-around services, intensive services, assertive community treatment, where the treatment team goes to the person who has a mental illness...