Tammy Duckworth

These entrepreneurs are especially vital in areas such as rural Illinois because they do hire local people to work on their contracts.

Will you commit to working with me to reassure Illinois' small businesses that DOT will preserve the DBE program?

If confirmed, will you work with me to either reverse this rule or to, at the very least, make sure that it works for everyone?

The application of this rule will slow down the delivery of important transportation projects nationwide.

I am deeply concerned that this recent DOT rule... threatens to disrupt important transportation projects in Illinois and throughout all of the Midwest.

I'm also not as concerned about your profit making. I believe in the free market. What I am concerned about is your monopolistic practices.

That, to me, is an unfair monopoly.

The heavily discounted price is $112.10, which is where it was before you jacked up the price to $600.

Even a single life lost due to lack of access and affordability to this drug is one life too many.

So is this a State-by-State issue or is there anything that can be done at the Federal level?

Is it Mr. Redmer who--do you have a comment on that?

So while some States are empowered to provide relief from the skyrocketing rates for their citizens, others like Illinois, we don't have to enable regulators to reject these astronomical rate increases.

I am very concerned about the significant premium increases that we have been discussing, especially the ones that are going to be going up in 2017 on the Illinois health insurance exchange.

Are there things that we in Congress can do to give you the authority?

Are you going to have meetings with these mayors and the parish? It seems like there's a breakdown between the municipalities and the parish and the State and FEMA.

I just think that--there seems to be breakdowns in procedures.

I think Congressman Graves should be applauded for helping.

I'd like to sort of look at some of the issues. It sounds to me like FEMA has policies, much of it specified by Congress as to what you can do, what you cannot do.

At a time when our politics seems more focused on tearing us apart than bringing us together, that shared sacrifice will help us rekindle the national unity that has made us the strongest Nation in the world.

FEMA deserves credit for being prepared to respond quickly to this massive natural disaster.

It's an important hearing because it's an opportunity to make sure that the Federal Government, and in particular FEMA, is doing everything it can to help the victims of this flood in Louisiana.

I really believe that investing in our transportation infrastructure creates jobs, generates investments, and it is very unfortunate that since taking control of Congress, the majority has refused to provide any additional funds through…

Just as a race car can't run on a dirt road, you cannot run a bullet train on 100-year-old tracks.

Make sure that we here in Congress move beyond partisan politics and engage in the serious hard work of ensuring that the laws written in an era of pen and paper are overhauled to meet the digital challenges of the 21st century.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When I first entered Congress 3 years ago, like many freshman members, I actually sought out this committee.