Sam Brownback

The overall unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent. Where was that rate a year ago?

I have been touring a number of places in my state and manufacturing industries had experienced a significant fall off of employment over the past several years but have been experiencing some strength recently with the declining value of…

So there has been a steady deterioration since about the middle of last year?

Thanks for the data and the information.

You mentioned that the construction industry--when you say on month-to-month, do you see any trend lines on the export on a broader--on a longer basis on employment related to exports broader than a few months?

Do you see any of that reflected in your employment data of either strength or less weakness in employment and export-oriented sectors?

Today's news that the economy lost 80,000 payroll jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose 5.1 percent is disappointing to all of us.

I understand from the Air Force yesterday that some of it was, but I don't understand if it was--I do not know fully if it was just the U.S. cost or if it is also what we are going to have to get from other countries around the world on…

I'm here today to endorse the best pro-life candidate to beat Hillary Clinton.

I think this is a disgrace that they're not here. I think it's a disgrace for our country. I think it's bad for our party.

I think one has to say this has worked, that it has calmed down much of the situation. We don't know for what period of time. It certainly has produced a lot of results in Anbar Province. If we look at the GAO report of what is taking…

I submit that regardless of your position on abortion, we should not be using taxpayer funds to fund abortions here or overseas. A number of Americans would oppose on moral grounds that their taxpayer dollars are being used to fund…

And also push the Chinese Government, whether through communications through you and certainly through communications from our Government that we will not tolerate these problems in our products.

I think that we ought to do here. Until we are sure that the system has changed and won't produce the same sort of products that we've seen.

And we're going to do everything we can to stop these problems, period.

I hope we can--in looking forward--pass legislation to try to correct this situation, put standards in place so that people can be assured of the products they buy.

But I think we're asking for problems in this.

You do get people manipulating the marketplace

One of my growing concerns has been this concentration of our manufacturing and of our economic activity associated with China

You're set up, almost, to see the occurrence of problems

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Greenberg, I hope you'll work with us on statutory authority, that I hope we can put in the appropriations bill and that the authorizing committee will agree with, so we can move that through rapidly, so that…

I hope in the appropriations process we can insert some of this language, so that we not only increase the funding for the agency, but we give it the authority necessary to fix the problem.

If you need more statutory authority--and you've said you'll ask us for that. You should use it like a club.

We should get very stern and clear, and hit them where it hurts. Hit them in the markets.

Even if it's banning whole sets of products, until we are sure that there is no lead in any of them, period.