We should be proud of that, and grab it and understand it as the strength that it is.

One of our nation's greatest assets is our diversity.

I think OMB should be doing this kind of monitoring as a matter of fact.

Chair Landrieu as well cared very deeply about this.

to give every child a fighting chance for a decent education as quickly as we can possibly do it, this subcommittee can.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Investing in education is investing in our future.

Senator Mary Landrieu has been trying to hammer on that Army Corps of Engineer and keep a consciousness.

Once our attitudes change, our actions will change, and we will be more interested in meeting our energy needs in ways that don't destroy our forests.

The Arctic needs a Coast Guard presence, and we wholeheartedly support the efforts, the good efforts, of Admiral Allen and his group.

We don't believe that a robust research program can answer every concern we've heard voiced about OCS development and shipping by residents of the North Slope Borough.

the United States is going to have to take a leadership role in shaping policy up there

I believe these kind of safeguards make even more sense in the Arctic than they do in development areas further south.

the only reason that we were able, in my opinion... to secure that convention is because the pollock stocks collapsed

Such vast upside potential carries with it, I believe, a responsibility to use world-class standards and safeguards.

we do not want to repeat what happened in the Bering Sea donut hole in the high Arctic

I can't overestimate and overstate how important this is.

There is something terribly wrong with the system of support at either the local, the State or the Federal level.

We must be mindful of the fact that people cannot return to work or begin rebuilding until they locate a safe and productive environment for their children.

the celebration of joy, that when a school would open in a neighborhood, what it meant to that community cannot be overestimated.

The National Disaster Recovery Strategy must be completed as rapidly as possible, and preferably, were I you, I would ask for that by the end of this calendar year.

So if another catastrophic disaster happens this summer and either Texas or Mississippi or Alabama is hit and hundreds of thousands of children are displaced, as they were after Hurricane Katrina, we have to start all over again and get an…

The well-being of the affected States is highly material to the well-being, the economy, and indeed the security of the United States.

I just think that has really been overlooked.

the needs of children are of primary interest to me, and particularly the mental and emotional needs of the community at large as we seek to build a better and stronger community.