Barbara Mikulski

What we need to do is work to minimize the opportunities for something like that to happen again.

It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when.

We've got to get real. We've got to get serious, and we have to have a sense of urgency.

This is an international problem, so it is not only for us.

We've got to do some out-of-the-box thinking here. It's not are you for regs or against regs, you know. We are for smart regulation.

I think we need to look at it.

Do they feel that this has this heightened urgency? And has this been moved up the chain of command while we're looking at the supply chain of drugs and counterfeit drugs?

I think it's a form of murder.

I think we can get real clarity on the safety issues with good ideas and local flexibility.

Unless we see some great change in the valuation... it would be very hard to move that wage level without some significant help from Washington.

So the question is what is it we require, and what is it we require at what level, and then who pays for it?

I think that signals a time for another hearing and another day.

I think a college degree is the coin of the realm in our country.

Now, the average rate of pay for a child care worker in the United States is under $25,000 a year.

I used to love hotlines, but now I wonder do hotlines really work? They work in the Violence Against Women Act.

I think there has to be a reward system.

I do believe inspections are incredibly important. I think they should occur.

Well, the economy has changed, and this bill hasn't been reauthorized since 1996, and there's a new fiscal reality I think in the United States because we spent our money on other things; OK?

I think there is a mood in this subcommittee for us to really try to form a bipartisan bill.

This is why I'm optimistic that this subcommittee will be able to produce a reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

Many of our children have significant physical challenges, now a growing emotional challenge, particularly with the high rate of autism.

I think there is the sense that there should be, as Senator Burr has done in his bill, background checks on those people we know will get government money.

I think we have to find the balance between regulation and strangulation--regulation where we really insist on proper standards for safety and quality, and at the same time are not so rigid, one-size-fits-all out of Washington regardless…

I think where we all agree, then, is less Washington mandates, but certainly descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Thank you, Dr. Bryant. That was part of exactly what we wanted to hear, which is data-driven and evidence-based.