I just hoped you would be very visible with those agencies that are not meeting the goal and certainly not complying with the spirit, that we want prime contracts for small businesses just not subcontracts.

Yes, we want to make sure workers are safe; yes, we want them to have the right to organize. But, without good governance, a lot of that is going to be somewhat meaningless.

Simply put, workers are the best guarantors of their own safety, when given the right and the ability to organize.

Our goal is to create a universal set of standards for workers' rights and safety and health beyond Bangladesh.

Yes, political will is needed to make these changes.

there is a great deal of focus right now on ensuring that the democratic institutions in Bangladesh do not slide back.

Does the government take us seriously on GSP?

the elections are critically important, democratic institutions are critically important, following through on their plans to deal with corruption are vitally important.

We need to minimize the risks and clearly do it in a way that is cost effective and really works.

Thank you. I appreciate the cooperation we have in this committee. We try to do everything we can in a non-partisan manner because it involves the public health of the people of this Nation.

The Federal role is clear.

my hope is that we may learn from this experience and find policy solutions to ensure that an incident like this never happens again in West Virginia or in any other state.

Our first priority is to do what we can to prevent these types of episodes from happening again in our country.

I want to congratulate and thank Senators Boxer, Manchin and Senator Rockefeller in the Senate for quickly introducing legislation that deals with some of the fundamental issues with which we have to be concerned.

When a company fails to perform, they should be held accountable.

The system did not work on January 9th in West Virginia. The system failed.

Americans have a right to expect that when they turn on their tap, the water they get is safe and is safe to drink.

It's my understanding we do have authority on petroleum-based above the ground storage but for some of the other contaminants and chemicals, we do not at the current time.

I want to thank the responders, the people at FEMA, the National Guard and many others who did incredible work.

It is our responsibility to make sure that expectation is, in fact, carried out, both at the Federal, State and local government levels.

I particularly want to underscore the point that Congressman Rahall made about our colleague, Senator Rockefeller. He has been a real treasure for us in the U.S. Senate.

In West Virginia, it was not a petroleum-based product that caused the problem; it was a cleaning product?

What do we do about that?

This is an issue of federalism.

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Income Inequality