Ben Cardin

But do these arms not affect the policy considerations we are talking about here, particularly the message we are sending?

I just want to share Senator Booker's frustration. I have had to exercise my authority to call the Secretary of State.

All military and security-related assistance to foreign governments and personnel, including military-to-military programs, are part of the U.S. foreign assistance and must serve U.S. foreign policy.

So if that is true, why did we labor over the Turkish sale and cancel it?

I really do believe this is one of our most important hearings we have had this year.

I believe strongly that we have had a very robust conversation with the Nigerian Government on the importance of human rights.

The U.S. law mandates that the Secretary of State supervise and oversee all foreign assistance that service that U.S. foreign policy.

It does look like an end run around Congress.

But that evaluation will not include Congress.

So I am just going to--one of the individuals in Maryland whom I was with today, Peggy Roche, was talking about her daughter who has absence epilepsy.

This proposal does not even deal with that 1 percent problem, because there is nothing in this bill that shores up the individual marketplace.

The proposal that is being brought forward, though, will affect tens of millions of people, because tens of millions of people are going to lose their coverage, many others are going to lose the quality of their coverage, and we are going…

We do know, though, that tens of millions of people will lose their coverage, premiums will go up, and the quality of coverage will go down.

The NMTC should be a permanent part of the tax code.

My objective is that, since America, among industrial nations, is near the bottom on the percentage of our economy and government, we should have a competitive advantage, not disadvantage on our business taxes.

I think the C rate now amounts to about 5 percent of the companies, somewhere in that level.

We want to make sure at the end of the day that, when everything is said and done, we are not asking middle-income taxpayers to shoulder a greater burden of the cost of this country than they already are.

Let us respect federalism. There is a reason why there is a State and local tax deduction beyond just the impact it has on who pays taxes.

I support a public option. I think a public option would be helpful.

I would point out that I was proud of Maryland in that all of our carriers included pediatric dental within the prime contracts.

I just really first want to underscore how important it is for us to timely reauthorize the CHIP program.

One of the side benefits of the CHIP program and oral health for children is that we now have dentist access in communities that did not have that access before.

It strikes me that it is important for the United States to publicly engage with Turkish officials and the Turkish public about the importance of human rights, about the importance of democratic institutions.

At the very least--at the very least--we can be true to our values and perhaps we will get the Turkish Government's attention by being public in our censure of their human rights record.

I think it is important, when senior officials travel to Turkey, to continue meeting with those who are fighting for democracy.