This is not theater. We're trying to set the table on the democracy, make people feel more empowered.

Climate change is real. The need to protect the environment is real.

We want a healthy environment for our children, grandchildren, and their children.

I think many of our constituents would say that, too often, Congress is leaning in the direction of the big money and the special interests and away from the interests of the broad public.

One of the reasons it is difficult to do that is because these industries have a lot of influence on how policy gets made.

We need to try to address that and break those dependencies.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise up in support of the rules package being put forward by the Democratic majority. In particular, I applaud the decision to establish a Select Committee on the Modernization of…

Such a moment is before us again. It will be a challenge. After all, Congress is complicated and messy by design. Modernizing its operation is no simple task, but that is exactly the role that the proposed Select Committee can play. It can…

I am proud to declare the Baltimore Oracles, my staff's congressional softball team, once again champions, having completed a perfect season, including an impressive 18-3 victory in the championship game. Captained by Peter Gelman, Katie…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, an important bill that will ensure consumers can get the lowest price for their drugs. This bill is also aligned with…

I appreciate that. Just to close, I would say that, within that larger construct, it can be frustrating sometimes.

But what is really frustrating to me about today's inquiry is that my Republican colleagues know there are plenty of other kinds of investigations that we should be undertaking in this Congress but they don't have any interest in pursuing…

What worries me is this is all part of a campaign by the GOP and the right wing to work the refs--complaining of non-existent bias to force and over correction.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the panel for your testimony. Very important pieces of legislation that we are discussing today. All have earned bipartisan support for obvious reasons, given what you have been telling us and, I…

I commend you for that. I have just introduced in the last few days something we are calling the biosimilars competition act.

Thank you for your work to implement 21st Century Cures, which obviously as you know is a point of real pride for this committee.

Based on the experience with what happened with some of the 21 States last time and the way the alert was given but then it seemed like the Federal folks, in a sense, kind of walked away from the enterprise, I didn't have as much…

We need to know in real-time that the alerts are being--that the threats are being taken seriously.

I agree with you and I think we do need to make sure the big guys receive the same kind of attention as the small guys.

These mergers are kind of out of control. They're putting the consumer, really, in a very, very bad position.

I think there's a study out there that shows that while brand name drugs are about 10 percent of all drugs that are dispensed, I think that's including biologics in the equation, they make up about 72 percent of the annual U.S. drug…

I will be introducing soon the Biosimilars Competition Act of 2018 to grant FTC that authority.

I urge the passage of S. 899, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), one of the sponsors of this very, very important bill.

I want to thank Representatives Stivers and Takano for their sponsorship of this much needed bipartisan bill, which would expand, as you heard, coverage of Representative Stephen Lynch's Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act to newly hired…