Susan Collins

We can't ignore the legitimate cries for help from refugee children.

More money may well be needed to deal with the consequences of this crisis, but it does not address the causes of the problem, and that is what is troubling to me.

I think all of us can agree that we are facing a humanitarian crisis of the first magnitude.

The best way to make this surge of children temporary is to pass an emergency supplemental and undertake a substantial deterrent strategy.

These children will be sent back.

This is a refugee crisis that we are seeing along our southern border.

The rule of law must be restored.

I am particularly concerned about the condition and care of the young women and girls who are being detained along our border.

The International Violence Against Women Act--IVAWA--would ensure that the U.S. will continue to take a leadership role in combatting these problems.

This is why I am proud to be one of the original sponsors of the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA, S. 2307).

I believe the U.S. can and should be a leader in ending one of the biggest obstacles to not only U.S. national security but also global stability, development, prosperity, and human rights for all.

I would be glad to engage in more debate later, but my colleague from Missouri has been waiting for a half hour to speak, and I think it would be courteous for him to be allowed to speak.

The indiscriminate budget cuts of sequestration would result in the loss of a deployable aircraft carrier.

The chances of these girls being reunited with their families grows ever dimmer.

I really am sympathetic to your budget constraints and the number of employees that you have lost...

I really commend you for that. Aroostook County is a very large, very rural area, and we have a lot of seniors who are homebound or cannot travel long distances, and the fact that you are making such an effort to get services to them is…

I mean that sincerely.

$4 million for one Social Security office?

I do not see where you are really going to save on staff and be able to give the kind of service that Ms. DeLong is giving.

I use it in my office to meet with constituents who cannot travel to one of my six offices in Maine or cannot travel at all.

It is hard to understand why those particular offices would be closed.

In your opinion, was SSA just determined to shut the office no matter what?

Did the Social Security Administration officials give any specific reasons why they could not accept some of those offers so that it could maintain the office at a reduced cost?

That also worries me. We have seen a little bit in the VA scandal of a variation of that that led in some cases to a falsification of numbers.

What a huge difference in her standard of living to have $1,400 a month rather than $434 a month.