Brenda Lawrence

I always like to remind people that women are 51 percent of the population, so it is great that you have targeted that other half of the population.

We should not be in the way. We should be empowering you and giving you the resources

Congratulations on contributing to that.

The growth of our economy in the United States is really right now resting on the shoulders of women

It is great to be with you today as we recognize the National Entrepreneurs' Day here in the United States.

There are some bad guys in Iran. They are not a friend of the United States.

It sounds like it is working. Why do we not have more currently participating?

Thank you. Mr. Wesley, I appreciate the fact that you are collecting information and data on the trends in the Department of Defense.

How do we grow that?

To the Chair, considering all that is happening here, I really need good thoughts, and I want to be part of the process of expanding good thoughts in Congress. So I will accept, sir.

I really encourage that.

I am very sensitive to the larger financial institutions and the smaller financial institutions.

Yesterday I and many of my colleagues had to hold our noses as we voted for a short-term continuing resolution. The CR, thankfully, did not cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which provided 2.7 million Americans--women, men, and…

It is exhausting to keep hearing about Federal dollars being spent on abortion when repeatedly the facts state--and it's not a controversy, read the facts, do your research before you ask these exhausting, sometimes, I feel, insulting…

African American, minority women die at a higher level than any other population when it comes to breast cancer.

A claim that community health centers readily can absorb the loss of Planned Parenthood is a gross misrepresentation.

I know there have been a lot of reports that have come out since Congress has suggested eliminating access to Planned Parenthood for patients.

I expect leadership.

But we don't want to overlook the way that agencies are streamlining their disciplinary processes without sacrificing the due process rights of Federal employees.

This whole hearing is about distractions, about waste of time and demoralizing employees that we need energized and committed to actually doing the job we hired them to do.

You need to do something above and beyond. You need to be creative, as the Administrator, how you are going to change this.

It is unacceptable that we have 11 complaints put forth on the same issue about sexual harassment, about bullying.

You have a responsibility for ensuring that your employees are safe, that they work without discrimination.

So would you say for the record that you feel that the IG, as we call them, actually are part of the conspiracy of what happened in this case?

I just want everyone to know here today that sexual harassment in the workplace and allegations of management coverup are something I take very seriously.