Debbie Stabenow

I authored in the last Farm Bill to support veterinarians in underserved areas.

I think that is very, very important.

The Farm Bill also expanded the voluntary conservation programs that give our farmers and ranchers the tools they need to address issues on their own instead of regulation.

The last several years have been challenging for livestock producers, and it is one of the reasons why the 2014 Farm Bill made many of the important investments that help support and bolster this important segment of American agriculture.

This is a very important hearing and we welcome all of our witnesses and appreciate the chance to highlight a very important part of the agricultural economy.

We are going to need your voices here as we are talking about the increased importance of crop insurance.

I think it is really important that we keep a strong system.

I am going to pass the entire power of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.

In 2014 in the farm bill, we created several new opportunities for veterans coming home to either go back to the farm or to go into farming.

Social Security is key to economic security. It is not just retirement; it is disability and it is life insurance.

I view Medicare and Social Security as great American success stories, lifting a generation of people out of poverty.

Senator Stabenow's Excellence in Mental Health Act is key to identifying those 'right supports' and is, in my view, one of the most important legislative initiatives addressing mental health since the 1960s.

We have yet to fully implement the vision of the law that was enacted in 1963.

I share your concern about this issue and have written a letter, as well, expressing concern about this policy.

The fish are not waiting for us, as you know.

If there is one technology that looks like it will work to begin to deploy that.

We are very concerned. We have a bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force, as you know, in the Senate as well as the House.

The un-insurance rate is the lowest it has ever been, and Medicaid expansion has resulted in literally millions of our most vulnerable families receiving the care that they deserve

Over 20 million people have received health-care coverage because of the Affordable Care Act, literally saving people's lives

That is absolutely unacceptable, in my mind.

If pensions are going to be cut, then those people's salaries and benefits should be cut as well.

A promise is a promise, and so it needs to be kept.

I think there is a broader discussion that needs to happen here about the undermining of the middle class in this country by undermining the pension system.

It is absolutely unacceptable what is happening to pensions in our country.

We believe there is a need for a new comprehensive bi-partisan approach to solve the problem.