Betty McCollum

The asian carp is coming, and we need a better approach than the one that is currently out there.

You are worth a pole barn that cannot be repaired anymore.

We need to figure out a way in this committee to get the education folks, our colleagues, to pay a little more attention about what is going on with Head Start.

Anything we can do so that our kids are engaged year round in school, it reinforces what they are learning.

Getting back to healthcare for a second, let's discuss what you are seeing with your hospitals.

There must be a way to use the money that is out there from the leasing to hire the necessary employees.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You folks were not able to participate in the last oil boom that went through very much, were you?

It is a dirty little family secret, folks, and it needs to come out in the public if we are going to work on this.

We are seeing cocaine, heroin and meth on the rise.

We really need to figure this out in a way that is friendly to families for a whole host of reasons.

All politics is local, and I was with MAST this morning.

I was glad to see the President did not zero out in his budget but was disappointed at the funding level.

If we are to be creative, if we are to be successful as human beings and if we are to be successful as a country, we have to take the time to sit, reflect, read and have an open mind.

All politics is local, but I really appreciate you being here. This is how we express ourselves in a democracy, so the arts are important to our democracy.

I think making a long-term investment in clean domestic energy makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.

Our drive to achieve energy security by decreasing our dependence on foreign oil is an issue Americans all agree on.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The U.S. Pacific Command budget request makes it clear that U.S. military readiness and Japan will play a vital role in our long-term military strategy.

The service men and women will have what they need to perform their duties and their missions.

It was our honor and our military's honor to assist our friends in Japan in delivering goods and working in partnership during the very dark days that Japan faced after the earthquake and tsunami.

No matter what happens, the Congress is always going to make sure that our men and women in uniform don't have any worries, they get all the help that they need.

Well, we should be doing it for our D.C. schools too, because----

There needs to be a formula with accountability and transparency that makes sure that that child, and that child's family, is getting what they need.

I think that gives us some teeth with it.

As pointed out, we talk about quality of life as well as what we owe our service men and women during the transition back into civilian life.