The VA can't achieve its mission of providing the highest quality care to our veterans if we have a culture of fear.

I am very proud of the work we did on the farm bill.

I want to express my sincere appreciation to you and your team, and to those folks out in those FSA offices in the country.

I do think I associate with the gentleman, we are very proud of the crop insurance program and it seems to be working the way we kind of intended.

This could very well have profound impacts, which I think it will; but it also has the potential to show how democracy should work correctly.

And that leads me to having you here. I think this is an incredibly important panel.

Yes, it is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, but the science and the preponderance of the evidence on this seems to warrant where we are headed.

And there better be some soul searching on both sides of the aisle on this, as to let the science and the research drive us to come up with conclusions that work.

the issue of congressional, prerogative and privilege, we are together on this. We want it. We need it.

I believe this is a unique opportunity for transformational change, and this window will close over a certain amount of time.

It truly is one of the greatest honors that I have experienced in my life.

This idea of moving towards solutions--and it is not that we will ever going to stop having accountability.