Bill Pascrell

Is it fair to say that health workforce shortages have the ability not only to restrict access and actually to affect quality, but also to increase costs?

I think this is very fundamental to the issue of cost that we are struggling with.

I do not feel comfortable penalizing a hospital without giving them the tools to positively change their delivery and their referral methods.

I firmly believe that we must have a minimum set of benefits to make our promise to cover even the sickest individuals.

So, chronic disease is at the very heart? If we don't address that, we're not really going to get to meaningful health reform.

I want to avoid those flaws.

the best way for them to be able to do that is to be given collective bargaining rights, as well as whistleblower rights

The argument about shutting down airports is many times presented as to why we can't allow collective bargaining rights to TSOs.

TSA employees, and in particular the transportation security officers, the TSOs, seem to get the short end of the stick.

it is an insult, really, to the labor movement to say that somehow having the right to belong to union somehow affects national security

It is like almost taking bargaining rights away from cops and firefighters. That would be pretty stupid, it would seem to me.

the baloney that we have been listening to for too many years, we must address that factually

This is a very empty argument, very empty argument against having collective bargaining rights and the protecting of those people who are whistleblowers.

This is a critical point. It is not happening. It has not happened. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel on this issue.

You don't have an opinion about it yet?

I think, Director, please pay attention--I know you are doing that--to what both sides of the aisle have said about the credit pipeline.

I applaud the Administration for displaying its commitment to health reform.

Our State can't sustain the trend, Mr. Secretary. It cannot.

What do they--they need to have confidence that this is going to open up.

Something isn't happening that should be happening. This weekend I met with 10 businesspeople from my district--all of them solid businesspeople, all of them good numbers, good business acumen.

They can't get into the banks. They cannot get to the banks. There is something wrong.

I would encourage you to take a look as you look at TARP.

TicketMaster should immediately sell TicketsNow and end this obvious conflict of interest.

I want to thank you and I want to thank our Ranking Member, Mr. Coble, my neighbor, and Members of the Committee for this critical hearing and allowing me to testify before the Subcommittee about the proposed merger between TicketMaster…

To even imply that the Senate committee and the House committee are irrelevant to the task of examining this merger, first of all, is wrong and, second of all, we should all think about what our responsibilities are.