Sherrod Brown

You have a very great responsibility.

It is time to just move past the politics and just get down to business because the people need it.

I am here, obviously, to talk about the Oil Spill Prevention and Mitigation Improvement Act of 2010.

More than 57,000 Ohioans--that is about the size of Elyria, OH, or Mansfield, OH, or twice the size of Zanesville, OH--more than 57,000 Ohioans are estimated to have lost unemployment benefits since the extension ended in May 2010, a month…

But they are still doing private work.

The Federal Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938, and with some exceptions, there has been a consensus in this country around labor law.

The whole view of the Bush years on voluntary compliance is Wall Street will police itself.

I will start with Ms. Gardner. Would you talk about the financial estimates, the estimates of tax revenue, what this will mean?

The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA) would amend the FLSA to require employers to keep records.

It is not a union/nonunion issue. It is enforcing a level playing field.

By misclassifying workers as independent contractors, companies avoid withholding income taxes and paying Social Security and Medicare taxes.

We are from the Government. We are here to help you.

It is time that we had rules that were enforced that are fair to everybody.

I understand the concerns of Senator Enzi that he has expressed and Senator Isakson and I assume Senator Murkowski.

I have a great concern about Iran, and I find that their nuclear ambitions are more destabilizing than actually us getting a handle on the U.S.-Russian relationship.

That is why last year Senator Schumer and I introduced the Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act.

The report outlined a number of critical smart growth and livability ideas that we are already working on.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for holding the hearing and for your leadership on livability issues.

We do not necessarily know how to manage shrinkage, and that is something that this legislation that Senator Schumer and I have worked on will do.

One of the key suggestions was taking steps to ensure that our communities are places where people want to live and to work.

I am preparing to introduce legislation--called the DIPLOMA Act--that will help communities coordinate, integrate, and provide services to strengthen student achievement.

I hope that in light of the case you made... this brings us to real consensus on not what we do programmatically, but also on spending the money we need on early childhood education.

It is interesting, Madam Chairman, when I first heard that I was going to be on this Subcommittee, I said, 'Oh, gosh, contracting. That is pretty boring.' But with all due respect, it is getting more and more interesting because of the…

The red tape is just unbelievable.

We are all pretty incredulous when we see the barriers for veterans' employment, and we clearly need to do more.