Today, millions of single, elderly women have to walk an economic tightrope each month, balancing the cost of food, health care, and covering the rest of the bills.

I thought that the previous loophole was just offensive to all the values that the country stands for--this notion that somehow economics trumps human rights and concern for people who have been exploited in the past.

Our job is to protect these sacrosanct priorities and update these programs for unique times.

What the loophole said--that economics trumped human rights--is wrong and un-American.

Blocking counterfeit products from creeping into our market used to mean stopping the right shipping container.

The Enforce provisions represent years of work by this committee, starting with a sting operation I undertook as chairman of the Trade Subcommittee to reveal the brazen evasion of U.S. trade laws by foreign, often Chinese, exporters.

This was a special priority of mine.

these impoverished, single elderly women count on Social Security every single month to keep their heads above water.

There's no question the SNAP program has had success in reducing hunger and food insecurity for many families across the Nation.

This is a great opportunity to dig into an issue that really should be an underpinning of the work Congress does every day.

So if I was explaining this at a town hall meeting, what I would say is that I can use this inventory to find programs that seem particularly promising in terms of earnings and employment.

It would be wrong to deny a child access to foster care when she is being abused and neglected just for the sake of scientifically evaluating the effects of foster care against a control group.

Now, I understand that you all are advocating some sort of inventory for information that you think is most promising to help these youngsters.

My hope is that we will be able to make significant progress on that even before the end of the session.

Congress ought to be finding ways to build in that type of continuous program improvement.

I wish to make some remarks about our wonderful colleague who passed away last week, Senator Bob Bennett. Two of Senator Bennett's favorite Senators are here on the floor this afternoon--Senator Feinstein and Senator Alexander. What…

today I am introducing the Reauthorization of the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2000, also referred to as FRIMA. This Act was established to support healthy fish populations while simultaneously allowing for…

I rise today to warn of a gathering threat to American's most fundamental constitutional right; that is, the right to vote. Fifty-one years ago, President Johnson urged the Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. In the face of implacable…

But there are several pieces to this issue. There is prevention, better coordinating the services, and obviously--again, in Oregon, we have tried to highlight the relationship between law enforcement and mental health services, and it is…

The focus of that approach should be breaking health care, social service programs, and law enforcement out of their individual silos and bringing them together in a coordinated system.

My brother struggled with schizophrenia for decades, and he had a lot of his health-care bills covered by Medicaid.

Senator Stabenow is here. She has been a champion on these mental health issues.

I think that is one of the reasons we are so interested in fundamental change and ensuring that everybody knows where to go.

Because of the lack of appropriate places to meet the needs of those with these mental health challenges, we so often have patients boarded in emergency rooms or in fights with police.

The Finance Committee is responsible for the programs--Medicare and Medicaid--that spend more on mental health than any others in America.