Ron Wyden

I think that is the ballgame.

There is no question that there are a variety of factors involved here.

We have actually proposed for the first time financial rewards for senior citizens under Medicare to lower their blood pressure or their cholesterol

We understand that most of the health care bill in this country goes for chronic disease, well over half of it

When a witness says that they support the efforts along the lines of what Senator Grassley and I are talking about to expand access to this Medicare data, and they want to promote a transition beyond fee-for-service, I usually think I…

We need to push them to try to get their industrial policy to back off in certain areas.

I think the principal question for our panel and for our challenge in the days ahead is how our country is going to respond to what has been described by some experts as China's green mercantilism?

A decision not to intervene is a decision. A decision not to pick winners and losers is a decision to pick a loser.

We cannot avoid Chinese industrial policy affecting the U.S. economy.

I think it has been a good hearing, Mr. Chairman, and I think we have sort of had a wakeup call for just how tough this is going to be to actually write a bill.

I think the focus that you and the staff have been putting on poverty and particularly the opportunities to address these anti-poverty issues in a fresh and creative way makes a lot of sense, and I very much appreciate it.

In an economy with fewer jobs than job-seekers, would it not make sense to give the States more credit for moving a public assistance recipient into a job rather than simply moving them off the rolls?

What we have been pointing to is the VA--for the sickest people... saving upwards of 20 percent on that population by caring for them at home.

I think this has been an excellent hearing, and I appreciate the way you are doing it.

I think, for example, that real behavioral change, particularly in this program with 50 million people that a lot of us see as sacred ground.

I mean, you all have appropriately characterized what we are dealing with in America as largely a sick care system.

I want to see us align incentives, and that is what we have been talking about.

--and that is built around a Medicare guarantee that must be protected and preserved. A number of the proposals we will get from the other side this afternoon don't meet that test. I want colleagues to know that I am committed to working…

Approximately 12 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). The Senator from Oregon.

Energy efficiency is our Nation's greatest energy supply resource.

We encourage the inclusion in the CES of energy efficiency from the onset.

We believe that it's critical to do this from the beginning because it is the best way to reduce energy prices across the entire country.

I think this is reflected in some of my colleagues, you know, questions this morning.

I support the basic proposition of Senator Bingaman's legislation. I think it's going to give new momentum to the effort to promote clean energy in this country.

If a State hit the target they would have freedom, in effect, at the State level to go out and pursue approaches that would make sense for them.