So all of these strategies that lead to better results by way of rural development, economic development, regional approaches are going to be vitally important to help people dig out of that difficult circumstance.

I rise this morning to talk about the matter before us, which is the minimum wage. Today the Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to the Minimum Wage Fairness Act, the legislation we are considering, which would increase…

Well, I will tell you--and I will wrap up, but, first of all, I want to thank you for your public service and your work on these particular matters.

I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes and that following my remarks Senator Franken be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes and Senator Markey be permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes. The ACTING…

But thanks for having this hearing.

I was telling the Chairwoman recently I have been wanting to actually be at a hearing where she was chairing.

A lot of what you said struck me, but the one part of your testimony which was especially significant to me, at least, was the statement you made--and I'm paraphrasing--but saying that even if you win the case, you still lose.

This is a day when we remember those who have been killed, injured, or made sick by their work.

You think just that alone--there might be as many as 200 cases a year that are meritorious that don't get considered.

What would you hope would happen with regard to the law? If you could make a list or even itemize one or two changes, what would you hope would happen?

Too many people each year mark this day by remembering loved ones lost in a workplace tragedy.

we hope that we can come together on a bipartisan piece of legislation to make these changes.

Our mission is to assure the health and safety of every worker.

In 2012 alone, 4,383 workers were killed on the job, including 163 workers in my home State of Pennsylvania.

Every working American should be able to leave their home every day confident that their workplace is safe.

It's a day to honor those workers who have died, been disabled, injured, or made sick by their work.

Protecting whistleblowers is a responsibility we take very seriously.

I think it's fair for both employers and for employees to have administrative reviews.

It's a first. We'll do 5-minute rounds, and we're going to try to move to our next panel at about 10:20.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case, and that's, I guess, the reason we're here this morning.

OSHA does not have nearly enough inspectors for the approximately 132 million workers nationwide.

The OSHA Act was designed to--and you say this at the bottom of your first page, 'assure as far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions,' which is language we should remind ourselves…

So how do you deal with that in terms of making changes here? We're talking about making statutory changes to 11(c) to help the workers.

We know that within the existing statute or within the existing resources that you have, you might be able to make more changes, and we look forward to working with you on that.

Section 11(c) is badly in need of modernization.