More successful children turn into more successful adults, and society benefits in many ways.

An increasing body of evidence demonstrates the lasting impact of high-quality early learning.

This legislation would build on the investments States are already making, helping them expand access to pre-K so that all children have access to at least 1 year of high-quality pre-K.

Sixty-five percent of 4-year-olds in the bottom 40 percent of this country are attending preschool.

today I wish to recognize the Pittsburgh Opera on their 75th anniversary. Since its founding by five dedicated women in 1939, the Pittsburgh Opera has consistently worked to foster new generations of artists and fans by making opera…

the proposed changes seemed to jeopardize the efficiency of the existing process, which could increase the risk of harm to consumers.

We need a policy and clear objectives.

I think we have to try to address that.

It seems one of the reasons we get the short end of the stick, or our workers do, is because the United States of America, as I see it, does not have and has not ever had in recent history a trade policy.

Let's support existing networks and leverage knowledge from those networks; allow for new networks to be created...

I think we should try to arrive at some consensus.

I rise tonight to offer a few brief remarks. I am joined on the floor by my colleague Senator Toomey. We are both here tonight to read a list of names of those who gave, as President Lincoln said a long time ago, the last full measure of…

I thank my colleague for starting the list. I will read the remaining names. I should correct myself. I said five at the beginning. I had the count wrong. It is actually six individuals: SSG Thomas Baysore, Jr., United States Army, Milton…

In Pennsylvania, Social Security benefits supported 470,442 jobs, $70.9 billion in output, and $4 billion in State and local tax revenues.

That is a really stunning number.

echoing the comments of my colleague from Florida, I am pleased that the budget includes language to address the fraud that is perpetrated with information from the Death Master File. Tax fraud is a large and growing problem. We know that…

For senior non-married women, the poverty rate is 16.3 percent by the official measure, with another 11 percent near-poor.

I think we all have a pretty serious obligation to get this right.

I want to thank Senator Brown for calling the hearing and for the work that he and Senator Toomey did to bring this hearing about.

I do not think there is any question that you do not need to have a degree in economics or a lot of advanced learning to look at the data on what has happened to the middle class over the last 4 years, the last 10 years, or the last 45.

It is just stunning, the hammer blows that the middle class has endured--and the folks who are just below the middle class.

Let us not look at Social Security as a piggy bank to solve the deficit.

today I wish to honor Lancaster County, Pennsylvania's impressive feat of preserving 100,000 acres of farmland. Lancaster County became the first county in the Nation to preserve this many acres of farmland, a full 25 percent of all land…

I hope that, should you be confirmed, which I expect you will be, with my support, that you will be willing to really dig into this and get to the bottom of it and be able to provide this committee the answers that Chairman Baucus and…

We are grateful that you are here with us today, not just for your testimony and your willingness to serve.