Bob Casey

By emphasizing early education through measures such as the Prepare All Kids Act which I have introduced, we will ensure that our children are ready to learn and increase their chances for success in grades K-12.

As we move forward to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, there are a few areas I believe we must address if we are to use education as the great equalizer of opportunity and a tool to enhance U.S. competitiveness in…

I voted for it. And a lot of the Democrats did. There is a real debate about what has been working and what hasn't been working.

In my opinion, that's good news. Something to be positive about.

With regard to African American unemployment, that rate is 15.8?

There are too many people sitting at home, six or even twelve months unemployed, with a house worth 20 percent less than the note on it, and they need more than a watered down Jobs bill.

We went from a negative GDP to a positive Gross Domestic Product of 5.9 in the fourth quarter of 2009.

I think the record is clear not only from your testimony but from other data we have been seeing more recently.

726,000 in February of 2009.

I would call that good news.

Thus, I have made foreclosure prevention my highest priority and will continue to do so.

According to the numbers you gave us for January and February of 2009, it is about 1.5 million jobs lost.

Veterans from the post-2001 period Gulf War, I am told that that rate is higher than the national Veterans rate?

The phrase used earlier, 'little changed,' is encouraging.

So as long as the perfect storm created by unemployment and foreclosures remains over us, it is incumbent on us to do more and do more soon.

The cost of overweight and obesity is another reason to address this crisis: we spend almost 10 percent of our health care dollars treating people who are overweight or obese.

Our children deserve the whole grains and green vegetables needed to develop healthy minds and bodies.

Feeding our children healthy food is a priority and must be funded as such.

We all know the statistics on overweight and obesity: two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese, and 20 to 30 percent of children are overweight.

The prognosis for these children is grim: 80 percent of overweight 10- to 15-year-olds are obese by the time they turn 25.

I think anything that Congress could do to encourage Prime Minister Fayyad to work with Israel--not unilaterally, but together--I think that's crucial.

What can the Obama administration or--and/or, I should say--the Congress do to move that forward or to--in particular, to put some--what I would argue would be appropriate pressure on the Palestinians to come to the negotiation table?

I think the Israelis have shown, certainly in the last year, that they've been willing to make real concessions.

I had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to sit with 8 of the 560,000 people in my State who are out of work. In Pennsylvania, that 560,000 adds up to 8.9 percent of the workforce, but it is an incredibly high number--maybe not a record…

The Senate jobs bill, which passed this week, is a step forward and an encouraging sign of bipartisanship.