I would like to start off by thanking my colleague and friend Senator Brown for calling this hearing today to draw attention to rare and neglected diseases in children.

increasing understanding of the role of genetics in rare diseases will unquestionably have a considerable impact on their diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

the Agency strongly urges Congress to ensure that, if a change is made, the population limit is clearly defined, not variable.

For me and for, I think, a lot of Members of Congress, we can't go through a week, or sometimes even a day, without being both informed and inspired by constituents who come to us with a problem, or sometimes more than one problem, and…

According to recent estimates, international financing for health-related R&D exceeds $160 billion and includes a diversity of sources: 51 percent private for-profit, 41 percent public, and 8 percent private not-for-profit.

I rise to talk about an issue we are going to be voting on today, thank goodness. We are going to be voting on an extension of unemployment insurance, which is something many of us in the Senate have tried to pass for many weeks now. We…

without a statement of policy on rare diseases and orphan products, it is not possible [for the FDA] to ensure consistency in that process.

Senator Specter and I introduced Senate bill 406, which would deal with that kind of gap that a lot of families and children have to deal with everyday.

the NIH spends a substantial amount on research on various rare diseases, including those affecting children, but with over 6,000 known rare diseases, not every one has been fully addressed.

But new investments are needed here?

As we developed the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, I sought to include provisions that would ensure the United States has... a comprehensive strategy to eliminate terrorist threats.

We've all been concerned about this issue, as you have, and I know the administration, at all levels, has.

I remain deeply concerned. I agree that you cannot talk about Afghanistan without talking about Pakistan.

I highlighted that fact in a letter to Secretary Clinton last week, and urged the completion of those reports.

I and others have been very critical of his leadership, or sometimes what can only be described as lack of leadership.

I rise tonight to talk about the war in Afghanistan, and, unfortunately tonight, as I begin my remarks, I have to report on yet another death of a soldier killed in action in Afghanistan. Yesterday, in Pennsylvania, we lost another marine…

the folks who are producing the milk and the cheese and the cream and the butter get their fair share of the value

You understand this issue, the challenge that dairy farm families face with regard to the cost of production being so difficult.

But in the face of that, we have taken action.

it has got to be a more comprehensive approach than this sort of ad hoc, band-aid approach that we have had

it is a painful memory that will not leave me as long as I am in this job

I think that education part of this is vitally important because this is not a problem that you see on the front page every day, as you all know.

Sometimes the Federal Government does too much. We try to have one program, one-size-fits-all, too prescriptive.

I want to thank you, first of all, for your leadership on this issue and for convening this hearing because every day of the week, both Chairman Kohl and Senator Corker and I know that we can have hearings on lots of subjects, and they are…

Well, thank you. I hope I can be there. I will check with the schedulers. We always love being in your great hometown.