Now, at the same time, I'm sure some anxiety in Pennsylvania is connected to the fact that our deficit--our primary budget deficit--has grown to levels that frighten people, and our accumulated external debt adds to their anxiety.

We admire very much the efforts that you and your colleagues in Congress have made to highlight the importance of free access to information on the part of Iranians, which is a universal right.

I want to thank both of you for being here and for your testimony and for your service at a tough time in our Nation's history.

What is often not recognized is the considerable attention that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the States have placed on quality assurance.

I know in our State, in Pennsylvania, there are still, by one estimate, as many as over 1,200 people still living in five State-run institutions.

I urge you to be a strong voice for the use of those enhanced authorities.

What we know from 40 years of experience is that people do better in the community than in institutions, no matter their age. They learn new skills, develop new competencies, and appear to be much happier.

Senator Brown of Ohio and I have offered this amendment which will extend the eligibility period for the COBRA Premium Assistance Program until November 30. We must continue, in my judgment, to support vital safety net programs that our…

I will not support any kind of mandate for consumers because we recognize there is a wide range of circumstances and need.

We need to provide employers with more guidance, more tools, and more protection to encourage them to offer a range of options to their employees.

In the absence of a lot of complaints, I can understand why you may not be at this point yet, assuming there will be health effects as it relates to children.

I rise today to speak about the basic issue to have health insurance coverage for those who have been out of work. I know I join Senator Brown and the other cosponsors of this amendment to urge support for the extension of the eligibility…

if, at the end of the day, a family is as impoverished as they were at the beginning of the day, then we're not doing enough.

I think that the Lebanese Government has been--I think that in a perfect world they would not want to do this.

It was a positive signal, I thought, to send that we were serious about the relationship.

If that changed inside Lebanon, I think a lot of the dynamics would change, too.

I wanted to just follow up on that. I want to have each of our witnesses address this question.

I just want to give people a sense of the--a little bit of a sense of the geography.

And I realize that a good bit of this you would have to speak of, or speak about, in a classified setting.

But if Hezbollah media, Hezbollah political organs are so threatened by what we are doing with the ISF, I have to say what we are doing must be pretty good in helping contribute to the national police force.

I would absolutely condition it.

We are grateful for your presence here, especially the members of both panels.

I want to thank the Chairman for his leadership on these issues all these years.

We have to energize the will of the American people, with the support of our congressional leaders, to address the needs of young people.

It's the responsibility of every public official, whatever level of government you're elected to, to do everything you can to make sure that light inside that child reaches its full potential.