It is just staggering what our challenge is.

The percent of children in poverty increases to 21 percent in children below the age of five.

The 13 million American children below the age of 18 living in families with incomes below the poverty level is a stunning number in and of itself.

I would like to thank Chairman Kohl for calling this important hearing on Health Care Reform in an Aging America.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, and I want to commend you on presiding over this hearing and highlighting this important issue.

Long term care will be an important part of this debate.

The cost of this care is high.

These are astronomical costs that our older citizens are not always aware of or able to pay for.

And I appreciate this opportunity for us to examine, with these experts, the national security challenge that we face with regard to Iran, and also to explore the options.

We have an obligation in the Congress, in both parties, to do everything we can to provide some peace of mind that comes with retirement security.

We will make sure even if we're not here for the whole hearing that we review, and try to incorporate the testimony in our work.

I know how worried people are. I have some sense of the anxiety that they feel, and this issue is critically important.

I appreciate you calling this hearing, and appreciate the presence of the new ranking member, Senator Martinez.

first of all, stop dropping rockets and shells on the heads of the Tamils, the very Tamils that it is claiming to be liberating

The American Embassy in Colombo is deeply concerned about these attacks on journalists and has often acted in their interest.

We may get back to more of these questions with regard to the camps.

the most urgent humanitarian need right now in the near term, in the next, literally the next couple of months?

I guess one area of questioning I wanted to get into was the question of what can we expect in terms of credible negotiations leading to a political settlement.

I think if he wanted these incidents to stop, he could make them stop tomorrow.

That can be documented, that aid is getting through?

There must be arrangements made for the International Community to assist people.

You said that access is restricted. I want to ask you if you can describe if there is a total prohibition on any humanitarian aid coming in, or is it limited, or is it ad hoc depending on what time period you are talking about?

If you don't take any action, if there is no accountability, it sends a totally opposite message, which is that you may operate with impunity.

what the government is doing right now could eventually fuel further support of the antigovernment forces rather than help reconciliation

I rise to engage the esteemed chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Daniel Inouye; Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education Subcommittee; my Pennsylvania colleague, Senator Arlen…