I want to sincerely thank you for your presence here today and taking a tremendous personal tragedy and working to make it a true public good.

Too many families do not receive the early support they need to ensure that their children have appropriate and healthy early childhood experiences.

A federal investment in evidence-based home visiting, as proposed by Chairman McDermott, Congressman Davis, and Congressman Platts, will ensure that more families in communities across the country are given the opportunity to participate…

If we move forward with the Administration's proposal to convert all schools to the Direct Lending program, how can the Department of Education ensure that smaller schools will get the same loan servicing assistance that their larger…

Would you consider amending the definition of 'youth' on next year's FAFSA so that all homeless students born after January 1, 1987 can qualify for financial aid?

But by taking a comprehensive approach to nutrition, our children, families and communities will all be healthier.

Over the last ten years, obesity in the United States has been increasing at a staggering rate.

So what you are doing won't just benefit the children, as we know from seat belts. It will ultimately benefit the parents, too.

It is vitally important that all of our youth receive a challenging and rewarding educational experience regardless of the setting.

The goal of most alternative settings is to provide youth who struggle in mainstream society another opportunity to succeed educationally.

But the long-term return is dramatically more than what it is going to cost, and that is the difficulty for us as a government...

And I think it is the political will of us as a nation, especially at the early stages and where we are failing so many kids...

when it is our children, we find the political will to do what we need to do.

I rise in support of H. Res. 50, a resolution honoring the life of Claiborne Pell, the distinguished former Senator from Rhode Island. While I never had the privilege and pleasure of working with Senator Pell, I know the Senator was a…

I rise in support of H. Res. 43 and yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 43 promotes the Martin Luther King holiday as a day of national service and recognizes the efforts of the countless Americans who…

I urge a ``yes'' vote, and again thank all the teachers of our great Nation for their devotion to our Nation's children and for their commitment to bettering the lives of those children and, in doing so, strengthening our Nation as a whole.

I rise in support of H.R. 5715, the Ensuring Access to Student Loans Act. While not a complete solution to the current credit crunch that exists in the student loan market, this bill is a very important and strong starting point to ensure…

while I certainly understand the focus and intent of this amendment, I rise in opposition and worry that this amendment will create more bureaucracy and administrative costs rather than focus on getting dollars out to the participants in…

Mr. Chairman, I do rise in support of this amendment. This amendment is similar to a study and pilot program dealing with veterans that was authorized through an amendment that passed in the committee. While I hope that as this bill moves…

This is a great day for national service. It has been 15 years since we reauthorized our national service laws. As chairwoman of the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee, I am pleased to speak in support of H.R. 2857, the…

Mr. Chairman, I want to again just thank my subcommittee chairman, Chairwoman McCarthy, for her leadership on this important legislation, as well as the full committee Chair, Mr. Miller, and the ranking member, Mr. McKeon. As a number of…

I certainly am pleased to be part of moving this legislation, the GIVE Act; but I do want to associate myself with the gentleman from Michigan, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, on the importance of us…

I want to thank Mr. Lampson again for his leadership on this important reauthorization which works to keep our Nation's children safe. None of us would like to even think about any children in our lives, whether it's our own children, our…

I rise to strongly support House Resolution 257. This resolution will to help increase awareness for pancreatic cancer, the deadliest of all cancers. Mr. Speaker, few Americans may understand that pancreatic cancer is a horrific killer…

I certainly want to commend Chairman Obey and the ranking member, Mr. Walsh, and their staffs for their dedicated work on this very important appropriations bill. I sincerely appreciate their efforts. Madam Chairman, literacy skills are…