Sheldon Whitehouse

It was a very disappointing moment... to interrupt a program like this that is a partnership that saves lives.

I hope very much that we will be able to make progress.

At some point, we have to have a robust enough response to this problem as a country...

I am not convinced at this point that the present set-up makes sense.

It has been a pleasure working with Senator Graham on a variety of cyber issues, and I thank him for his leadership.

The FBI is so busy trying to keep track of who is coming through the doors and coming through the windows...

The only way we are going to get their attention is by the wallet, and if we could stop them from shipping into the greatest, biggest economy in the world, we will get their attention.

We are also encouraged by your work, Chairman Whitehouse and Ranking Member Graham, to ensure law enforcement has the tools it needs to prosecute trade secret theft.

Trade secrets are vital for manufacturers small and large.

I would like to ask you your commitment, if you are confirmed, once you are confirmed, to work with me and work with a considerable number of other Senators who share this concern.

Do you agree that clear performance metrics would advance that objective?

In your summary of your very impressive career, you describe yourself as, 'Having had the opportunity to lead large and complex organizations and work across a range of issues.'

So under the Affordable Care Act, I think we have made pretty significant progress on cleaning up some of the mess in the insurance market.

If we cannot get healthcare spending under control, there is no hope for the Federal budget.

I look forward to working with you on these metrics.

That leaves a third very, very big issue which is the cost of the system.

There are also some bad reasons to do it, like for negotiating leverage.

We hope we can put the dollars behind our enthusiasm.

I think that the value of moving toward electronic prescribing for controlled substances from an enforcement point of view is to be able to identify peculiarities and outliers for further law enforcement investigation.

I think we all applaud Attorney General Holder for having made the statement that he did and pushed this issue forward.

105 Americans die every day from overdoses.

They shouldn't both stop negotiations in Congress and then tell you that you shouldn't act until Congress has taken this up.

I was encouraged to see that the carbon pollution standards for existing power plants have been sent to OMB.

When you look at the economic effects, do you look broadly at the economic effects with concern on the one hand there may be some increases in power costs?

If a State wished to step in, it could engage under these rules to reduce carbon in ways beyond simply what including plants could do.