Our bill will increase Federal share for operating assistance in areas with high transit dependency.

I think that tying hands on discretionary money may not be the best use for addressing our needs on the ground.

Senator Smith and I have worked on this in the past, and more specifically, we partnered together on legislation called the 'Native American Housing Affordability Act'.

I want to thank all of our witnesses for being with us today.

Let me just begin, though, by thanking the Chair. Senator Smith and I are not only working on housing issues, we are working on a number of our rural areas.

The last thing that any of us should want, at least any of us should want to see is a global banking system that is run by the Chinese Government.

I think part of the long-term plan on this should be to allow that State insurance commissioner--because I agree totally with Mr. Ellis.

I really do believe that we have to have a good, solid National Flood Insurance Program in place.

Flood occurs in South Dakota just like it does in other parts along the coast.

Native American housing issues are critically important to my constituents.

I do think that it is not unreasonable for us to ask for a plan to try to take care of that backlog.

We hear all of our separate members here in front of us all talking about the very serious challenges that we have regarding the People's Republic of China.

They look at the United States as someone, an organization that they would love to have as an ally, as a friend, as a partner in business, and working in humanitarian efforts as well.

At the same time, you have both Russia and China, as you have indicated, both looking at our very open society and the way that we not only are self-critical, which is appropriate, where we try to make ourselves a more perfect union.

I think the most recent conversations that have been going on here, I think, are getting to the heart of something that we should discuss in more detail with regards to those countries who we would love to have join the group of…

I think we need to explore that a little bit and lay this out.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about this hearing is, quote-unquote, who Wall Street really is.

I am concerned that if we take actions that would hurt equity markets, the collateral damage will spread way beyond Wall Street.

I really think we run the threat of taking away the ability of the equity markets to make good investments for their investors.

I would first like to ask about the SLR exclusion which is set to expire on March 31st.

We all agree that the economy is still in need of fiscal and monetary support.

The MISSION Act, which is what we operate under now for our health care, is an item that I did not vote for.

Too many of the approvals are made by people who work to make sure that the veteran stays within the VA system, regardless of whether or not it is good for the veteran or not.

When you promise everything to everybody and lay it within an administration like this, whether it is a Republican or a Democrat administration, the challenges of handling a bureaucracy are huge.

It is truly refreshing to see that we have a Chairman and a Ranking Member who are both concerned about our rural veterans.