Well, Mr. James, that might be true, but if you are not spending what you are already collecting, why would you collect more?

So if you are not proposing to spend what we are already collecting, why would you propose raising taxes further on waterway users?

Today I will focus my questions on four main areas: making our Nation's water infrastructure a priority; properly funding our inland waterways system; adequately funding our Nation's ports and harbors; and using a more common-sense…

It is a terrific idea because, as I look at our backlog maintenance, in parochial terms, we have the Great Smoky Mountains, 11 million visitors, $20 million appropriation every year but a $220 million backlog.

My monthly premium was $300 a month and now it is $1,300 a month.

We could lower the cost of health insurance by $5,000 if we could find a way to make more of the small businesspeople or the self-employed people, the farmer and the plumber, eligible for the same kind of insurance that large group people…

Just as under the large group market, an Association Health Plan would be banned from charging patients higher premiums because of a preexisting health condition.

We are talking about giving employees of smaller businesses the same kind of insurance coverage employees of large business get.

We could not agree on our proposal supported by the President, and Senator McConnell, and Speaker Ryan to reduce those premiums by up to 40 percent.

Hopefully not the last.

I keep thinking there's some bug or something in biology or something in physics that will make this possible, but I don't know how to do it.

I think this is one case where Senate oversight of a large spending project made a real, made a real difference.

my hope would be that somebody would find that gremlin and lock him in a closet and that the Administration would focus its attention on other, other issues.

I think our work reflects the urgency of the need for a prompt response to our country's most serious public health crisis.

I will need the Secretary's assurance that the Department will continue to fund projects consistent with Congressional intent in the 2018 omnibus appropriations bill.

I believe Yucca should be a part of the solution to the nuclear waste stalemate.

I would first like to thank Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member Patty Murray, and the Members of the Committee for hosting this series of hearings and for inviting me to testify…

I will not support the energy and water bill now or in the future that violates our agreement and retains the B83.

Senator Feinstein and I, and other members of the committee, can make informed decisions as we write the energy and water appropriations bill over the next few weeks.

When I first came to the Senate, Senator Bingaman, for whom I had a lot of respect, was chairman of the energy committee and he encouraged me to go to Japan to see their computer.

I want to thank Senator Murray and her staff and our staff for the way we've been able to work on the opioid legislation.

We need to solve this problem. This has been a priority, especially of Senator Feinstein, but with my equally strong support over the last several years.

This is our seventh bipartisan hearing since October.

For the last 8 years now there has been a bipartisan consensus in Congress for maintaining and modernizing our nuclear arsenal.

We want your best judgment before we markup.