Tim Kaine

Ensuring access to early childhood education has been a longstanding priority of mine

These children and students did not cause the debt and deficit challenges we are focused on addressing, but under sequestration, they bear one of the largest impacts of this cut.

Investments in education, from early childhood programs through college, are some of the smartest the Federal Government can make.

Furloughs to me are kind of a short-term strategy.

We have 9.4 million low-income students who are now attending college on Pell Grants.

The Senate budget fully replaces sequestration with an equal mix of responsible spending cuts and new revenue from those who can afford it the most

You are dealing with a Congress that will not give you a budget, that will not give you a number.

This will ensure that no individual member of the chain of command can misuse their authority to deny justice and hurt the victim.

We are not going to negotiate over the debt limit.

We need a cultural overhaul. We need to create a system where the protection and safety of victims is unquestionable.

Their obstructionism not only defies common sense, but it is dangerous.

Democrats agree sequestration is a terrible way to cut defense spending the same way it is a terrible way to cut spending on education, health care, and other national investments.

I want to especially thank Senator Ayotte for being such an outstanding partner on this and for all she has done to push this bill forward.

I hope we are going to be revisiting it.

Improving our education outcomes is a vital national interest.

The current fixed interest rate on Stafford Federal subsidized loans will double to 6.8 percent unless we here in Congress take action.

Hundreds of thousands of children will lose access to Head Start programs if sequestration continues.

Our colleague Senator McCain has called sequestration 'devastating' to our military.

Mental health claims are particular ones because I think a lot of mental health professionals say once somebody gets over that burden of saying, 'Okay, I admit, I need help,' if you do not take advantage of their request for help pretty…

Our bill is the Combatting Military Sexual Assault Act. It is aggressive and it is effective.

That is why the Senate budget takes a measured and fair approach to completely replace the sequester with a balanced mix of revenue and spending cuts.

I mean, I am just kind of stunned as I hear that we did not have a credible system for dealing electronically with veterans' claims until you started to do that work in 2009-10.

The average number of claim conditions for our recently separated servicemembers is now in the 12 to 16 range, roughly five times the number of disabilities claims by veterans of earlier eras.

It is only Congress that can appropriate money, and Congress is not doing the job. It is just outrageous.

It is also time for Congress to act on legislation to give victims the protections they deserve to seek justice.