Bernie Sanders

I believe, again, that the NRC's job is to protect the public and be a strong and fair regulator, without bias in favor of or against the nuclear industry.

In my very strong opinion, the role of the NRC is not to represent Entergy or any other nuclear power company against Vermont or against any other State; it is to ensure the strongest safety standards possible at nuclear plants.

I think he has done a good job, and I will tell you what I am upset about.

Impatience or extreme is not a quality that I would like to see on the Commission.

Commissioner Svinicki has, consistent with an industry request, required that Fukushima reforms be subject to a cost-benefit test that could water down their effectiveness.

I think he has tried to do his job with dedication and sincerity.

I want to see the Commission do everything possible to protect the safety of the American people.

Everybody agrees that the function of the NRC is to protect the safety of the American people; that is its job; it is not to be a proponent of nuclear power, and in the case of Vermont, against the wishes of the people of Vermont, who did…

I hope and believe that it is not necessary to wage personal attacks against each other to disguise our philosophical differences.

I happen to agree with Jaczko on that.

If the NRC does not move forward to reform its voting process to be open and transparent, I will be introducing NRC reform legislation to mandate a transparent public voting process.

Another very, very important issue that I hope we deal with in the near future has to do with the issue of transparency at the NRC.

In America today we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth, worse than at any time in our country since before the Great Depression.

My suspicion is, if Teddy Roosevelt were here, a good Republican, he would be talking about breaking up these financial institutions.

I think many people, including myself, see this as a situation where the fox is guarding the henhouse, and that we need real reform in the Fed to make sure that it is representing the middle class and small businesses of this country…

The American people, I believe, perceive a conflict of interest when you have... the head of the largest financial institution in America sitting on the New York Fed.

Our people are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. One of the reasons is widespread fraudulent activity on the part of virtually every major drug company in our country. It is no longer acceptable to turn a blind…

What would you change in the IDES process?

Not a real doctor, but it'll do for this committee.

I will never forget sitting in a room with the president of South Africa... and he was being berated, berated, for standing up to the pharmaceutical industry.

Do you need to be an economist to know that? That's my question.

In other words, what you're saying is, at least, theoretically, what we would like is the drug companies to be investing in trying to find solutions to the most serious illnesses that we face.

It's a huge problem.

Anyone want to add to the question of how it just so happens that the U.S. Government goes around the world telling developing countries that they have to pay, in some cases, prices for drugs that their people simply cannot afford?

The U.S. Government has been pushing for more stringent IP standards worldwide, including in developing countries.