The reality that we are seeing today is that the middle class in this country is disappearing.

The idea that anybody could suggest that we are not seeing massive increases in income and wealth inequality is beyond my comprehension.

Does anybody on the panel think that they need significant welfare help?

Raising the minimum wage it seems to me is critical.

42 percent of Americans' kids born into poverty will never get out of poverty.

I'd like to also take this moment to thank my own home State Senator, Senator Sanders, who has been a very, very strong advocate for the disadvantaged in the United States and in Vermont, in particular, and for our programs.

There should be no debate at all over extending unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed.

95 percent of all new income generated in this country went to the top 1 percent.

Do you think the Walton family, worth $144 billion, is in need of welfare from the middle class of this country?

I want to thank the Honorable Senator Bernie Sanders, of my home State of Vermont, for his continuing focus and heartfelt dedication to Vermonters as they pursue their educational and training goals after high school.

We in Vermont proudly consider ourselves to be the 'education state' and take great pride in both our innovations and our national leadership.

The most business-friendly thing we can do is raise the minimum wage, provide extended unemployment benefits, encourage unionization.

Should they pay their workers a living wage and should we raise the minimum wage to make sure that they do that?

Does anybody think it makes moral or economic sense that one family, the Walton family, owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people?

hopefully later this evening or tomorrow there will be a very important vote regarding the extension of long- term unemployment benefits. What that vote is about is to make it very clear which side we are on. Are we prepared to stand with…

I take this opportunity to thank Senators Levin and Inhofe and the Committee on Armed Services for their very hard work on the Department of Defense authorization bill. Unfortunately, I must vote against it, and I want to take this…

I understand the Senator's objection. I am disappointed. It takes forever to get anything done in this body, and we have a situation now where we have seen a process develop in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs by which there has been…

Well, I am disappointed that there is objection to a bill that came out of committee without objection, that was done in a bipartisan manner, that is paid for, and that has the support of virtually every veterans organization. I hope that…

as chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I rise today to urge Senate passage of S. 944, the Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2013. This bipartisan legislation is the result of months of hard work by my colleagues…

I rise to enter into a colloquy with the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Murray, and several of my colleagues regarding the not-for-profit student loan servicing provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Is it your…

there is a reason why the favorability rating of the Congress is somewhere, on a good day, around 10 percent. The reason I think is pretty simple: The American people are hurting. They look to their elected officials to try to do something…

That is a very, very ambitious goal.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer our views on the VA's transformational progress.

It is very clear to me that we are making significant progress. It is also clear to me that there are a lot of problems that remain.

It is a concern to the Veterans Service Organizations, I know it is a concern to every Member of this Committee.