These are enormously important issues. It sounds like you are moving in the right direction.

I think it would show the whole world the seriousness of what we believe in and our ability to go forward.

It's up to this Congress and up to the administration as well to move forward aggressively in terms of making the solar and renewable energy dreams a reality.

The fact that people now can get decent compensation to get to the clinic or get to the hospital is quite a big deal.

We have passed a GI Bill which has the greatest expansion in veterans' educational opportunities since World War II.

In these difficult times you are the right person for the job.

We have consecutively, in recent years, proposed record-breaking budgets for the VA.

Pay and job tenure should depend on performance, and those which have performed poorly should lose their jobs.

Some of us were very concerned about deregulation.

Do you think that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a tragic mistake?

I find it absolutely extraordinary that...who did you lend the money to? What were the terms of those loans?

Should a financial institution that is being bailed out by taxpayers charge those taxpayers 25 or 30 percent interest rates?

I have a hard time understanding how you have put $2.2 trillion at risk without making those names available.

Thank you Mr. Chairman for calling this hearing today which focuses on such an important issue for every Member of this Committee because we all have rural areas in our states and suffer similar but also unique challenges in providing care…

we should be a little bit embarrassed that some of the technologies that we created in this Country are now being aggressively used around the rest of the world.

For many years now, at least for the last 8 years, the rest of this planet has been wondering what the United States of America is doing.

I think the evidence seems to suggest that if we do not act aggressively in cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions and reversing global warming, what we are going to look at are trillions of dollars of loss in the international economy…

I think one of the issues that we have to address is not just the cost of addressing the crisis of global warming, it is what is the cost, both monetarily, financially, as well as health-wise, of not addressing the issue.

this is not just an American crisis, this is an international crisis.

Sure. Does my friend recall that for many years under President Bush, the Republican leadership told us how imperative it was to repeal the estate tax, which would cost this Nation $1 trillion over a 10-year period? Mr. President, $1…

my sense of history is a little bit different than my good friend from Utah. I was under the recollection that George W. Bush was President for the last 8 years. My recollection was that the Republicans controlled the House and the Senate…

I thank Chairman Baucus and his staff for working with us on what I believe are significant improvements to the original amendment Senator Grassley and I offered. This amendment has been cleared by both sides with a modification. This…

I believe that in the last 2 years, under Chairman Akaka's leadership, we have made some very, very significant changes.

I fully concur with the idea of getting more people into the system, more people and more hours, especially for those who are still working.

We need to clearly, as you have heard, reform the claims system.