The Research Advisory Committee on which I serve unanimously rejected VA's whitewash

I see students graduate from graduate school and law school and medical school with $200,000, $250,000, $300,000 in debt.

I am convinced that these problems are rooted at least partly in the issue we will discuss today - the persistent lack of staffing standards at VA medical facilities.

Is the bubble out there? And what happens when it collapses to the taxpayers?

I think it is one of the greatest challenges we face in America today are the student loans and the cost of college.

I say to the chairman, we appreciate the spirit in which he and Chairman Kline have approached this problem.

And we are not going to have a robust recovery if middle-class retirees aren't buying automobiles and refrigerators and taking their family to restaurants and do the things that people can do when they have a decent pension, decent income.

I can never think of a good reason why an ERISA trust should not be able to put money away for the retirement or health care of its members.

The facts they provide, however, are deeply troubling.

Armed with the facts, we must begin charting a new and better course.

We are addressing difficult issues with no simple answers.

I think there are certainly some areas that need to be improved upon; there are some areas that need to be tightened up;