Patrick Leahy

As a child, I believed in the Tooth Fairy, but I'm a little bit older now.

I'm talking about a program that seems to be working now. You're talking about taking the money away from this program that's working and saying that somewhere you're going to give some flexibility.

Are you saying that in, for example, a program in Vermont where 68 percent of medication-assisted treatment is funded through Medicaid, even though you're making enormous cuts in Medicaid--reducing national Medicaid spending by over $600…

I don't support your enormous cuts you've made in Trumpcare in the House bill.

The massive cuts to the Medicaid program, which your administration endorsed in the House-passed bill, and assumed in your budget, would have the opposite effect.

Improving access is essential.

I compliment you, Secretary Price, for traveling around the country to look at the concerns of those who are facing opioid addiction.

The best way to create a 'foundation of greatness' is to support programs that lift people up.

They don't want to go back to those days.

Twenty-three million Americans would lose coverage, and your administration celebrated a bill that will do that.

Now, the healthcare bill was voted on in the House, but most House Members never read it.

And if these cuts weren't bad enough, you also assume savings from the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and deep cuts to the Medicaid program.

You leave people in the cold by eliminating the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP.

You eliminate funding for teen pregnancy prevention.

You target women's health, and Senator Murray has talked about this, by discriminating against providers that serve low-income women.

You have a 17 percent cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You reduce discretionary spending by nearly $8 billion, a 12 percent cut.

It's obvious the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services is very, very wide; it touches every American.

All 16 members of the U.S. Intelligence Community jointly released a declassified report in January that included their shared conclusion that Vladimir Putin personally ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S.

If we do not lift the budget caps from 2 years ago, effectively, we are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I have seen the obvious necessity of our military power. But I have also heard almost universally from our commanders in the field how necessary it was to have also the soft power handled by the State Department and USAID.

We cannot be both militarily strong but economically weak.

I realize we cannot maintain the strongest military at the expense of our domestic priorities.

I think there has to be a commitment, though, if they are going to get the funding they need.

I have been on this committee for an awful lot of years.