Patrick Leahy

As important as military force is, it's no substitute for diplomacy and development.

We're not going to defeat barbaric and pernicious ideas with bullets and bombs.

I commend your leadership on a matter of great importance to our interests and the future of the human enterprise.

Spending more money is not going to do it. We have to do better.

I continue to worry about the white-nose syndrome now in the Western States that we have seen the effect of that on agriculture, forestry, and everything else.

This is such a unique piece. I just do not want us to lose the opportunity.

Thank you very much.

When I first started working on this getting money to study it, people thought I was thinking of a fictional character sometimes in movies called Batman.

They just want to have the time. Otherwise, some of them are just going to go out of business.

I have been a prime champion ever since I have been here.

I thank the distinguished senior Senator from Texas. He has worked tirelessly on this, and I think we both agree that the best government is one where you know what they are doing. ____________________

The Congress added the Chief of the National Guard Bureau as a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because we believed the President needed your best military advice.

I think USAID has to adapt to a rapidly changing world, but so do we in the Congress.

Are you at all concerned that some of our programs may do more to reinforce dependency than foster self-reliance?

I think USAID's core purpose should be sustainable development, and I know from our conversations, you believe that, too.

USAID, not counting the other trillions of dollars we spend, has spent over $17 billion since 2002 on development projects in Afghanistan, even though there are increasing problems with oversight.

I have urged USAID, both in Republican and Democratic administrations, to move away from a model that too often dictates to local populations what needs to be done or does it for them without asking who benefits.

I think when we do that we encourage dependency, the opposite of sustainable development.

Without losing my right to the floor, I yield to answer the question, yes.

We did hate crimes legislation on the floor at the same time we were doing a Supreme Court nomination. Those are pretty significant things. It can be done.

As one who has held a lot of hearings on opioids, as one who has brought together law enforcement, the medical community, parents, the faith community, and physicians in my State on the opioid matter, I am perfectly happy that the…

I realize our time has expired, but I ask unanimous consent that I be able to yield the floor for my colloquy but that I be followed for 5 minutes by the distinguished senior Senator from Connecticut and that he be followed by the…

I thank the Senator from Rhode Island. He is a former attorney general of his State as well as a former U.S. attorney and is well familiar with what the Constitution requires, and I appreciate his urging the U.S. Senate to do its job and…

The Senator may well recall--he was here when I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2001 during President Bush's administration, the ranking member was then Senator Hatch--we put together an agreement about how the committee would…

I have encouraged our Federal agencies to look for ways to help.