Patrick Leahy

The entire foreign operations budget is about 1 percent of Federal spending, and the world is rapidly changing.

I was optimistic about USAID Forward, and its focus on country ownership and eventually working yourselves out of a job.

It is long past time for the Administration and the Cuban Government to negotiate a resolution of this ordeal so Mr. Gross can return home.

I think everybody on this panel, both democrats and republicans, have praised you for improving.

I told you 4 years ago, I think I said that I did not know whether to offer you congratulations or condolences when you became the head of it.

I have always assumed it is sustainable development, and I believe, Dr. Shah, you would agree with that.

I do not want to over generalize, but these activities are often not the same as building institutions and organizations.

I was encouraged the Department of Justice requested a $17 million to support an additional 35 Immigration Judge teams.

I am concerned about the large and expanding docket of our Nation's immigration court system.

Is this a priority? Because I really worry that we're going to reach such a tipping point that justice will just be totally denied.

The Nation's immigration courts are understaffed--you've got 32 vacancies, nearly half of the 200 immigration judges eligible for retirement, pending caseload has grown by 50 percent.

Your excellent U.S. Attorney in Vermont, Tris Coffin, has worked with the local and State.

We actually did this in a thing called The Place, in Burlington, Vermont, for 7 or 8 years, back in the late '60s and early '70s.

Madam Chair, I appreciate what you've said and what Senator Shaheen said earlier about what I've been doing up in Vermont.

It's important to our system in the United States that the powerful don't pay a fine while the ordinary person goes to prison.

The heroin crisis is sweeping America.

What steps will the Department take to ensure that rural communities are not put at a disadvantage when applying for grants?

By not replacing the sequester this year, we are foregoing $56 billion that could be invested in programs to grow our economy.

I don't think it is as active as would be possible.

I hope there will be an understanding that sometimes these cuts are pennywise and pound foolish.

I think we all know we have to not only rethink our approach to security because of the changes in the world and our fiscal policy, but it is probably something that we should do all the time anyway.

We therefore believe that legislation, such as the bipartisan legislation recently introduced by Senator Lee and co-sponsored by Senators Tester, Grassley, Murkowski, and Coburn, is the best way to address the issue.

We believe the institutional independence of the OIG, which is codified in the Inspector General Act, and which OPR lacks, is critical to the effectiveness of our misconduct investigations.

I was encouraged the Department of Justice requested a $17 million to support an additional 35 Immigration Judge teams.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review has stated the court system has 32 vacancies.