Patty Murray

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.

American workers are suffering under President Obama's economy.

My colleague Chairwoman Mikulski has led the way on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide women with more tools to fight pay discrimination.

Women especially are rightly concerned about the economic futures facing our young people.

Acting to expand economic opportunity for women is the right thing to do.

I am hopeful that we can work together over the coming weeks and months to give the Highway Trust Fund some multi-year certainty.

I will certainly fight back against any attempts to move our country backwards, with deeper cuts to investments for our families and seniors or unfair and irresponsible budget proposals.

We should not relitigate our bipartisan budget deal or create needless uncertainty again in a budget process that should finally be free of crisis.

Every child growing up today deserves the same shot at the American dream that my family had, and I am ready to work with anyone, Democrat or Republican, to get that done.

Every day this administration... continues to advance policies that make it more difficult for Americans to find a job.

We took a good step forward with the Affordable Care Act, which now prevents insurance companies from charging women more than men for coverage.

I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mrs. MURRAY pertaining to the introduction of S. 2164 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

But I think the more you know, the more you can make reasonable decisions, and we just do a very bad job in this country of doing financial literacy.

It's so telling when we have so many people in our country today who are spending all of their extra income paying back a student loan.

One of my priorities during the negotiations last winter on the Bipartisan Budget Act was to maintain our investments in student aid.

I believe that this program is essential to restoring trust between victims of sexual assault and the Marine Corps.

This organization demonstrates the Marine Corps' commitment to fully implementing the NDAA provision I fought for.

I appreciate the emphasis you have placed on combatting sexual assault within the Marine Corps.

I am concerned that one of the Navy's best performing acquisition programs faces a reduction in the Program of Record.

The P-8A program is a model acquisition program.

The P-8A is particularly well-suited for meeting this national strategic effort.

I have supported COOL since its inception in the 2002 farm bill, I am concerned with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to continue to implement a final rule.

I support advanced appropriations. I think it has worked on the health side and I want to see it work on the VA.

What is VA doing to ensure other VISNs and facilities are receiving the resources they need?

So, you know, we have got a lot of veterans who are not making through this biographic questionnaire, and I think this is an area we have got to reevaluate quickly.