Patty Murray

I am pleased to fund the Surface Transportation Board. I agree with my colleague from California that this agency needs funding in order to comply with its governing statute, which directs the Board to support the growth of rail in the…

We were pleased that, last Congress, then-Chairwoman Senator Patty Murray included many of our proposals in S. 2299, the 'Servicemembers Rights Enforcement Improvement Act.'

It is completely up to the Senator from Ohio. As I said, if the Senator offers us a voice vote right now, I can guarantee its adoption quickly. How long does the Senator want to wait to vote?

Let me commend the Senator from Colorado for his critical reminder to all of us about how you can get up each day and never know what life brings to you, but to remember not that the people so senselessly lost their lives, but the courage…

I would object. What the Senator is asking for is a precondition on a conference committee without the consideration of this whole Senate. What I have offered to him and to this body in my unanimous consent request is a vote on the motion…

Congress should weigh these costs carefully as it considers minimum wage increases.

This increase, the President's proposed increase, would benefit about 15 million workers.

The higher proposal that Senator Harkin and Congressman Miller have made, I understand, would benefit about 27 million.

It'll put billions of dollars into the pockets of the people in our society who are most likely to spend those dollars.

Raising the minimum wage to a more reasonable level and then indexing it will allow them to keep up.

I am proud to say we are 1 of 10 States that index our minimum wage.

I think this affects a lot more people than 15 million to 27 million. It affects a lot of businesses, small businesses, communities, and their economy.

I have greatly enjoyed working with them, and have appreciated everything they've done to ensure that we are providing the education and training required by workers and employers to meet today's economic challenges.

An annual expenditure of $2 billion yields a return of nearly $30 billion.

I want to express my gratitude to you and Ranking Member Alexander for holding this hearing today.

I want to thank you, and Senator Alexander, and Senator Isakson for your really important work on the Workforce Investment Act.

It has been 15 years since we reauthorized this, and the world has changed dramatically.

Yet the system--at a time when there were six or seven jobseekers for every job opening, consistently had job placement rates of 50 percent or better.

I think we have really put together something that recognizes the changes in the world and what we need to be doing to really help create the dynamic workforce that will create a strong economy in the future.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

As we all know, much has changed in that time.

Do you know how many students are currently on the waiting list in your State?

I really take that as a testament to the workforce board's ability to look across and operate in partnership with a wide variety of organizations.

The system needs modernizing and reforming.

Without your backing we wouldn't be here today.