Patty Murray

I have been passionate about early childhood education forever. It is what got me involved in politics and continues to keep me going.

Governors in tough times are investing because they get it.

I am very concerned about this sequester and its impact right now on children and middle-class families.

I am very concerned and have said repeatedly that this managing our country by crisis to crisis is really hurting families across the country.

The ROI on this is pretty staggering, seven-to-one.

We replaced sequestration in the budget that the Senate passed.

A budget is a lot more than just numbers and spread sheets. It really is a reflection of our values and our priorities.

Dramatically expanding access for our babies to high-quality early childhood education, that it is the great equalizer.

I am going to associate myself with those who say you have to fix both sides of the balance sheet.

I think what the American public deeply want us to do is to take the two budgets... and try to find some longer-term deal.

They are saying that any additional revenue, even if it is generated by closing unfair tax loopholes, is off the table.

But as everyone on this Committee knows, the path before us is going to be a struggle.

Every time we have had a balanced budget in recent memory, revenues have been higher than we are projected to experience going forward.

I have long believed that early childhood education is one of the best investments the Federal Government can make.

It will be very possible for a hedge fund manager to pay a lower tax rate on his income than a soldier or a police officer or a teacher.

I was really dismayed to once again see how drastically underfunded the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund is.

We have to consider the retirement of the baby boomers and the need to invest in our people and in our infrastructure.

The revenue policy in the budget that this Committee wrote and the Senate passed... was shaped by those unavoidable realities.

I believe that is what every bipartisan group that has examined our budget situation... has also recommended several times more revenue.

I want to have everybody gets a chance to ask.

I am hopeful that this Committee can be a place where we can come together to tackle our fiscal and economic challenges in a balanced way that works for the families and communities that we all represent.

There has been nothing regular about the lurching from crisis to crisis over the past year.

We might want to ask those folks for more revenue rather than cutting back on the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in this country.

They are about the families across America whose lives will be impacted by the decisions that we make.

I believe our focus should be on jobs and the economy, not on arbitrarily creating pain for American families.