Patty Murray

Budgets are reflections of our values and our priorities and our vision for what our Government and our country and our economy should look like now and into the future.

This law, expanded in the recent health care reform legislation, requires health insurance to cover both mental and physical health equally.

I think it's really important that we focus on that for our military families.

I just continue to believe we have to do everything we can for our veterans and our service members as they transition.

I can't urge you strongly enough that that date is critical.

It is what I hear when I talk to veterans everywhere, that one of their biggest concerns is getting a job.

As Americans we all have to come together. And we can learn from this and we can do some things that are really important.

The Senator from California is correct. It seems to me such a simple procedure to do, which we have done many times in the Senate, to just by unanimous consent send the Speaker back the bill so he can't put a piece of blue paper in front…

The Senator from California is correct. That is why we have work to do, in a bipartisan fashion in the Senate, to make sure in this country, America, we do not discriminate against women when it comes to violence.

The Senator from California is absolutely correct. We cannot even imagine what it is like to have somebody hold that kind of power over you and use it to beat you day in and day out. We cover those women in this bill so that they have the…

The Senator from California is correct. In fact, those 30 million Americans would be covered under the Senate bill. We made sure that Native American women are covered, and we put in important provisions to make sure campus violence is…

The Senator from Oregon is absolutely correct. If a woman has been beaten and abused and believes she is a victim of violence with nowhere to turn, especially in a rural community where everyone knows everyone and a person doesn't know who…

As you know, early childhood education is extremely important to me.

This is a very important issue. It addresses the most vulnerable of kids amongst us, and there are real barriers, like just not having an address you can put on a form to access.

I am the only Senator who has been a pre-school teacher formerly.

We have to come up with a balanced proposal, one that we all know has to include something from both sides, including revenue from the wealthiest Americans.

Everybody believes sequestration is a terrible thing. We cannot let it happen.

It's just going to take the political will from both sides to say that we know that's what we need to do.

I wish to thank the Senator, and I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

S. 3309, Sen. Patty Murray's 'Homeless Veterans Assistance Improvement Act of 2012'

Veterans legislation continues to be bipartisan and that is as it should be.

I am optimistic that by the time of the next markup, the President is going to be signing into law the Honoring America Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.

We need comments back from the VA very urgently on this.

The VA cannot offer much in the way of care for spouses.

I do appreciate the support of my friend, Senator Brown from Massachusetts, for his support on this legislation also.