Patty Murray

This is a huge frustration for a lot of our constituents right now.

The consequences of these risky behaviors have rippled through the national and global economies with mounting foreclosures, a crippled housing market, and a financial sector in turmoil.

I would really appreciate that very much.

How much of the $14 billion will actually cover the costs that are expected to result from additional risk and how much will be used to provide incentives to lenders or help extinguish second liens?

So we know reform is necessary and there has to be a clear plan for ending this unlimited taxpayer assistance for Fannie and Freddie.

I think we need a very thoughtful approach as we do this.

As we sit here today, millions of Americans are out of work and many more are struggling with unaffordable mortgage payments, negative home equity, or foreclosure.

Fulfilling the same role as it did when it was created during the Great Depression, the FHA has stepped forward to help provide liquidity and restore stability to the housing market.

If one company is bidding against a company that has been subsidized, our taxpayers are essentially fighting against a country rather than a company.

The President's budget for this year, 2011, doesn't include any investments in military construction at Fairchild Air Force Base.

It's really important that the Air Force has enough time to make a full and fair assessment of the bids that come in.

It's extremely important that we begin to look at long-term planning to make sure that we maintain our aerospace industry in this country.

I continue to be very troubled that DOD is awarding this contract--it's taxpayer funded, $35 billion competition.

There are a lot of facilities at Fairchild that are in need of upgrades, and some aren't even sufficient to meet the needs of a 21st century Air Force.

We're going to leave the committee record open for the next 7 days for all committee members to be able to add their statements and to ask questions of all of our witnesses.

The Nation needs what has been started in Minnesota and a number of other States.

I remember doing that with my dad many times. Reaching into a car and trying to get him into a wheelchair was extremely difficult.

One of the challenges we're hearing about is the training of the nurses with the use of all that kind of equipment.

If we implemented a national lifting standard, what kind of reduction in injury rates to nurses and healthcare providers would we see?

It seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to keep the nurses we have safe, healthy and on the job, as a bare minimum.

We all know that nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system.

I feel very strongly that our Washington State farmers and our families should not be punished for a diplomatic dispute they had nothing to do with.

I want to thank both of you for your work on this issue and for being here today and look forward to working with you in the coming months and years.

I am told there is a list available somewhere in the administration of the barriers that exist.

So I am assuming that one of the things you are looking at in proposals is, at the end of the day, does that community envision having lower costs as a result of their planning?