I thank Chairman Murray for helping get the issue resolved but it should not take me talking to a U.S. Senator to help my husband.

We cannot balance our budget at the expense of the health care and benefits our veterans have earned.

I am concerned about the lack of separate women-only inpatient mental health care units that we are hearing about as well.

We must include the cost of caring for our veterans and families long after the fighting is over.

I do not support those specific proposals because they negatively impacted benefits, which I believe we should not be touching.

How can we expand proven approaches, such as on-the-job training, incumbent worker training, sector strategies and registered apprenticeships?

I think we are working very hard to get a good, solid bill out to address that.

We do have a skills gap. ... This has to be part of our economic recovery.

I come to the floor this afternoon to oppose the amendment offered by the Senator from Oklahoma which would undo decades of policies on how we treat veterans who are suffering from diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure. That…

our Nation is less than 2 weeks away from potentially facing what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called a ``calamitous outcome.'' Unless we act, the United States of America, for the first time in our history, may face the…

I move to table the amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The…

So my colleagues know, there is a reason we have made this type of compensation like Agent Orange presumptive. It is because our military did a miserable job of tracking these exposures, and it is because no veteran will ever be able to go…

I thank the Chair. I urge my colleagues to vote to table this amendment. And if the Senator wants to finish his remarks, I will move to table when he is finished.

there is no question that we need to make smart decisions to tighten our belts and reduce our Nation's debt and deficit. American families have done it around their kitchen table, and we owe it to them to get our fiscal house in order. But…

We cannot leave this as a hidden problem or something we are looking at and report back a year from now.

I think it is important for us to get the VA up here.

I think it is really imperative that we hear directly from the VA's mental health care providers who are on the front lines treating our veterans.

Good morning and welcome to today's hearing on how we can close the gaps in mental health care for our Nation's veterans.

I am shocked that this would happen at even one medical center. It is entirely unacceptable.

I want to know immediately what is being done, immediately what is being done to make sure that this is not happening to anybody.

I am deeply concerned about this. This has been a hidden problem coming home from our veterans for far too long.

I would like to take a moment today to recognize the success of recent efforts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, to reduce Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, infections by more than 60 percent in intensive care…

I would like to recognize the accomplishments of the 24 participants in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Mentor-Protege Program who are working to help veteran small business owners. In these hard economic times, it is more important…

there is no question that we are at a point where we have to take substantial and painful steps to get our Nation's fiscal house in order. That is why we are rightfully working to tighten our Nation's belt at a time when American families…

I rise today to discuss the importance of music education in a child's educational journey. As a former music student myself, I believe every student should have access to this valuable area of study. Three quarters of Americans have been…