there is $5 billion available to states and that money is very targeted so that it does go directly to families in need.

Faced with insurmountable odds and cumulative 3-month job losses of 2.1 million in early February, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The reality is that it is impossible to have a work-based safety net without work.

Well, thank you, Chairman Spratt and Ranking Member Ryan, and members of the Budget Committee, for participating in this important and timely hearing.

Averages are not a good thing. They are damn statistics.

I guess, just having listened to the four of you, the conclusion that I have come to, looking at these charts and graphs--and correct me if I am wrong--is that basically we have a kind of a safety net for people who are unemployed, who…

Oregon has been hit very hard by the recession.

It is pound foolish to think that we can allow the economic collapse of peoples and economies across the globe and expect that we're going to survive.

It is very important, I think, to disaggregate sanctions against a regime that continues to enrich uranium without the sanction of the international energy commission.

I do think that it is important for us to develop other means of dealing with this other than sanctioning them, because I understand there is a great deal of misery among the Iranian people.