I thought the goal of the 'War on Poverty' was to get people out of poverty on their own--working and basically earning their own success.

We have to stop denigrating the trades.

There is a proposal out there for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

That is a real problem.

Islamic terrorists declared war on the United States. Quite honestly, Islamic terrorists declared war on the civilized world.

Thank you, Senator Booker.

I think, Senator Carper, you are at least sympathetic to what I have come up with as the primary reason--the primary root cause--of our unsecured border: America's insatiable demand for drugs.

If you really want to talk about addressing the root cause of the problem, we have to defeat Islamic terrorists where they reside.

The root cause of the problem here is Islamic terrorism.

At the heart of what is currently ailing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), is the fact that we really have two completely contradictory goals.

I think I have had one Inspector General say, well, there was one we did not publish, because of concerns about national security.

Unless we really have the ability to hold people accountable, that is what causes these types of tragedies.

I mean, I understand that probably the most corrosive thing to any organization is not being able to hold the bad actors accountable.

I could not agree more.

Another piece of legislation I introduced was the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick--let me give you the full title of that one as well: The Christopher Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act.

That is an incredibly important point you are making.

At the end of the day, we own this. VA leadership owns this.

Senator Carper, who is our Ranking Member of the Committee, has a statement and a Minority Views Memo that he would like in the record without objection.

Thank you, Senator Baldwin.

I mean, most people reading our report will say there is a lot of substantiated evidence to support that charge.

I hope that the VA will embrace and help support the passage of that piece of legislation to give those whistleblowers the protection they really need.

I was more than disappointed when the representatives from the VA testified against the Accountability Act.

This is a case with Dr. Houlihan where it was he said/they said.

I would argue that the responsibility of the Inspector General is to make that information public and also make sure that something is done about it. And, that did not happen.

the level of retaliation against those people that have the courage to come forward, like Dr. Noelle Johnson, like Ryan Honl, like Chris Kirkpatrick, is jaw dropping.