Jay Rockefeller

This is a good bill. It has helped. It has done even what the Affordable Care Act has not been able to do.

Without congressional action, I say again, CHIP will run out of funding next fall, placing at risk the well-being of hundreds of thousands of children and pregnant women.

This, I have to say without sentiment, will be the last Health Subcommittee hearing that I chair.

We urge Congress to, first and foremost, adopt a 4-year extension of CHIP funding through 2019.

We simply cannot afford to take this major step backwards and jeopardize the future of generations by allowing CHIP to expire.

CHIP is a game changer for millions of children.

Creating this program has been one of the most meaningful things I have done in my career in public service.

Thank you very much.

The bill introduced by Senators Rockefeller and Thune will help change that.

I say to myself, why is it that they are so resistant to making some basic changes on things which are so obviously going to come back to haunt them?

They pay virtually no taxes in the United States, even though they're based in Miami and a couple of other places.

We need legislation to protect consumers.

This process of asking tough questions is in fact called 'oversight.' It's one of the most important jobs Congressional committees have, maybe the most important.

Once in a while things can go terribly wrong.

Most people who take cruise ship vacations have a good experience.

It is safety improvements like these that will help prevent more avoidable tragedies like the Smith family's, and I remain just as committed today as I was when I took office to improving crime reporting and consumer safety onboard cruise…

I want to thank you both, my friend and colleague Senator Blumenthal, and the other members of the Senate Commerce Committee for turning their attention today to the important issue of improving protections for cruise passengers.

Instead of fighting this process, I encourage you to listen carefully to the testimony today.

I am a cruise ship rape victim. I have an experience to tell you about.

This Congress is sort of divided into (1) people who want to spend money and think that you need to spend money when you have a particular problem, which there can be no problem more dramatic than that of the veteran, and (2) those who…

It has to be approved before it can be given by the Office of Management and Budget.

But, boy, does that hit you in the face.

We in the Congress are terrifically skillful at finding problems.

You have been a veteran. You have understood that. You put yourself in harm's way.

You plan to get into some of those waiting lines, no staff, just you.