I am hoping you could offer more details as to the agreement that was reached, and whether there is any uncertainty regarding the future of the program in FY 13.

I am not as confident as the Chairwoman, especially being in the minority and being a new member that they are going to keep the machine open for me.

We are not rich, but as Americans, we are willing to give back to the country that has given so much to us.

for what has been deemed a tax-and-spend presidency, it seems to me that President Obama is cutting taxes more and increasing spending less as a share of GDP than many of our great Republican leaders

Our objective here is to have a rule where there is disclosure that brings about the confidence of the American public.

I am from Maryland, as you know, and very focused on the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay watershed.

If the ball is hidden and nobody knows, then that is not going to fulfill the objective.

We need to--a commitment from the Department of the Interior that there is going to be program integrity, that there will be no attempts to pick winners and losers.

We have Iowans who are in that Red Bull group as well, and we have many of the very same concerns in Iowa.

I applaud you and the President for focusing in on these issues of safety.

What processes are in place to ensure the workload associated with reductions being made in the civilian workforce is in fact ceasing, as opposed to being absorbed by other labor sources such as contractors or military personnel?

The GAO recently reported that DOD contributes nearly $3.3 billion to defense contractor pension plans.

The FY12 NDAA capped contract spending for FYs 12 and 13 at FY10 levels.

Surely the quest for efficiency is not intended to divert people from their core missions or result in them working in filthy conditions.

What if the work is found to be inherently governmental or otherwise should be performed by civilians, instead of contractors?

President Obama has made reducing reliance on contractors and rebalancing the workforce a major management initiative of his Administration.

The Department requested emergency relief from the Paperwork Reduction Act in order to move forward, after 4+ years of non-compliance, with the Inventory of Contracts for Services.

why should we fund two different agencies that aren't obviously communicating with each other on an issue of this importance?