Secretary Napolitano's new motto, 'One DHS,' has been, I think, a promising start.

The Department of Homeland Security does not have a good record in terms of collecting improper payments.

We are just going to be, not in an obnoxious way but in a persistent way, all over your Department to make sure that you comply with the law.

I am privileged to serve on this Committee and privileged to serve as chairman of a subcommittee that deals with, among other things, Federal financial management.

Well, that is good. So part of that $125 billion was DHS. Well, that is a good start.

I applaud those efforts, and I applaud the Secretary, whom I am a big fan of.

We want them to report their improper payments. We want them to stop making improper payments. We want them to go out and recover the improper payments that they have made.

Do we have occurrences of medical malpractice in Texas?

Rural safety on rural roads is a No. 1 issue.

What we need is to be able to work with our State Highway Department, the flexibility at the Federal level.

While it is important that Congress address the Federal budget, it is also important that we keep sight of how these decisions may affect our counterparts at the State and local level.

Is that discretion also important for the type of smart growth that you are talking about in Montgomery County?

It is interesting in Maryland, our three top transportation projects are all transit projects, including for the people of Montgomery County, Maryland, the purple line, which is critically important to get people across county, as well as…

In the rural areas, it is about access and jobs.

I want to ask a question as it relates to a concern I have that as we go to the surface reauthorization bill, this surface transportation reauthorization, there are some on this committee that would like to narrow the discretion to our…

All of these projects will help not only get people to where they need to be. It will not only help us as far as our energy policy by using less energy for transportation.

The bill currently has 184 bipartisan cosponsors, although a number of Members of Congress have removed their names as cosponsors.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.