When you face extensive unemployment in the regions that I have just mentioned... these are serious matters.

But I am correct that that reconsideration process has actually been objected to by certain groups and the courts. Is that not true?

Congressman Frank Wolf and I have introduced legislation to reconstitute the 9/11 Commission 10 years after.

I give Secretary Napolitano credit for condensing that somewhat and taking a very meaningful step in the right direction.

We cannot allow ourselves to remain complacent, but there is no doubt that al-Qaeda central has been tremendously weakened.

This is not a turf battle. This is a fact. We are sending mixed messages to the Department; we are sending mixed signals as far as what Congress wants in the area of Homeland Security and this fragmentation to me is just inviting, if not…

The federal government does have a role in situations like this when there's a disaster there's an appropriate federal role. And we will find the moneys. But we've had discussions about these things before. And those moneys will be offset…

I feel like we accomplished a lot by passing that bill. It is the beginning of a process but we're going to change the system in this town. It also, I think, sends a signal that we can work together to try and produce results and right now…

Mr. Chairman, given your incredible generosity, would you allow me one more question and I don't think it is a long one.

I want to sneak in two more questions. One is in looking at the data, Medicare Advantage compared to Fee for Service surprisingly is 35 percent higher in improper payments. Why is that?

Nothing happens without stretch goals in government.

Do some of the measures we took in health care reform help you in that regard with respect to Medicare Advantage?

It has been very successful thus far and we are continuing to build on that.

$48 billion is a staggering sum of money. It is unacceptable for two reasons.

never once has there been an error, never once have they had to be reminded to meet an obligation, never once have they arbitrarily denied something that was important to us in sharp contrast to the private insurance system.

It is my impression in talking with the U.S. Attorneys Offices that Medicare fraud has increasingly moved up as a priority for them and consumes a lot of their time in terms of bringing charges against organized fraudulent activity on…

I'll just be very brief, Madam Chair. Thank you for holding the hearing. I concur with your interests and the Ranking Member's interests in moving forward on this.

I thank you. Mr. Chairman, my time is up.