Barack Obama was just a mere mortal.

Interestingly enough, I saw some polling data today at a luncheon presentation, and the President's favorables and unfavorables or uncertains kind of reflect those numbers right there.

the role of government is to steer the boat, not row the boat

We appreciate that our panel of witnesses could be here today.

I used to be on the Amtrak board, and I ride the train a lot.

Maybe at the end of the day we will not only provide better transparency but a lot better service for less money, and that is a pretty good goal for all of us.

Great. Thanks. Mr. Kundra, the last word.

Well, good afternoon, everyone. The Subcommittee will come to order.

Is it true that in this capacity you work with the Congress, you work with agencies, and the public sector to develop smarter policies that help reform bad government practices?

It should not be a talking point anymore that agencies should be as transparent and accountable as possible.

My role is to work with other Senators, Representatives, and the President and Vice President to help make the rules for our country.

That is your story and you are going to stick to it?

It is hard for us to police every person in government.

For the next hour or so, we are going to discuss ways that President Obama and his team of Open Government experts...

we are interested in doing is trying to go out and collect all the money that is fraudulantly taken out of Medicare by fraudsters

the American people now have as much power in terms of knowing how their government works

It will be interesting to see what happens on the floor this afternoon.

Americans want transparency in the day-to-day services that they depend on like Medicare, veterans' benefits, tax work done by the IRS.