Those funds need to continue to be targeted at those individuals.

I hope, Senator Landrieu, that you will read my summary of pleas from applicants, asking for justice and fairness.

Wouldn't it be prudent to continue the program and conduct a study that actually compares students who use scholarships to those in the DC public schools to determine achievement effects?

Mr. Secretary, I know I was not in Congress when the original DC Opportunity Scholarship Program passed...

I just want to make sure we do it right and don't set deadlines or timetables or goals with PR in mind, versus substance, and basically put politics and PR ahead of substance.

Under the leadership of Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain, this committee broadly recognized those problems.

I don't care what the current START says. You can sign a new treaty that's the same as the old one, with one comma missing, and it can last 6 months if you want to, if that's the smart thing to do.

I was just suggesting, earlier, that logically it seems pretty clear to me we shouldn't finish a new START before the NPR is finished.

Secretary Gates has said that, without testing, it will, 'become impossible to keep extending the life of our arsenal.'

Just to follow up directly on that, Mr. Secretary, in general, what would be your bottom line on this in terms of, what do you think the probability is of any sort of gap, however broadly defined developing?

I am also encouraged with many--not all, but certainly many--of Secretary Gates' strong recommendations.

I want to thank Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain for their acquisition reform bill.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today how this money will be spent wisely.

I would love thoughts from any of you, including the GAO, about the suggestion by some that we do not have enough focus...

I look forward to working with you and all the other members on these significant issues.

I do not mean to interrupt. But the best capable. What is the possibility of falling short of what is our expectation and defining a gap as anything short of that?

Generally, they have said that competition for dollars leads to low-cost estimation and unrealistic scheduling.

I look forward to working with you on the many important issues under this subcommittee's jurisdiction.