One of the last decisions businesses make is new employees and a commitment to new employees.

So if you raise taxes during a recession, you probably want to offset it with a tax cut elsewhere, for example.

The Fed is involved very unwillingly because there is no good system for addressing the failure of a major financial institution.

I think many people are convinced that the way Fannie and Freddie were set up before was not entirely satisfactory, and we need to have some rethinking about what role the government should play in the housing market.

I believe the Congress will want to look at both sides, both the tax and the spending side, and try to find a reasonable balance between those two.

If you give it away to the industries but prices still reflect the cost of the permit, then it is basically money being given to the industries.

Part of the reform effort has got to be addressing the cost somehow, the cost of per capita health care and the growth in that rate.

give a grade to TRICARE.

The third area of concern relates to the recent testimony by the service chiefs, particularly those of the Marine Corps and Army, that dwell time will not significantly increase in the foreseeable future.

My second concern focuses on the number of nondeployable personnel in the Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve.

I am interested in hearing your assessment, all of you, as to where the risk may exist in the proposed cuts in recruiting and retention.

I appreciate Chairwoman Davis visited with me at Fort Jackson, the recruiting and retention school, last year.

Well, it is really, again, inspiring to me to know the talented people serving in the Navy who have volunteered to serve around the world as sand sailors, many of them trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Has the Department produced an estimate of the costs of transitioning to the Direct Loan program for a small to medium size independent college?

I would like to thank you again for this opportunity to express our concerns on these important issues.

We are therefore pleased to support various measures insofar as they fall within that scope.

Will the administration provide direct financial assistance to schools to support their transition into the Direct Loan program?

You propose to stop new FFEL loan originations as of July 1, 2010. How many schools will need to transition from FFEL to Direct Loans between today and July 1st?