I strongly recommend John Berry for the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

But yet and still, people are not getting those opportunities.

I just think that this is a prime opportunity to get some of these things done right now.

We hold this hearing today at a time when our national economy is struggling and the U.S. Postal Service is not immune to that trend.

I hope that we are indeed able to make these ideas work.

Total current spending is well below what is needed to improve the condition of our national transportation infrastructure.

I think our challenge, Madam Chair, is to craft the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, that you referred to as MAP, that will meet our investment needs in a fiscally responsible way.

I think these are important points and need to be part of the policies that we look forward to in our next effort on reauthorization.

Let's take a look at the overall problems that we have in America in dealing with quality of life and our commitment to our environment.

I think the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a good first start.

There are three major provisions that will sunset during 2009 that will need to be taken up by Congress.

So yes, it is critically important that we make the right investments.

It has been estimated that we spend 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic.

I think most of us believe these tools are extremely important, and we want to make sure that you have the tools that you need.

I would just stress I would hope that we will have the opportunity to return to the issues of the PATRIOT Act far in advance of the deadline for the end of this year where we have to act.

The funding we provided merely put a dent in the enormous backlog of transportation needs in this country.

Our Nation's surface transportation system is in desperate need of repair while being stretched to its limits.

one of the great things about this committee is it is probably one of the most bipartisan committees in Congress