I opposed the privatization initiative of the Bush administration, the OMB Revised A-76 Circular.

Thank you for being willing to do this and to your entire family. I know it was a difficult decision.

I think you are a high-altitude, high-achieving guy, and I think you will absolutely lead our Department of Education.

One week from now, we will be heading to the platform for the inauguration of President-elect Obama.

Could you work with us to identify those things where it is too many good-old micro line-item programs?

I want you to know, Senator Enzi really helped me be able to work on a bipartisan basis to be able to do that.

I believe that is how we will be able to deliver for the American people.

Forty-seven million people without health insurance is extremely expensive to our economy.

You have said that Congress did the right thing in giving the President the tools to deal with the financial crisis, including the TARP funding.

I would feel more comfortable if I knew that if through this open process banks do not meet reasonable expectations government is prepared to exercise sanctions against them.

We currently spend twice as much as comparable countries spend on health care and we don't have the results to reflect that type of investment.

Our energy policy needs to achieve two objectives: One, energy independence, so we are not as dependent upon foreign sources of energy; and two, we need to deal with the global climate change and greenhouse gas emission issues.

I think it is desperately needed.

I hope that our investment includes public transportation, because if we can get people to work quicker and friendlier...

We need to be able to judge how we are achieving energy independence.

I encourage you to establish reasonable goals as to how we can wean ourselves off of imported energy sources, particularly oil.

It is aggressive in dealing with the short-term problems that you inherited.

I would urge you, first of all, to keep us informed as to what is happening, what the facts are.