one of the failings in the past... is that NASA becomes the handmaiden of the Office of Management and Budget.

Picking up on the Ranking Member's questions--and by the way, Mr.

And how are you going to coordinate with others that get into energy and climate change policies, such as Carol Browner, Dr. Chu, Nancy Sutley, as well as the NOAA Administrator?

I want it established that then-candidate Obama clearly came out and stated that he wanted to reactivate the National Space Council within the White House.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

One disenfranchised service member is one too many but, when two out of three ballots are not counted for whatever reason, we have got a serious problem on our hands.

It is hard to register, hard to vote, hard to count votes. All the difficulties are clear and navigating through these difficult areas is not always that easy.

There are some real questions, frankly, as to whether the different proposals would, in reality, provide the taxpayer with the best return on their investment.

We cannot afford another repeat of the TARP bailout fiasco that we have been hearing and reading about.

We must ensure that effective oversight is there to avoid wasteful spending, so I agree with the Chairwoman.

Finally, we have to do something, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member and Mr. Oberstar, as soon as we get an FAA Administrator in place, about getting airspace redesign in the New York City area.

Have you heard the phrase, Mr. Pandit, 'Heads, I win; tails, you lose?'

You call it insurance, but that word does not appear anywhere in this document, does it?

So the government gets $7 billion in preferred stock, and the government is on the hook for $250 billion in losses, is that correct?

Are you saying the number 29 is the number 30?

Well, you know, a billion here a billion there. Soon you are talking real money, Mr. Pandit.

You tell me where I can get a deal like that.

I am mightily impressed. And as the Director-designate indicated yesterday, so much of the success of his agency will be in human intelligence.