I don't believe that you can actually get blood out of a turnip.

We certainly share the Postmaster General's confidence in the future viability of the Postal Service, with help, obviously, from Congress as we have requested.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of Representatives John McHugh and Danny Davis, who introduced H.R. 22.

I am reminded of Frederick Douglass, who said he knew one thing if he didn't know anything else, and that is that in this world, we may not get everything that we pay for, but we most certainly will pay for everything that we get.

So the Board of Governors is in fact cognizant and displays sensitivity to the increasing concern about the issue?

I believe that Congress can act to provide some immediate breathing room at no cost to taxpayers by supporting the bill that I have co-sponsored with Representative John McHugh of New York.

Times have changed. The national economy is in a recession and there is no place more reflective of that than the economic reality of the Postal Service.

I won't take 5 minutes, because I don't believe that you can actually get blood out of a turnip.

The most important piece of legislation Congress should enact is H.R. 22, introduced by Representatives John McHugh and Danny Davis.

Let's assume that we do all of the things that Mr. Potter talked about earlier in terms of streamlining, staff reductions, but let's also assume that we do not pass H.R. 22.

I wonder if just having ATF, which has always had, in my view at least, a restricted role, is enough to stop this.

Porous borders mean that the potential for drugs flowing into communities all over the country is real.

I can tell you it is out there, it is a problem.

I do not agree that is the right answer either.

I appreciate those efforts, working with local law enforcement, working with, in the Northern Border's case... I think you can get a lot of bang for the buck.

I would appreciate if you would look at that. This is a very unusual situation, it seems to me, and a horrible one.

I think it is important to point out in this debate about your nomination--there is some debate and we should not shy away from confronting that debate--that you have had a commitment as a career Foreign Service officer.

I do have concerns--and our subcommittee, where we handle all of the foreign assistance--I am concerned about the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's report that said, of the $21 billion in the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund…