As our Nation continues to grapple with unprecedented disruptions to our education systems, I look forward to hearing from you on how we can best meet the needs of our students now and going forward.

Dr. Cardona will not just bring much-needed teaching experience to the Department, but also invaluable personal experience.

Last week, I reintroduced the Gateways to Careers Act for Senator Young, Senators Kaine, and Collins.

We desperately need more funding and resources for schools, like education relief that President Biden called for in his American Rescue Plan.

we need a coordinated approach between the Federal Government and the States.

We still have not seen any of the guidance from SBA on how those grants will be made available, and we are hearing a great deal of concern from small businesses in New Hampshire who are interested in applying and are really getting…

One of the programs that was created in the most recent COVID bill, back in December, was a new program to help with live entertainment venues.

I think everyone has pointed out the importance of the Small Business Administration in helping our small businesses get through this emergency that we are experiencing because of COVID.

I will continue to ask questions to see how we can make progress and stand ready to help you with that.

But I would like to begin with agreeing with Senator Cardin that one of the biggest challenges we had was trying to get information from SBA about how the PPP program and the EIDL programs were working.

I helped to introduce it and see it get passed.

I believe it's unacceptable to delay getting the vaccine.

Well, it's taken a Herculean effort to get COVID-19 vaccines developed, authorized, and distributed around the country.

Knowing ahead of time how much they can expect to receive will be incredibly helpful.

It is clear to us that Russian actions against the U.S. have been aggressive and they have been adversarial.

It is refreshing to have a President who is going to do that.

If confirmed, you will oversee the seat that the U.S. Mission to the U.N. has on the executive board of UNFPA.

I will not hesitate in my engagements with them to also press them on tough issues, such as their interference in our election.