I think one of the challenges we have both on the north and on the south border is, as we have put and deployed more resources at the points of entry, we have opened up rural America, whether it is on the Northern Border or the Southern…

once again we are back to budget constraints giving us a less secure border, I think is the point Senator McCain was trying to get at.

I mean, we have submitted the staffing needs as part of the annual budget for the last couple years.

Thank you, Chairman Johnson for the introduction and for the opportunity to talk about a border that we do not talk a lot about in this Committee, which is the Northern Border.

I do want to once again give you a high five for all the great work that is done in North Dakota with constraints on resources and for the extraordinary cross-border cooperation and local government cooperation.

I rise again to speak in support of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. It is good legislation, drafted and introduced by the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn, and also the Senator from Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar. They originally put…

How can we measure that and how effective are the preparedness grants in helping improve that preparedness across the country?

Okay. And you have already taken steps to address the Administrator who was overseeing the program, I understand, correct?

When will you start that process?

Administrator, as a result of Hurricane Sandy, you received both authority to provide upfront funding for public assistance projects...

That's it, because, done right, I think it can make a huge cost difference.

It is very important that, wherever you can, you are measuring that, so we can track it and know what it is.

Administrator, one of the things I mentioned in my opening statement was making sure that as you work with flood mapping, remapping, and flood insurance you are coordinating with efforts by local communities to build permanent flood…

I have to deal with the immediate issue of what happened in Sandy.

So my understanding is there are 144,000 cases or claims that included engineering services.

I think I can remind you hope is not a strategy.

I think it is very important that you are focused on that area, including putting information into that market every way you can.

I personally support lifting the embargo entirely.