Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will tell you, this issue is very personal to me.

the frustration of processing benefits or background investigations or even retirement is unacceptable.

If we were to establish service levels for getting back to people and resolving issues, that would be a big first step in making sure that we are customer driven.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and to our Ranking Member as well.

I really appreciate how hard people are working at OPM and how hard our civil servants work when they are processing these cases.

Two years of inaction on this front is not going to get the job done.

Too often, Federal workforce is viewed as a cost, not as an asset, and training dollars are among the first to go.

To exploit tribal sovereign immunity to avoid competition as opposed to dealing with the patent system, in my view, is unacceptable.

the patient should always pay the lowest cost-sharing possible for a given drug.

I hear from granite staters all the time who struggle to afford their medications, and they are so frustrated.

Allergan's behavior here is unacceptable, and if other drug companies follow its lead, the problem is only going to get worse.

I know from our office's perspective, dealing with constituents who had medical emergencies after these hurricanes hit--and the limitations of communications because of the devastation on the networks--really prevented absolutely critical…

I am a big believer in the wisdom of crowds, so I think we should put it to the public.

If there is not good access to broadband, to connectivity... it is really a nonstarter for those folks.

I think the investment that we are talking about is really critical in any number of areas.

Well, and it may be that as we further these conversations that Congress has to get involved, too, in identifying where we think investments should go and trying to help strike that balance with the industry.

the importance of being able to do that in a way and at a time that makes sense, given people's busy lives, is really increasingly important.

It is my distinct pleasure to be here today to call this hearing of the Commerce Committee to order.