I appreciate the efforts that you have taken and that you have talked about this morning to reform the culture of corruption that has existed within MMS.

Thank you for holding this hearing. I think it is very timely and appreciate both of your being here to testify.

I just want to say that my heart goes out to the people of Louisiana and all of the Gulf States who are directly suffering the consequences of this disastrous spill.

Our goal here is to try and make sure that all of the small businesses that have been affected are getting the help that they need, and that BP and the contractors that it hired who are to blame, who are deemed to be blamed for this spill…

I think there's been general agreement, from everybody who's spoken, that BP would be liable to pay the costs of cleanup in the spill.

I just would like to request that, when Mr. Hayes provides the BP responsibility document to Senator Menendez, that you make it available to the entire committee.

SBA is clearly going to be critical in helping those small businesses move forward, and we want to see strong leadership at the head of the SBA.

I would echo your remarks and that of Senator Snowe in the importance of small business to the economic recovery in this country.

DOD has a Joint Task Force Haiti that deployed immediately following the earthquake.

It will be transitioning, on June 1, to a very robust DOD program that's focusing on the middle-term priorities.

One of the things that I have found troubling... is that there didn't seem to be an emergency plan in place that could address how to deal with the spill once it happened.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being kind enough to appear. I have limited time because I actually have to go preside over the Senate and I can't be late for that.

the treaty reestablishes a legally binding relationship between the two countries in terms of their nuclear arsenals

It's really important that we be in there. It's been quite some--I think START expired December the 5th.

I do have a concern about that, which I hope this committee and the Armed Services Committee would be looking into carefully.

ratification of this treaty is going to be important if we are going to get back to that kind of a verification and inspection regime.

this treaty is designed to give both sides confidence again in the process of arms control.

It promotes stability. It promotes atomic and nuclear stability.