Yes, I am sort of preaching to the choir here, I am sure.

The Union of Concerned Scientists pointing out systematic interference with EPA scientists, 60 percent of them indicating that they had been interfered with in their work for political purposes.

I think OMB was the political fixer for the Administration in the agency regulatory process in the past.

The entire agency process had in effect been a sham, that the result was willful ignorance triumphant.

I appreciate the opportunity to be with you.

It is a great privilege for me to be here today to introduce Scott Gould to this Committee as President Obama's nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Administration.

I absolutely agree with you, that that is probably the key, the key point of leverage in any education system.

I think this was a conscious decision of the Bush administration, of Secretary Preston, without the mission to FHA and then Fannie and Freddie to go out there, the mortgage market in the United States would be moribund and we would be in a…

I think we had over 30 of them over the last 2 years, plus some efforts we made in this area.

I would like to thank Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby for scheduling this nomination hearing so quickly, an important part of our constitutional process.

I applaud you for your intense focus on health care.

I was pleased to co-sponsor with the President-elect, the School Improvement Through Teacher Quality Act.

I think the President has made a very wise choice. Your experience and your commitment is obvious, and I think you will make a real difference in the Department of Education.

I would hope you would be able to tell us you are going to put your shoulder behind the law and money behind it to make these provisions in title II very effective and real in the process.

I commend the President. I have had the privilege of working with Mr. Donovan in many capacities.

At the higher education level, we have and I have been particularly active in supporting the LEAP program.

I am just wondering, specifically with respect to these types of programs, but more generally, how are we going to support our public housing programs with real resources?

I would hope that you would be able to alert this Committee very quickly as to what you consider to be the needs, the technical needs, so that, in fact, we can avoid fraud.