I think most Senators, it is fair to say, do not mind allocating resources if we feel like there is accountability and we know that the money is being spent properly and is being managed well and being used effectively.

OK. So it should take you 30 days?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Hutchison, for holding today's hearing, and I want to thank our panel for their willingness to serve.

I look forward to working with all of you and hope that we can find some solutions and some good results for the American people.

It is important the positions be filled in a timely manner by qualified nominees who are ready to take on many of the challenges that face our country.

Well, that is helpful. Let me say that last month, you were over at the House Homeland Security Committee and testified.

That would be helpful because I think that is an important piece that we need to understand and keep an eye on.

We have spent nearly six months... reviewing the response of two administrations to an unprecedented financial crisis.

People are angry that even if they have consistently paid their bills on time... their TARP-assisted banks are unilaterally raising their interest rates.

People are angry that small businesses are threatened with closure because they can't get financing from their TARP-assisted banks.

None of this seems fair.

The Administration views the $8 billion provided under the Recovery Act as a down payment to jump-start the development of high speed rail.

Certainly one of the functions that I look forward to, if confirmed, is the opportunity to work on the commercial law development program to try to promote transparency in other countries and to promote transparency in market access.

I believe that more than $8 billion is necessary to create a high-speed rail system.

I think he brings a judgment and a facility with a range of issues, and that has been the nature of his career as a litigator, as a regulatory lawyer at leading law firms in both Boston and Washington, D.C.

I think he will put country ahead of politics, which is an important ingredient in all of this.

Well, first of all, that notion is insulting to risk assessment done by you as professionals.

We need to protect our whistleblowers and we do the investigations.