Yes, I think it is. And you have to remember what this is all about.

You mean the same people that couldn't get water to Katrina, the same people who couldn't process the cash for clunkers transactions are now going to take care of my sick grandmother?

Less than 2 percent of dangerous goods transported is by air, and most of these batteries aren't going on aircraft as it is already.

Well, yes, and to clarify, what I am talking about are lithium metal batteries which are not what you see in your cell phone or your laptop computer.

I think reducing duplication and extra work on things like this makes a lot of sense.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has the important mission of keeping terrorists and weapons out of the United States, while also facilitating trade and travel.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how we can continue to improve communications and coordination between FEMA regions and state and local emergency response organizations.

I know that this is not always convenient, and you put a lot of time, energy into these opening statements and preparing for these questions.

It is also changing culture in the organization.

Let us get out of their way and not say, 'The only way you get funding is if you use our contractor who may be coming from Texas or somewhere.'

I would like to ask Mr. Skinner, you know, first, I want to amen everything you said about letting the dust settle and roots grow into the ground with FEMA.

So you have a Federal Emergency Management Agency, but you don't really want to spend the money to make it what it needs to be?

I strongly feel, while more work remains to be done, FEMA has made significant progress over the last 2 years.

Now, of course, FEMA still has work to do.

I still think it is too few. I think we should be over 20,000, but we hit that goal.

I am very opposed to that. This has become a well-organized Department.

I have been an advocate for the center to try to package more of that training and take it out in increments.

I rise today to drive home the fact that the U.S. needs an energy policy now. In my home State of Alabama, gas prices have risen over 10 cents a gallon in the last 2 weeks. This just can't continue. Not only does this affect how much folks…

I rise today to speak for all the hardworking people in east Alabama who are getting swamped by high gas prices. Each of us in this Chamber knows that gas is over $5 a gallon in this country and rising. We all know that high gas prices are…

Mr. Chairman, every year, the administration has castigated the Congress for funding these items. In fiscal year 2007, in the continuing resolution, we left the decision up to the administration. In order to decide what to do, the…

Clearly, it would show that this is not the right place to place that money. They've wasted a lot of it already. And it's -- we're just wasting -- throwing money down a rat hole when we've got serious challenges in the intelligence…

This is old in the 1950s war style 'Soprano' type politics, that, you know, you go along to get along and you don't talk about these things in my district if you want something in your district.

Oh, this was an oversight.

as ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight, I have worked with my committee colleagues on this legislation for some time. I was also an original cosponsor of the bill, primarily…

One of the main reasons is we don't have the capacity domestically to breed these dogs. Of the dogs that we use in TSA now, about 420, only about 15 percent, are bred in the domestic program here. We have to go overseas to European sources…