So you would say your minimal goal for the use of the Medicaid reimbursement or support that is part of this bill, is that there be no cutbacks in services available to anyone in the State eligible for Medicaid?

I always feel the best thing government can do is to try to help people get and hold good jobs to provide for themselves.

Part of why we want this money to be used to avoid the disastrous layoffs of teachers, for instance, is that, to say the obvious, you want to protect the jobs.

That is because we are facing an economic challenge the likes of which we have never faced before.

I am pleased to hear about how many States and localities have created Web sites to provide accountability and transparency.

So on that chart, what jumps out at me, certainly, and I presume would at others, is that a relatively small proportion of that money is going to be spent in this fiscal year.

Most of the States have been under fiscal stress and they have cut back, some significantly, in the amount of oversight activities.

The danger of a jobless recovery remains all too real.

I cannot think of a better preparation for this job that he had than to be a State Senator.

the question that we will always ask is if we are getting this money out as quickly as we can.

the main goal of the stimulus package was to get money out into the economy quickly to stop the slide down of our economy

This is really too critical, too big, and as I said at the beginning, it is too big for us to let it fail.

The usage is really miraculous or stunning.

I mean, it is hard to imagine that putting this much money out into the economy would not help some.

Yes, I think you are onto something, Senator Tester.

I appreciate it, because obviously--and, of course, we will see some of this from the macro economic data, but we hope that the tax cuts will encourage people to spend, because consumption has been falling so fast and not driving our…

Incidentally, I noticed that Congressman Ed Towns, who chairs our partner committee in the House, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is proposing legislation to separately fund State and local auditors to oversee stimulus…

the overall result of almost $800 million in Federal funding is unreservedly positive.

I presume, if I can draw you out on that, that would have meant significant layoffs of teachers and other school personnel.

It is very important to us, of course, that it be used well and effectively to protect and create jobs.

Delightedly, the law with your help and the help of your colleagues, Senator Lieberman, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), was recently reauthorized.

I would look forward to helping in any way I can.

No. We are short in both quantity and quality of staffing, and are not using the latest tools to support early modeling, simulation, and testing.

Mr. Sullivan and Dr. Kaminski, are either the JCIDS or PPBE as currently constructed able to overcome parochial service interests in this regard?

Defense contracts ought to be done on a fixed-price basis unless the Secretary certifies that there's a good reason not to.