the political decisionmakers are going to be guided by what's happening on the battlefield.

It remains a threat. So that the continued existence of these safe havens for our enemy forces in Pakistan obviously makes the fight that we have to fight more difficult.

Budgets have to carefully balance our Nation's needs with what we can afford.

The threat of homegrown extremism continues.

the Executive Branch has been more hesitant to embrace significant reorganization, again, because there were people arguing within the Executive Branch against changing the status quo

whoever is elected in November to be our next President will go into office with a public demanding changes in government, elimination of waste, and movement back to a balanced Federal budget.

I think it would be a great thing for us at this moment in our government's history, with so much waste, so much debt, so much public exasperation, that if we could work together to get this done and then enact it, whoever is elected…

A lot of these cuts are forced on you by the Budget Control Act, which we adopted.

I think that provides that focal point for the discussions between the Legislative and the Executive Branch.

I think that most Members of the Committee agree that the US-VISIT's placement within the National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS is problematic

I focused in my opening statement on the increase in budgetary request for cybersecurity, and you touched on that some in your statement, and I am supportive of it.

That Secretary is very informed.

I hope we are not thinking narrowly here because they came out of our Committee

I would not articulate OMB as the arbiter. I would articulate OMB as the entity that is required to provide policymakers

I can tell you that--perhaps this is saying the obvious--if the reorganization authority had been enacted already and the fast-track process was law, any presidential proposal--let us take this one--would be taken with a greater degree of…

I think it is not right to do it without authorization changes.

Congress has surely failed more times than not in reorganizing government in a major way.

There is a clear intent with the President's proposal and the program going forward to consult with Congress at every step of the way.

We have an obligation to look back and see if what you have done makes sense and whether we want to relook at the BCA.

Let us talk about the shift from terrorism to all hazards in the homeland security grants and what the rationale for it is.

It would renew the requirement that the President submit an implementation plan along with any reorganization proposal.

it is obviously imperative that the Federal Government get its spending under control.

I would like to work with you on it to see whether we can have an agreement where we as the authorizers will agree on how to deal with this problem that we both agree exists.

I want to commend President Obama and Secretary Napolitano for presenting us with what I believe is a responsible budget request.

I do not think there would be any disagreement with the statement there is too much duplication and too little unity of effort in our Federal Government.