I do not hear any great appetite for laying folks off. I do not hear him say, 'We are asking for that as an authority.' I think that would be their last choice.

three things that the Postal Service needs to be able to do in order to be a viable ongoing enterprise in the future: First, they just have more people than they need on active duty, if you will; second, they have more post offices than…

Would you take a look at the work that Segal and the Hay Group has done?

They have more processing centers, probably twice the number of processing centers that they need around the country.

We support proposals by Senator Carper and Senator Collins to give the Postal Service access to its excess retirement funds.

I think we need to be humane.

One of the great inhibitors to economic growth in our country today is the lack of certainty and predictability.

Senator Carper's bill wisely authorizes and encourages the Postal Service to expand services.

Are we smart enough at the Postal Service to come up with new products or innovations?

The Postal Service is an enterprise. It is a business enterprise.

the discussion we have here today will jump-start the process of developing a bipartisan, bicameral consensus around the reforms necessary to restructure the Postal Service's finances.

Eighty percent of the costs of the Postal Service is people.

But why doesn't the Administration have a plan for us today?

We want to be a good neighbor.

this is not the sexiest topic to be holding a hearing on.

We have a tendency around here to focus on addressing symptoms rather than addressing underlying... cause of disease.

we appreciate your testimony.

The symptom is the debt crisis, debt ceiling crisis... the cause... is the fact that we do not spend money wisely.

One of the things that really frosts citizens of this country, taxpayers, and those of us who are privileged to represent them, is when we have bad behavior, grossly bad behavior, on the part of Federal employees or others who are using…

I would ask you, Mr. Wise, I am going to ask you to walk us through why we have this incentive, I think a misincentive, disincentive?

On the one hand, agencies can purchase space. On the other hand, they can get this designation, independent designation that some have and then they can lease or they can go through GSA and lease.

there needs to be some reform in terms of real property.

Was the Constitution Center lease an anomaly or does the SEC lack the necessary expertise and internal controls to ensure they are getting the best possible term when it leases space?

What do we need to do? What needs to be done so that CBO in the future will not say almost routinely that even when it makes economic sense to purchase, we are not going to score it that way?

What criteria does GSA use to determine whether an agency should have delegated authority?