If a nuclear power plant in this country faced a full blackout similar to what we have seen at the Fukushima facility, in your opinion, would we have a few days before we might see the fuel rods degrade and therefore witness harmful…

In the United States we have 104 nuclear power plants in 31 states, which generate approximately a fifth of our Nation's total electric consumption.

I think the role of the Committee in shining transparency on exactly what is happening in the government is a change lever that the Congress needs to utilize as much as it possibly can.

We have 104 nuclear power plants. I said earlier that I thought the first one was built about 50 years ago.

Each agency is supposed to identify three must-move systems to the cloud within the first 3 months of 2011.

Have all the agencies met this goal?

I like to say we measure progress--or we incentivize progress.

I think it was Senator Alexander who said earlier, mentioned that if you took all of the spent fuel in this country and you stacked it up on a football field it would be about 20 or 25 feet high.

Do we have any idea if those batteries can be recharged?

As the Postal Service struggles with trying to figure out how to be vibrant and play a critical role in the 21st century, they are looking to close down not just post offices but also distribution centers.

I again want to thank Senator Cardin because his State has a lot at stake here as well.

Just make it real simple and easy for folks to understand.

This should not be about the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Your many hearings highlighting the wasteful spending in this area has led to many improvements in Federal agencies and at the Office of Management and Budget.

I cannot imagine a future for the United States that does not include nuclear power to create electricity.

I think I asked this question of Chairman Jaczko the last time he was here and I think he said, to the best of his knowledge, no one has died of radiation poisoning or sickness.

I appreciate what you both have said here today, but given the potentially serious nature of the news, I have asked my staff to followup with your offices today on this issue so we can try just to get to the bottom of it.

Tom Carper and I have called on the NRC to conduct a comprehensive review of all nuclear facilities in the United States.

So aligning some of the budget needs with the technology cycles I think is something that the Congress should look at as well.

Are you getting pushback on these efforts to close the data centers? Or is it pretty much a fait accompli?

The events that struck Japan are reminders that we are all vulnerable to unexpected disasters, whether an act of nature or a terrorist attack.

Is it possible to get better results for less money? Or is it possible to get better results for the same amount of money?

I believe I mentioned, a lot of people think we operate under a culture of spendthrift, and what we are trying to do is to move away from that toward a culture of thrift.

I would just ask us to be as mindful and concerned about our air pollution problems that relate to fossil fuel plants as we are the potential loss of life or endangerment of health due to nuclear power plants.

I always joke about when you look up in the dictionary, you look up a particular word, you have somebody's picture.