John Mica

We could stop that loss, couldn't we? Eighty-five million dollars in loss.

We could eliminate food service. Do you think anyone would starve between here and New York?

Well, after I became chairman, they asked me, the air traffic controllers said this is a skewed study, this isn't right, they didn't ask the right questions.

So maybe you could supply the committee with some information on the savings and elimination of the programs at a time when we are trying to save money.

Can you tell me how many positions have been eliminated and what taxpayer dollars we can expect from that consolidation or elimination of programs?

Well, when that issue was brought up, in fact, Mr. Connolly and I did have a brief discussion. We need to look at that and, actually, our committee has jurisdiction.

We may have to do that. And also a campaign to attract the young talent.

If we can leverage those people in a way that can be leveraged across agencies, I think we would do ourselves good.

The Committee has worked on this, he has proposed legislation that has lagged in adoption and it can solve some of these problems.

We will hear today that GAO reports in Fiscal Year 2011, our Government funded the acquisition of 622 separate human resources systems at a cost of $2.4 billion.

You could never operate a business the way we do Government and these Government agencies.

There are instances of again, wasteful approaches.

It is extremely important, especially as we face in the next matter of hours, a very difficult time with our Nation's finances

We need to not just talk about it, do something about it, and we are both committed to that.

Thank you for your testimony. And we will hold questions.

The Honorable John Mica, a Member of Congress from the State of Florida, Opening Statement.

It's billions of dollars in Medicare misspent on New York.

But we're bankrupting the nation through policies and practices and lack of attention to maximizing our assets.

We're bankrupting the nation through policies and practices and lack of attention to maximizing our assets.

What stunned me is there was no plan for either utilization of either the acreage or the facilities.

I don't see it. I mean, I could go through that, and as a property manager, to have that valuable asset there, it might have made sense 20 years ago, but not today.

Tens of billions of dollars of wasteful spending, programs out of control.

I think that's why it's so important our work continue.

Right now we're practically bankrupt, approaching $16.5 trillion in debt.

Investing in our transportation system is our shared responsibility if we want to ensure prosperity of the Nation for future generations.