Daniel Akaka

Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich.

As the largest Federal agency, the Department of Defense should serve as a model for the other agencies.

As he always says, the right person for the right job at the right time, and this is an opportunity for us to do that.

I want to take this time to say thank you very much to Senator Voinovich's staff and my staff, and the hard work that they have put into these hearings.

We are concerned that it be done fairly as you continue to work and that the employees will work it out as well with you.

Mr. James, your testimony states that so far 21 percent of DOD employees transitioned from NSPS have been placed on pay retention.

I look forward to working with DOD and OPM in the coming months on these very important matters.

I want to thank you both on the first panel for your testimonies and your responses.

I am pleased with the steps DOD has taken to transition employees out of NSPS, both quickly and thoughtfully.

I was pleased that the system was repealed. Federal employees, especially those charged with defending our Nation, are entitled to a personnel system that is fair and transparent.

We really need to get our hiring processes in order, so we can attract the best people into the Federal Government.

I believe that every person who works for the Department of Veterans Affairs, no matter what their job, should feel that they are part of a critical mission, serving our Nation's veterans.

As always, I want to thank Senator Voinovich who has been a partner on these issues.

In theory, the Competitive Sourcing Initiative was supposed to push agencies to contract for services that the commercial sector could provide at a lower cost.

We must ensure that Federal agencies remain in control of their missions, and I am hopeful that OMB's work will move us closer to that goal.

First of all, we have got to recognize and address the hiring challenges posed by workforce balancing efforts, and I think most of us agree that the last Administration went too far the other direction.

The current Federal hiring process we know will not be up to the task of workforce balancing.

I have long been concerned that contractors at DHS and elsewhere are performing inherently governmental functions, work that should be done by Federal employees.

If an agency is looking at its core capabilities--Senator Voinovich and you talked earlier about cyber security professionals--sufficient to maintain the agency's mission and operation, that is not a quota-driven approach.

We need to ensure that government employment continues to be attractive enough that we retain new Federal employees once the economy gets better.

That is the agency's responsibility, to put in place measures, so that the contractors that came in to do the drilling really did have the ability to prevent what is happening now.

Without question, some things are changing, the culture is changing.

That is all right. Well, we will do a second round here.

The American people expect strong leadership from the Federal Government.

I am a strong supporter of veterans preference in Federal hiring.