Daniel Akaka

The implementation of an effective policy toward Pakistan is a very significant and important national security priority.

Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.

We cannot continue with a World War II system. We have to change that system and move it to these current times.

The Nation's veterans deserve more, and the Committee will continue to insist that VA provide the best care anywhere.

I want to be clear that each of these instances is a breach of our promise to provide the highest quality of care to our veterans.

This issue is so important because it has tremendous potential to improve the quality of life for our working families.

Too many Americans... lack basic financial literacy.

I have concerns about mandatory arbitration clause limitations. I believe we share a concern on that and that it has been harmful to consumers.

Our current regulatory structure, I feel has failed to adequately protect working families from predatory practices.

I hope that agencies are learning from the ongoing H1N1 outbreak and taking corrective action for future planning.

There clearly is a lot more planning that needs to be done throughout the Federal Government.

I really appreciate your participation in these hearings, and we have worked so well together all these years on these issues.

We must use the lessons learned from the past 2 months to address the future challenges.

Admiral, I know many people are anxious to hear about the progress being made with the development of a vaccine to combat the novel H1N1 virus.

It is important that we respect a Federal employee's right to privacy as we work to protect them from disease threats.

There must be clear and consistent guidance to Federal employees on agency policies.

Some of them are still in early stages.

I think would be very worthwhile would be to insist that we see an overall plan about who is responsible for what.

Pandemic influenza continues to be a grave threat facing the United States and the world.

I was disappointed to learn that, according to a GAO report, only one agency--the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)--responded that they had shared their pandemic planning with the unions that represent their employees.

Thank you very much for your testimony, Ms. Kichak.

I want to express my disappointment that the Subcommittee did not receive testimony from the agencies until late yesterday.

I want to thank all of our witnesses. You have helped us to really think through the key concerns for finalizing this bill.

We are in a period of unprecedented government spending, crises in terms of civil liberties, human rights abroad, as well as our economy that will require our government to be at its best.

This was the policy that the President campaigned on, and we have not heard a reason, a public policy basis to back off of that commitment.