Thank you very much, Senator Reed, and I appreciate you holding this hearing.

the President declared in his State of the Union address that he hopes to double the American exports in 5 years

I rise today to recognize and honor Peter Fischer, who is retiring from Senate service. Peter has been an essential member of my staff for more than a decade, and he currently serves as chief of staff for my Washington, DC, office. I…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Vice Chairman Barrasso for holding this important hearing on the role of the SBA 8(a) program in enhancing economic development in Indian Country.

I was there to tour this plant with you, and I know of the big success that it was.

I am very confident of that because I have seen how efficient and how effective you are able to be in the operations of these businesses.

I had the tremendous opportunity to tour the plant last year and saw firsthand the benefits the program has had on the Tribe's economy and throughout north Idaho.

I know that the time is getting late and we are kind of getting jammed up up here.

I again appreciate you holding this hearing and look forward to working with you as we seek to address and resolve the issue.

I want to commend Chief Allan for his strong leadership on issues of importance to both Idahoans and the American people.

I guess the next question I was going to ask you is you indicated in your testimony that you found that the government's response was piecemeal to non-existent.

Since S. 76 was written into its present form as a truly bi-partisan bill with the full support of Senator Crapo.

This is an important issue, as you have indicated, and I really am glad that our committee is looking into it.

We are now facing yet another record Federal deficit at $1.6 trillion, and the budget we recently received from the President would double the national debt, to more than $26 trillion, by the end of the decade.

the Dodd-Frank Act, in my opinion, missed a great opportunity to merge the SEC and the CFTC and stop the bifurcation of the futures and securities markets

It was recently announced that we are yet facing another record Federal deficit at $1.6 trillion.

It seems to me that we are causing the agencies to rush and then try to create these processes of phased implementation.

I completely agree with the comments that the Chairman made about how important the functions of the SEC are.

the potential harm to our already weak economy and the public from ill-conceived rules, in my opinion, cannot be understated

And do you feel that, ultimately, the objective is consistent with the statutory mandate, achieving the least costly alternative?

And how does that process work? It seems to me that that would be incredibly important to make sure, first of all, that a cost-benefit analysis is done, and that you seek the objective of having the least burdensome solution that you can…

Well, that is good, because you actually contemplated my next question, which was would it not be a good idea, even though it is not binding, for the agency to, or the Commission to pursue the objectives, one of which is to achieve the…

I am one of those who would like to see Dodd-Frank slowed down, and, frankly, think that we made a mistake when we passed the Dodd-Frank legislation.

All agencies and programs should be prepared to sacrifice. All budgets have to be on the table.

I believe all agencies and programs should be prepared to engage in this process and that all budgets have to be evaluated.