Mary Landrieu

It does not make any sense to me that the House of Representatives would cut funding from these important programs, $1.5 billion in additional funding is needed just to meet the cost of eligible projects for this year.

We are going to find ourselves back in the same position we were before Hurricane Katrina struck, which is under-funding our preparedness for future disasters and not being ready when it happens.

It is a very important piece of legislation that has been sputtering for a reauthorization now for over 6 years, and there are literally thousands of entities--small businesses, dozens of Federal agencies, many, many organizations from the…

I will object. I know the Senator is very interested in offering this amendment, and we are very interested in hearing about it, but we have now six amendments pending. So if the Senator would like to go ahead and speak about the…

How long does the Senator think the Senator from Washington will proceed and how long will the Senator herself proceed?

I think Senator Coons hit the nail on the head when he said a smart budget plan is going to work to meet the challenges of this extraordinary debt we have that has been caused for multiple reasons. It is important we address that correctly…

Is that Senator Vitter's amendment? Senator Vitter was here, so I wanted him to have the opportunity to offer his. It doesn't matter to me in what order.

In my view, a vote for H.R. 1 would be, indeed, a reckless vote because the consequences of such severe cuts in some areas... it puts our homeland in jeopardy. Let me be clear. In the State of the Union, the President stated that al-Qaida…

Your agency delayed the next Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease sale until next year.

It is just important that we continue to press forward on that accelerator.

I am looking forward to your leadership of this subcommittee.

What analysis have you done on the economic impacts of a delayed and scaled-back leasing program under the OCS leasing program?

Nearly 90 Members of Congress--from both parties and chambers--have written in support of increasing this competitive funding pot to 5 percent of title IIa.

Well, the nine of us are going to push you very hard to do that.

I think we have gone way off the cliff.

I appreciate his continued support for our bipartisan reform efforts.

This subcommittee rallied in a bipartisan way because that program was zeroed out.

So, do you support the 5 percent----

I think you are exactly the right Secretary for the challenges before this Nation.

The fiscal year 2012 budget request reflects the administration's policy priorities and remains a good starting point.

We will not sacrifice the core investments we need to grow and create jobs and protect our workforce.

Getting America back to work is a top administration priority.

The President's budget proposes $2.5 billion over 10 years to align financial incentives with improved outcomes for children in foster care.

If this recovery is going to be evenly felt across the country, it is going to take a well-resourced and well-structured and well-managed SBA.

I have made it one of my priorities as Chair of this committee to do what I can.