The administration is committed to avoiding a sequester; we urge the Congress to enact balanced deficit reduction legislation.

I really look forward to it.

the public corruption unit and DOJ is fair and evenhanded, and, clearly, that was not the case in the prosecution of a great friend to many of us, and a great patriot for our country, who, unfortunately, was very badly abused by the DOJ.

We face the same issues, whether it's our rockfish population or crabs. We do need accurate assessments.

Cyber espionage is a very considerable threat. We're not fully prepared, as a country, to address that.

I want to join with the Senator here, because there is confusion, and we are deeply concerned...

I don't know if we can sustain this growth, and then I'm concerned about once we put them in, it's a revolving door.

We must keep making progress on the Academies' recommendations, now and in the future.

Everybody likes to talk today about American exceptionalism. It really is our intellectual ideas.

You couldn't be an astronaut without being an optimist.

We'll see what the authorizers do. It's a complicated topic.

We can't go there again.

I'm troubled that the budget does not invest adequately in future missions, the highest science priorities that are identified by the National Academies in their decadal surveys.

the Commerce Department's job is to work with the President, the Congress, and the private sector to really create jobs.

But, we've heard that before. How is this going to be different than in the past?

We need you, at the Secretary's level, to really use whoever you will designate to be a hands-on manager of these costs.

We are grateful that Director Mueller agreed to serve for 2 more years.

So I hope, Mr. Administrator, that you and the NASA personnel who have done such a great job for our country through all of these years of space exploration will go back to the drawing board and support Commercial Crew in a fiscally…

We don't want NOAA cut loose.

I want to make sure that NASA has what it needs to carry out its mission, explore the universe, understand and protect our planet, and create new technologies that lead to new breakthroughs creating jobs of the future.

We expect robust attendance at this hearing, and we note that the ranking member of the full Appropriations Committee, Senator Cochran, is here.

He brings valuable skills to his position, strong experience in the private sector, and he's been a strong voice for American manufacturers.

I happen to support the commercial endeavor for both cargo and crew. I think it's bold, I think it's promising, but I'm concerned that it's behind schedule.

Build it here, sell it everywhere.

How is NASA ensuring our tax dollars are spent wisely?