Ben Cardin

I want to thank all three of our nominees for their willingness to serve in the public.

The Federal Government has made an investment in Poplar Island which is the site of a lot of dredged material, but also an environmental restoration site.

Its safe and reliable operation is of paramount importance to my constituents.

Keeping our channels properly dredged is absolutely vital to our economy, as a Nation.

I look forward to hearing from the nominees, each of whom is being considered for a role that is critically important to the protection of our environment.

As far as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is concerned, extremely important position.

I would hope and assume that behind closed doors there are conversations going on that do take the form of confrontation.

Is ISI in your view supporting and coordinating its activities with LT?

I want to go against terrorist organizations, don't get me wrong. My question is Pakistan's complicity here.

Pakistan has to choose sides on what side it is on the war against terror.

It seems to me that we need to be able to confront Pakistan's support for terrorist organizations.

I understand we always need to have strategic partners. But we have a clear rule on terrorism.

I am taking this case work myself so I will be contracting you.

I applaud you for that, and we got that as an amendment to the Budget Resolution that gave the SBA the tools.

I could not agree with you more about the importance of the SBA's role as the voice of small business.

I am very proud of the Small Business Jobs Bill and I really do congratulate Senator Landrieu.

Will all contracting officers be required to go through this training?

I would like to see, if we could, the relative activities generated by our partnerships with the states...

What is the time frame for being able to implement this training curriculum?

There is a real concern as to whether the procurement officers in our agencies have a bias towards existing relationships with contractors.

I am a little disappointed it is taking this long.

I think one of the most important responsibilities of this Committee is oversight.

We want you there fighting on behalf of small businesses saying, no, do not bundle these contracts and elbow out small companies from being prime contractors.

Could I ask that my office and I think the Committee may be also interested in reviewing the curriculum...

We need to have better information to this Committee as to how this program is working.