Just following up on that point, we have done a lot of work with State and local governments, and with our private sector partners to improve the response because obviously if you are a terrorist and you think a community is unable to…

I suspect that the cultural differences are also reflected in the regulators.

It is startling to me that you could present the regulator with the report showing such serious problems and no action was taken, but that is what happened.

It seems to me that when you went to the CDC a year ago and showed such glaring deficiencies in just basic security measures, that the agency should have acted immediately.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

But, in this case, they do provide an innovative way to offer children in the District better educational opportunities, and that is why I support them.

If you are confirmed, will you commit to establishing a more collaborative process when FEMA is updating its flood maps?

You, Mr. Chairman, raised some very important questions about the accountability of those funds, so I'm pleased that the board has answered those questions in this letter.

We must ensure that all students have access to quality education.

I think that was very unfortunate. I hope that you will be an advocate internally in the budget deliberations.

We do need better teachers, we do need better principals, we do need adequate funding.

I don't see the need to treat the Opportunity Scholarship schools differently. It seems to me accreditation ensures a certain level.

The District of Columbia has failed its children for many years by denying them the chance for a good education, thereby relegating them to lives of limited choices and lost opportunities.

how could I, in good conscience, ask for more money to be sent to your program without that kind of detailed information?

That's why I'm such a strong supporter of the D.C. public charter schools and of the Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Fraud in FEMA programs has been a problem. We saw rampant fraud in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I have seen FEMA really improve in this area.

Too much of a revolving door.

That is real progress for these students.

we've got to be able to assess the impact of that investment on the students that we're serving.

I just wanted to make one point, and that is during the government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina, there was no deputy leader at FEMA.

I think empowering Michelle Rhee's office, as the chancellor of education for the District of Columbia, would be a good thing.

the position that you have been nominated to fill was created by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which we authored.

We need to support initiatives that improve education in our communities.

The charter school movement in the District appears to have been extraordinarily successful.