Gary Peters

Thank you for calling this important meeting. Particularly related to the Great Lakes, thank you very much.

So, folks who are listening to this, please come to Michigan and visit us, because it's part of the Blue Economy to come there to be able to experience that.

Your lack of empathy and respect of survivors, especially for Kaylee Lorincz.

Do you believe that there was a culture of enabling and covering up the actions of a predator over 20 years at MSU?

To keep that is going to be critically important.

So, no, you haven't. That's fine. So, no, no is the answer.

I think trust and trust is done by accountability and people accepting responsibility for their roles.

One thing that the survivors feel very strongly about and I think many of us believe is true is that you should bring outside perspective into leadership.

Thank you again for this hearing, putting together this hearing.

A stable civil service is essential for maintaining a level of consistency, reliability, and competence in the American Government.

In a merit-based system, jobs to civil servants are not handed out based on political backgrounds or financial contributions.

I am going to want to ask the three of you some of your thoughts on proposed legislation, the Modern Employment Reform Improvement and Transformation (MERIT) Act...

So what is your understanding of how this backlog occurred in the first place?

After more than a year without a Board quorum, what is your plan to adjudicate the more than 1,250 cases currently awaiting a decision from the Merit Systems Protection Board?

I was unable to attend yesterday's vote on the nomination of Scott Stump, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Department of Education. Had I been able to attend, I would have supported the…

The American people deserve... information that is quantifiable.

We have to stop letting the process get in the way of meaningful reform.

I would hope that you would also be very active in coming to us.

This will not be a black box? You are willing to talk to us even if we do not have a chance to have a hearing?

To hear that process, I assume this will be fully transparent as it actually works itself through?

We want to work closely with you to figure out how we get to that 21st Century.

But some of those problems are as a result of Congress because Congress has jurisdiction, and every committee has jurisdiction over certain agencies.

I do not think we need that. I want them to have one agency to make sure that catfish is safe when I eat it or ship it, but you do not need multiple agencies.

What are you hearing out there? Is this real? And how do we deal with it?

We have heard stories from individuals who live in that 100-mile zone who report being stopped by officers, undergoing often humiliating experiences, really expressing consternation that they are Americans living in America and they are…