Claire McCaskill

It seems to me that a criminal indictment of a contractor should be an event that requires some folks in that agency to take a hard look.

Thank you for your leadership on this important topic.

I think we have some great input from you today.

That seems like a long time.

We are committed to enhancing contingency contracting.

How these positions can go vacant for this period of time is beyond me.

I worry that we have not gone far enough on training.

At times, lowest price is not the best value for the American taxpayer.

I think it is harder sometimes to hold that mirror up.

For the State Department, the State Department continues to say that it does not need the structural or organizational changes envisioned by this legislation.

I think it is very important that we do not--as we cut the size of government and spend less money in government, we have to make sure that we maintain a robust oversight function in these agencies.

I am going to continue to push for that independence in the Suspension and Debarment Office that I think that is dictated by the legislation.

I think that the more frequent recompetes--and I know that there is a culture that kind of weighs against recompeting because it is a pain to compete.

I think most Americans would be shocked to know that we have one now and it is $693,000 a year.

I find it astonishing that agencies do not consider whether it is cheaper to use contractors or Federal employees before deciding whether to award a contract.

I have never met anybody who has gone into a government job looking for big money.

I will never forget speaking to Secretary Chertoff in one of the very first hearings I had in the Committee, and when I asked the question, How many contractors work at the Department of Homeland Security, it was like I was speaking a…

I know in the contracting community I am not a popular person because of the work I do in this area.

Anyone who believes we cannot find savings in the Department of Defense around contracting does not know the issue.

That is $20 billion. That is some significant change.

I would really like to take a look at that because I think that this has been the assumption that we have been working on without data.

And I do not think the Department of Defense thinks they can get us that number until 2016 at the earliest.

I fundamentally believe that, as somebody who has had really a 50-yard line seat on contracting for 5 years in the Department of Defense.

So by converting contractor positions to Federal employees, you saved $28 million?

I am not voting for--I do not support anymore freezing of the salaries for Federal workers until we freeze some salaries for contractors, particularly at that high level.