Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I join you in thanking the Secretary for your cooperation with our subcommittee.

We especially appreciate your visit to Mississippi.

The reason this has taken on a new urgency is that just this morning, we received word that unemployment in the State of Mississippi has reached 12 percent.

We're going to have to accommodate those ships at gulf coast ports.

I have been waiting for a year for a report on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, specifically on the Mississippi site for expansion, and I have yet to receive any word from the Department.

Madam Chairwoman, thank you for your leadership in this subcommittee.

I'm hopeful that we can work with you and General Van Antwerp and others in the Federal agencies and the Corps of Engineers to try to identify some of these opportunities.

manufactured housing production has dropped to an annual rate of fewer than 50,000 homes, compared to nearly 400,000 units in 1998.

What is the justification for continuing to collect these funds from Mississippi when DOE has now decided to terminate the national repository program?

I share that enthusiasm and commit to you our best efforts here in this subcommittee to identify how we can invest the public funds so that we achieve those goals.

I am concerned about the utility ratepayers of Mississippi who have contributed to the nuclear waste fund.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership in providing sensitive and meaningful assistance to families.

I hope this subcommittee can respond in a way that shows our concern and support for their efforts and their unselfish service.

the only way I have ever seen it come close to success is to reach that sort of strategic partnership

the delays that are being observed in establishing a new government affect the drawdown of U.S. forces?

I hope you can give the subcommittee your assessment of the timing of when the fiscal year 2010 supplemental appropriations will be needed to support combat operations.

I think it is interesting to observe that the Minerva Initiative was established by Secretary Gates I think with the realization that a better understanding of extremist ideologies in the world today need the attention of the Department of…

I think malaria is one of those diseases that worldwide is probably the most aggressive and probably causes more deaths and illnesses than any other one malady.

What is the current level of funding, do you recall?

I wish we had more time to go into questions and discussions, but I think you can be assured that we take everybody's testimony seriously.

Due to the consequences and implications of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System assessment of inorganic arsenic on drinking water, agriculture practices, and the perceived safety of the food…

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, and we have been working and I know you have too in coastal restoration.

Well, we appreciate that. And it's very impressive to contemplate the amount of work and effort that went into this.

The funding level approved by the Senate was within the funding level requested by the administration.

I'm certain that the witnesses here today agree that, without this additional funding, our Reserve components would be woefully equipped.