It is our responsibility to try to remove that jeopardy and reignite and restore that promise that has been made to workers and retirees throughout the country.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We frankly should have more hearings like this in the Congress.

I would like to begin by asking unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from the ranking member, Mr. Miller, to Mr. Gotbaum.

This has been a very edifying two panels. Thank you for your contributions to it.

We just heard from Representative Mike Conaway and Representative Rob Andrews, the Chairman and Ranking Member of our Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform Panel.

We are on the verge of making very consequential decisions about the defense budget, either by default, through the sequestration process, or through a more deliberative mechanism through the Special Committee.

Well, good morning, Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am glad to have you with us.

I think Secretary Panetta deserves enormous praise for giving this effort such a high priority.

It is an unfortunate presumption that the present state of affairs--because we do not have accurate financial statements from the Department of Defense--gives us too much bad data.

Bad data lead to bad decisions, and bad recordkeeping systems lead to bad data.