Harry Reid: “I, first, want to express my appreciation to someone I believe a star of the Senate and that is Carl Levin. Carl Levin…”

“I, first, want to express my appreciation to someone I believe a star of the Senate and that is Carl Levin. Carl Levin is such a good example to every Senator. When you work on something with Carl Levin, you can rest assured that he has read every word of it. He is someone who I am sure, before he came to the Senate, was an outstanding lawyer. I am so impressed with his ability to do legal analysis, and I am so impressed with his understanding of government generally. What we have here is something that is very typical for Senator Levin. The nomination of Michael Chertoff to be Secretary of Homeland Security is very important. This new Cabinet level office that has been created is so important. I think it has become one of the most important posts that the President has. We know how important the Secretary of Defense is, we know how important the Secretary of State is, but this is so important. Judge Chertoff will be called upon to manage some 180,000 employees, 22 different agencies, all important to protect this Nation in one way or the other. He will be called upon to bolster the efforts of our State and local law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency response personnel, and in the process of managing these 180,000 employees, he doesn't have enough people. Many of these 22 different agencies he is responsible to manage are understaffed. So he will have a tremendous burden.…”