The civil jury is what prevents the encroachment of the more powerful and wealthy citizens.

You will carry with you for the rest of your life the recollections of the work that you have done for one of America's most valued assets, the men and the women and their families of the armed services of the United States.

This country is greatly strengthened by the will of such people to step forward and do, time and time again, public service.

Judging from my own experience, these four resumes constitute an extraordinary body of knowledge needed in these respective positions and needed by our country at a critical time.

It is a moving experience for me to reenter this room. I served on this committee for 30 years.

Good luck to each and every one of you, and to the importance of the confirmation process.

It's a great experience in life, and it's absolutely essential for this country.

But we have an obligation, the Congress, when we pass a law, when the private sector invests and relies upon it, leave it alone.

Now I want to emphasize also the questions of biofuels.

I also thought it was extraordinarily important you pointed out that just as it is incumbent upon our military to continue to develop next generation weapons that it's been the legacy of our military forces to always be about innovation.

I think that's a really significant answer since the question of readiness clearly one of the most strategically important issues you have to deal with.