I believe that our first responsibility is to support the victims and their families.

I just want to say to you----

I sincerely believe that your Agency is the right one to handle this initiative.

I hope that as a result of these hearings, we can ascertain how we can help support our first responders in their home communities.

Mr. Allbaugh, when you came to my office and we talked prior to your confirmation hearing, we talked about the human capital crisis that is confronting the United States of America.

I am really worried about that because one of the things, and I hate to be bringing back news from the locals in Dayton, but the fact of the matter is they have said that they think that you really need a lot more people in the urban…

If he does not have the people that he needs to get the job done, I do not care what we do in terms of some of these other things that we are talking about today, he will not be able to perform properly.

One of the things that I must say that too often here we talk about the money to buy things, but we neglect the fact that Agencies in the Federal Government need the tools and the people to get the job done.

I am very concerned that when the money is allocated that it is actually used for the things that you want it to.

I have found from my experience that how well we treat them now will have a lot to do with the kind of response that we are going to get from them in the future.

The stronger the relationship between FEMA and State and local first responders the better our Nation's overall preparation will be in the event of a terrorist attack.

I think it is incumbent on your Agency to work with the others and make sure that they get the information that they need.