George Voinovich

By the way, this increased rating by rating agencies, that is impressive because they really look at you, and I think that is something that you should be very proud of.

I think that you have been prudent, and the mayor has been working with you.

But I think also they have to feed their families and take care of all the other things that need to be taken care of.

Because if you cannot compete for the people, how do you expect to bring them on board?

And, of course, you have had to estimate what you think the revenues are going to be for the District.

The District's progress since the 1990s has been something Senator Akaka and I have followed close while serving on this Subcommittee.

So that the hit you are taking in terms of your revenues would be probably the sales tax?

So the point is that you are going to try to take that within the operation of the city, and you are not going to touch the rainy-day fund, you are going to try not to do that.

It would be like in the State government we would call it our 'rainy-day fund?'

The procurement people, are they under your jurisdiction?

Mr. Chairman, would it be appropriate for use to ask for a report in 6 months about how these recommendations have been made so that we can monitor that?

Medicaid is the Pac-Man of any budget?

So the point is that for 2010 you are estimating a flat budget.

You are looking now at 2010.

And that basically is for the public's understanding, that is the portion of the budget that is being used to amortize the bonds that the city has issued over the years in order to do the capital improvement and other things that you need…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for holding this hearing to discuss both the progress and challenges still facing the District of Columbia.

So that is money that is available in the event that you are not able to meet your revenue estimates to run the city?

I must say today, Senator Akaka, one of the real joys that I have--and there are not too many with the economy the way it is--is that the books of the city of Cleveland remain auditable.

I really would like to have you spend some time in that area because I know you are going to be under pressure to abolish the system. But to me, it is something that is important for the future of our country.

It is critical for the safety of the country and for our citizens, and so I would devote the attention and time and energy to this to see if we could bring that gold star home.

The security clearance process has been on the high-risk list since 1990.

If you can do that in your shop, you will be able to lead by example.

I have talked with Senator Akaka. We have not introduced the bill yet, but again, we are working on legislation to improve performance evaluation in all of the Federal departments.

I would really like you to look at that because in some areas it has been really successful.

People are not aware of this, but the backlog of security clearances, particularly with private contractors, is costing us a lot of money.