George Voinovich

I can tell you that we had a dickens of a time going to the next BRAC recommendation and there were only 34 of us in the Senate that voted for it when it first came up a couple of years ago.

Senator Connie Mack came to me with an idea similar to this say 6 or 7 years ago, I did not think we were ready.

I really believe that had it not been for the waivers that we had gotten from the Clinton Administration, we would never have got that legislation passed.

If you think about this, what would your opinion be, and I do not even know in terms of the BRAC process how it works.

That would be interesting, I think, just as a matter of information for the Members of the Senate, as to where you have made some recommendations and what has happened to them.

Have any committees, appropriations or authorizations committee, reduced or eliminated the funding for any programs that you have identified as not effective.

If you cannot measure it, do not do it.

We do not have time here to do the oversight because we are so busy with the budget and appropriations.

I think that it is really important that you convey to the American people what you have done in this area.

We look forward to working with you on this legislation.

I think it is really important because if you do not have standards to judge what you are doing, you discredit the whole thing and people start attacking the standards and say it is not fair and so on and so forth.

But to answer the question of the Senator from Delaware, from my perspective, the passage of this bill would be the most egregious unfunded mandate we have seen since 1995, when the unfunded mandates relief legislation was passed. It seems…

I am really grateful that the two of you have come over here today.

It seems to be illogical because if you look at any organization its strength really is in the people that are in that organization.

I want to thank you very much for being here today.

A lot of my colleagues have never been a mayor. They have never been a governor or an attorney general.

I think your suggestion that it might be good to have him in here to have an opportunity to spend some time with us is a good one.

I think the issue of workforce flexibilities in order to hire the people that they need to get the job done is one issue.

Congress in so many instances has really no appreciation for the management challenges of some of these programs.

This is a monumental task. It is not something you can snap your fingers at and have it done.

This is going to be a monumental undertaking in Ohio to make sure it gets done.

It seems to me that if it is going to work they are going to have to have the best information that they can have to make good decisions.

I want to clarify something. I go to meetings and I think I have had 9 or 10 meetings already in Ohio where I have had listening sessions with senior citizens and get a chance to get some input from them.

I will close on this one comment. I have really worked with our governor and our Office on Aging and the Department of Insurance to expand OSHIIP.

They are most vulnerable people in this country today because they do not have prescription drug benefits.